Blog 6- Holy, Holy, Holy- The Pursuit of the Spiritual and Living the Liminal in the Poetry of the Beats

  In comparison to the other beat poets, Amiri Baraka uses a combination of persuasive disputation, colloquial composition and familiar, ambiguous elements. These elements are often present in other, beat poetry, although Amiri Baraka seems to use them more often that his peers.

  Amiri Baraka often fills his poetry with the same, ambiguous elements that can be seen in other beat poetry. This allows for the reader to infer their own meaning from the text. For example, the following passage reflects this:

“Like giant rhesus monkeys;

picking their skulls,

with ingenious cruelty

sucking out the brains.

No use for beauty

collapsed, with moldy breath

done in. Insidious weight

of cankered dreams. Tiresias'

weathered cock.”

  This passage is rather unusual, because it does not seem to have any discernible meaning. Although, because the poem is titled “WAY OUT WEST”, and because this beat author often spoke with Jack Kerouac, I can infer that this might be about Kerouac's novel “On The Road”. Although I can't understand why it would be about Kerouac's novel, it does seem to touch on the emotion of exhaustion, which was extremely present in Kerouac's journey across America.

  Amiri Baraka also used a somewhat colloquial method to get his meaning across. He used sentences such as “Am I a sage or something?”, “Love is an evil word. Turn it backwards/see, see what I mean?” and “I certainly wouldn't like to go out on that kind of limb.” This is interesting, because I have not seen it to this extent in other beat poetry. It gives the feeling that the author is attempting to communicate directly to the reader. It makes the poetry feel more natural and inspired to me.

  In conclusion, Amiri Baraka uses similar elements to other beat poets, but also introduces his own, regular patterns. For example, he often speaks directly to the reader, giving them a more personal feeling towards the text. He also uses ambiguous elements, much like other beat poets. Finally, he often uses his writing as a method to show his opinions, again, much like other beat poets.

  (Bonus Point)

On a different topic, musician Bob Dylan, winner of a Nobel Prize in Literature, has been under the spotlight for a controversial debate about whether or not music can be considered literature. I think that it can, because literature is merely the concept of getting your ideas across. The medium should not matter, and therefore, music can be literature.

  Some might argue that literature must be written. And alas, Google definitions seem to agree, stating that literature is “written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.” But, if an author reads their work and records it, is it still literature? In much the same manner, I'm sure that at some point, Bob Dylan wrote down his lyrics. Is singing literature not the same as speaking it?