Portrait of
a Rebel
Poet:
a Rebel
Poet:
General Characteristics / Roles
| by Larry Smith, director Bottom Dog Press |
| professor BGSU Firelands College |
American Poet-Fiction
Writer-Artist
Kenneth Patchen
(1911-1972)
General Characteristics of the Rebel Poet in America
(Note: None of these are absolute requirements,
but they do represent a composite model)
(Note: None of these are absolute requirements,
but they do represent a composite model)
Has working-class youth by birth or shared experience
Rejects family values of religious rule and quest for wealth
Rebels against Educational and Social Institutions
Seeks well guarded independence, with a strong will, vivid imagination
Is reborn—Finds identity through Writing and Art
Often sees self as a social outsider—observer-critic role
Witnesses social injustices and war
Attains vision that writing and art matter—can change the world
Experiences need to reinvent the language of
expression to fit a broken inner-reality
Creates new forms outside boundaries of poetry
expression to fit a broken inner-reality
Creates new forms outside boundaries of poetry
Works to “get the word out”—for self and others:
by writing, printing, and publishing, promoting public
readings
readings
Risks censor— Stretches social norms—Becomes a target
Sacrifices for vision—passionate and engaged
Censorship may come from society (courts)—publishing world—
other groups of writers—
academia
academia
May join with others in revolt:
| Bohemians—Leftists—Beats—Underground Mimeograph Revolution Suffers losses yet persists toward developing a new world order |
Some Examples
Zen Rebel Poets: Han-shan (Cold Mountain), Ikkyu (Crazy Cloud), Taigu Ryokan (Great Fool)
William Blake—Oscar Wilde
Charles Baudelaire—Arthur Rimbaud—Jean Cocteau—Antonin Artaud
Pablo Neruda—Cesaer Vallejo—Bertolt Brecht
William Blake—Oscar Wilde
Charles Baudelaire—Arthur Rimbaud—Jean Cocteau—Antonin Artaud
Pablo Neruda—Cesaer Vallejo—Bertolt Brecht
French Surrealists—Andre Breton/ Benjamin Peret/ Paul Eluard
* * *
Ralph Waldo Emerson—Margaret Fuller—Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman—Emily Dickinson
* * *
Ralph Waldo Emerson—Margaret Fuller—Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman—Emily Dickinson
Kenneth Rexroth—Kenneth Patchen—
William Everson
Jack Conroy—Edwin Rolfe
Ezra Pound—William Carlos Williams—
Charles Olsen—Langston Hughes
William Everson
Jack Conroy—Edwin Rolfe
Ezra Pound—William Carlos Williams—
Charles Olsen—Langston Hughes
Meridel Leseur –Muriel Rukeyser—Tillie Olsen—
Denise Levertov
June Jordan—Audre Lorde—Nikki Giovanni
Denise Levertov
June Jordan—Audre Lorde—Nikki Giovanni
| Allen Ginsberg / Lawrence Ferlinghetti / Bob Kaufmann/ Gregory Corso Michael McClure—Philip Lamantia—Ted Jones—Charles Bukowski Gary Snyders—Diane diPrima—Michael McClure Hetti Jones & Leroi Jones(Amiri Baraka)—Anne Waldman—Joanne Kyger Ted Berrigan—Daniel Berrigan Ed Sanders—d.a.levy—Daniel Thompson—Charlie Potts—Jack Micheline |
Others Rebel Spirits: Henry Miller, Alan Watts, Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie
Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Jackson Pollock
John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Anni DeFranco...
Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Jackson Pollock
John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Anni DeFranco...
d.a.levy / Anne Waldman / Ed Sanders
| Link To: Places of Kenneth and Miriam Patchen Page |