The writings of the poets of the Beat Generation, namely Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, resulted from the many factors of the time in which they wrote. They were accused of being crazy, yet their only real fault was writing with complete honesty. Their originality consequently placed them on the outskirts of society. The post-war, in which their poetry thrived, was a huge influence on their writing. Also influential on the poets’ literature was jazz music at this time; evoking many of the same feelings that these marginalized poets were feeling. Jazz was used either in coherence with poetry or as an inspiration for some of the writing techniques. The post-war era and the jazz music of the time heavily impacted the writings of Kerouac and Ginsberg. These two factors created for them inspiration as well as an outlet through which they escaped war and the negative aspects and feelings of the times.
Both the jazz musicians and the writers of the Beat Movement were able to relate to the same type of feeling: ostracism. The predominantly African American jazz musicians were feeling ostracized during this time period because of the discrimination against their race. Like these musicians, the writers of the Beat Movement, a
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It also thrives off of Ginsberg’s choice of words, his curt one syllable words make up a style that emulates the staccato sound of a jazz piece. The jazz influence is also evident in the context of the story as Kerouac sets the excerpt in such a way that he and his companion in the story are observing the jazz musicians and critiquing them. The Beat writers for the most part shared the same feelings on the topic of war. ” In this respect, the two groups were able to relate to one another on a certain level. We do not have to assume that they used the feelings given by the jazz music to inspire them, the writers show us that they use jazz as an inspiration as well as a type of literary device in their writings. ” Kerouac wrote this to express the difference between the genuine and the ungenuine. The timing of the poem, for one, would emulate that of a jazz song; it would be in unison with the essence of speech, it would flow and be free from punctuation and pauses as though it were an undisturbed flow from the mind to the paper. It is the “decade turned grey” that Ginsberg refers to in “CIA Dope Calypso”; and it is the image that Kerouac refers to in the excerpt from “On the Road” (part III, Chapter 10). Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, two of many writers of the Beat Generation, used the oppression and revolution as inspiration. Even “Howl” although perceived to be about his mother and those that surrounded him, fought for a type of clarity on the war and an end to any form of it in the world. aid / The whole operation, Newspapers say / Supported by the CIA”. “America when will we end the human war? / Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb” (Ginsberg in Charters 74). To understand the writings one must also understand the state of confusion in which the country was living. If anyone were to go against the tide to reach one of these ideas, they would risk being labeled “crazy.
Approximate Word count =
1450
Approximate Pages =
6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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