Ferlinghetti autobiography analysis definition

The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; boy, i, boxcars, in, have, what, of are repeated. The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words i, what, and, she are repeated. The first section explores varieties of light and darkness in such California landscapes as San Francisco and Big Sur.

Subsequent poems begin with images of bright light and end with darker meditations. The poem ends with images of the creation of song arising from the sounds of leaves and birds.

Ferlinghetti autobiography analysis definition

The volume traces American history from the first European encounters with the ferlinghetti autobiographies analysis definition through the death of President John F. Kennedy in The work alludes to a variety of events, including the European colonization of North America, the French Revolution, westward expansion, and the two world wars. Much of this history takes the form of a collage of newspaper headlines, letters, and stream-of-consciousness prose poems.

Ferlinghetti alternately presents his compendium of American history and pieces together its larger cultural and artistic history, alluding to influential writers and artists. In addition to delineating the national history and character of the United States, Americus also describes the personal, semi-autobiographical journey of Americus, the central character.

Americus begins his journey to America in the womb of his European mother and grows up in the East with all the hopefulness and opportunity contained in the stereotypical immigrant vision of the American Dream. He experiences the horrors, the deaths, and the disillusion of World War II and, following the war, moves west. Americus is also a palimpsest, as suggested by the use of the term in the second line of the poem.

A palimpsest is a painting or a manuscript that has been created over a previously existing work, so that sometimes the previous work shows through the new work like a ghost. Ferlinghetti layers his work over previous works by making allusions to them, a technique accentuated by the existence of the notes section at the end of the poem.

Ferlinghetti also uses lists and catalogs in much the same manner as Whitman, trying to express the vastness and variability of America in a cornucopia of references to people, events, and impressions that help capture the American experience. Then interestingly, he begins each line with one statement and then contradicts his attitude towards life like "I chopped trees for the CCC and sat on them.

But as the past progresses, we see that Ferlinghetti is becoming more adventurous through traveling and riding "boxcars boxcars boxcars. His experiences begin to escalate into exciting and interesting incidences and aspects of his life. Then he says "I am the man," a strong tone of confidence strikes the poem. San Francisco: City Lights, Morgan, Bill.

The book is notable for its wealth of archival images. Sterritt, David. Oxford: Oxford University Press, DOI: This is an excellent entry point for undergraduate students. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login. Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions.

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