The Secret Meaning of Things
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
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The Secret Meaning of Things has all the elements of his earlier poetry: lyrical intensity, wit, social concern, satirical bite, and above all a classical claritas. But it goes much further: there is a deepening of vision and a darker understanding of our clay condition." The six long poems in The Secret Meaning of Things show a progressive continuity and clarity of perception that apprehends both the hard reality and luminous irreality in everyday phenomena. In "Assassination Raga" - on the show more death of Robert Kennedy - the glass through which the poet sees darkly is the television screen; the poem was first read on the night of RFK's funeral at a mass memorial in San Francisco. "Bickford's Buddha" is a meditation on "Observation Fever" in Harvard Square, while "All Too Clearly" finds a "touch of old surrealism/at a stoplight in La Jolla." "Through the Looking Glass" begins with an actual flight aboard a commercial airliner and moves through a psychedelic vision to a final flash of the Dance of Shiva, which in turn opens out into the worldview of "After the Cries of Birds." "Moscow in the Wilderness, Segovia in the Snow" comes out of Ferlinghetti's travels to Moscow and across the steppes in the winter of 1967. " show lessTags
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This was an interesting set of poems by Ferlinghetti. It was experimental in nature, particularly the ones concerning LSD, and I think that he demonstrated a great deal of skill and originality in trying to convey what he was feeling to the reader. The other poems, unfortunately, don't live up to the greatness that I've seen in some of Ferlinghetti's other works. Nevertheless, this is still a collection worth reading.
3 stars.
3 stars.
With Ferlinghetti's death, I was reminded that I had several books by him that I had not ever read, beyond looking up those most famous of his poems. This was my first foray. Poem a day. This one went by pretty quickly...and, while I enjoyed it well enough, can't say I carried a lot away.
A slim volume of counterculture poetry from one of the most popular poets of the '60's. There are some strong lines here, but on the whole the poems are undisciplined and rambling. I do credit Ferlinghetti with the idea of not being so rigidly bound by left-right indentation in my own poems, however, which I found quite liberating.
Ah, yes: "Bickford's Buddha" -- the Bickford's that had two identical painting reproductions on the same wall. And employees swatting at flies that didn't exist. (The employees existed; the flies did not.)
And Grolier's book shop -- only poetry-only shop in the US. It seems it is now out of business, shortly after being "under new ownership".
Not as compelling as his prior books, and there would be a few fallow years following this. But he makes a respectable comeback during the lated 1970s, through to date.
And Grolier's book shop -- only poetry-only shop in the US. It seems it is now out of business, shortly after being "under new ownership".
Not as compelling as his prior books, and there would be a few fallow years following this. But he makes a respectable comeback during the lated 1970s, through to date.
Not quite as good as "A Coney Island of the Mind"... but a nice little volume none the less.
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147+ Works 6,645 Members
Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born Lawrence Monsanto Ferling in Yonkers, New York on March 24, 1919. He received a B. A. from the University of North Carolina, a M. A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D from the Sorbonne. During World War II, he served in the U. S. Naval Reserve and was sent to Nagasaki shortly after it was bombed. In 1953, he and show more Peter Martin began to publish City Lights magazine. They also opened the City Lights Books Shop in San Francisco to help support the magazine. In 1955, they launched City Light Publishing, which became known as the heart of the "Beat" movement. Ferlinghetti is the author of more than thirty books of poetry including Time of Useful Consciousness, Poetry as Insurgent Art, How to Paint Sunlight, A Far Rockaway of the Heart, Over All the Obscene Boundaries: European Poems and Transitions, Who Are We Now?, The Secret Meaning of Things, and A Coney Island of the Mind. He is also the author of more than eight plays and of the novels Love in the Days of Rage and Her. He has translated the work of a number of poets including Nicanor Parra, Jacques Prevert, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. He received the lifetime achievement award from the National Book Critics Circle in 2000, the Frost Medal in 2003, and the Literarian Award in 2005, presented for "outstanding service to the American literary community." He was named the first poet laureate of San Francisco in 1998. He writes a weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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