Beat Poetry Answers

We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator.

Read this excerpt from Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” from Leaves of Grass.I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands.Whitman most likely uses this structure for his poem to

Read this excerpt from Diane Di Prima’s poem "Buddhist New Year Song."I could see the planet from which we had comeI could not remember (then) what our purpose wasbut remembered the name Mahakala, in the dawnin the dawn confronted Shiva, the cold lightrevealed the “mindborn” worldsThese allusions connect to the title of the poem by

Read this excerpt from Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” from Leaves of Grass.The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundownThe delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs. Why does Whitman most likely choose this structure for his poem?

I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?

Read this stanza from Allen Ginsberg’s "A Supermarket in California."We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier. Ginsberg most likely uses long-line free verse here to

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

In the poem "A Supermarket in California," Ginsberg most likely uses free verse to show