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citation: poets.org 2

• Started in the 1940s on the East coast and transplanted

to the West coast in the 1950s

• San Francisco became “the heart” of the Beat

Movement

The Beat Movement

Quotes taken from: poets.org 3

• “a group of writers interested in changing consciousness and defying conventional writing”

• “The battle against social conformity and literary tradition was central to the work of the Beats.”

THE M

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ING

B

EHIN

D TH

E W

RITIN

G

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The Beatniks• Allen Ginsberg• Gary Snyder• Lawrence Ferlinghetti • Gregory Corso • Diane di Prima• Neal Cassady• Anne Waldman • Michael McClure• William S. Burroughs • Jack Kerouac

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Two of the GreatestAllen Ginsberg

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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Ginzy• Born in Newark, New Jersey, on

June 3, 1926

• Jewish

• Best friends with Jack Kerouac

• Author of “Howl”

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“Howl” was written in 1956

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVGoY9gom50

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Ferlinghetti• Born in Yonkers, New York, in 1919• B.A. from the University of North Carolina,

an M.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne

• 1953, Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin began to publish City Lights magazine

• opened the City Lights Books Shop in San Francisco to help support the magazine

• In 1955, they launched City Light Publishing

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“A Coney Island of the Mind” was written in 1958

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUyx6Xa0JSs&feature=related

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Allen Ginsberg• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M

VGoY9gom50• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF

8ay-WUhXs• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI

kMi3lsVYA&feature=related• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=gZvzdzwPVZU&NR=1

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Lawrence Ferlinghetti• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C

Uyx6Xa0JSs&feature=related• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK

CblAJtzgE• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q

34-QN9qnEQ&feature=related• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L

rc96uGWyrE&feature=related• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C

rHv6IASWQ4• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi

PVtijys2c

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Works Cited• "City Lights Books." City Lights Books. City

Lights, n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://www.citylights.com/ferlinghetti

• Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. "A Coney Island of the Mind." A Coney Island of the mind: poems. New York: New Directions, 1958. 3-4, 42. Print.

• Lawrence Ferlinghetti." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/367>.