 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
||||||||
 |
|
 |
Activities: Context Activities Poetry of Transcendence: Poets Look to the American Landscape  Back to Context Activities
The postwar period was in many ways imbued with an atmosphere of spiritual searching. The younger generation in particular, which included many of the poets in this unit, was desperately seeking what they termed transcendent experience. Native American culture and religion, as well as the rise of the New Age movement, provided one answer to this spiritual searching. Poets like Gary Snyder and James Wright were particularly drawn to Native American culture, an interest probably prompted in part by the rise of the American Indian movement, which insisted on the power of traditional ways even as it sought to make real political changes. Indian tradition, which featured sweat lodges, sun dance revivals, and other rituals, became popular during this time. Peyote, also central to Native American religion and culture, held particular interest for the Beat poets, who experimented with a wide array of hallucinogens. Peyote is a flower on a cactus that contains the drug mescaline, which is similar to LSD. As a rite of passage into manhood, Indian boys would take the drug and go on a "vision quest," during which they would wander around the wilderness for several days, experiencing drug-induced visions. Such rituals were appealing to a generation that yearned for transcendent experience and believed that the mind harbored fascinating and meaningful abilities untapped by the "normal" mode of living. Likewise, the New Age movement encouraged people to believe in alternate states of reality, to believe in crystals and visions, and to look inward for spiritual meaning. In addition to their interest in Native American culture and New Age practices, the meditative poets were also inspired by nature and the outdoors. Alongside the fiercely political poetry written during this period, poets like James Wright, Robert Bly, and Galway Kinnell were writing verse that seemed defiantly silent on social issues. Instead of tackling the political and social shortcomings of mainstream America head-on, this group of "meditative" poets protested the state of society by turning away from civilization and looking instead to nature and the land as a source of inspiration. In an era in which mankind was not only slowly poisoning itself, but seemed also to be toying with its newfound power to destroy itself and the world, these poets saw technology as extremely dangerous. They lamented the urbanization that seemed to be creeping outward from the cities, as suburbia spread over the American landscape. During the 1950s, the government undertook the largest highway expansion program in American history, and road construction, with all its noisy machinery, unfurled across the country. The environment seemed to be under siege as reports of oil spills, strip mines, and increased pollution filled the newspapers. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring announced the devastating effects of DDT on the environment, and its publication triggered growing awareness about environmental and ecological problems plaguing the country and the globe. The list of endangered species grew steadily. Indeed, to many of these poets, civilization was threatening nature and the environment like never before. In the face of this modernization and a burgeoning global economy, these poets looked to nature and the wilderness as an escape and as a source of inspiration. Drawing on the Romantics and the American Transcendentalists, like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, poets like Gary Snyder, Joy Harjo, and James Wright sought out a simpler life, where they could escape the encroachment of civilization. Their transcendental philosophy, in which humans' connection to the land becomes a source not only of peacefulness but also of artistic inspiration and spiritual renewal, is founded on quintessentially American ideals. Like Thoreau and Emerson, these poets of the 1960s saw transcendental living and writing as a way to practice American ideals like self-reliance, resourcefulness, and individualism. Snyder actually managed to live almost self-sufficiently in the mountains of Oregon and California, growing much of his own food and chopping his own wood. This connection to an earlier, yet deeply American culture explains his interest in myth, folklore, and the theme of the journey in his poetry. Although Joy Harjo's poetry seems quite different from Snyder's, her search for spirituality in nature, as well as her connections to the land and American Indian culture, aligns her with the poetry of transcendentalism. These poets were, like their predecessors, reacting against what they perceived as an intrusive and morally suspect government. In looking to nature, they were enacting an anti-establishment sentiment. Part of this interest in the land also meant an interest in non-Western cultures. Although the confessional poets did not draw their inspiration from Native American culture or the ecological concerns characteristic of the meditative poets, they did share an interest and belief in the idea of the poet as a visionary. Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath all believed in a transcendent state, often induced by mental illness (mania or depression) that sparked brilliant poetry. Questions
[4999] Anonymous, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and Ralph Metzer (Left to Right) Standing in Front of a Ten Foot Plaster Buddha (1965), courtesy of the Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-119239]. Beats preparing for a "psychedelic celebration" at the Village Theater in New York City. Beat writers looked to Eastern religions and traditions, as they found European American culture and religions empty of meaning. See Ginsberg's poem "Sunflower Sutra" ("sutra" is Sanskrit for "thread" and refers to Buddhist religious texts). [6245] Anonymous, Ginsberg at 19 in the Merchant Marine (1945), courtesy of Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries and the Allen Ginsberg Trust. Allen Ginsberg felt an allegiance to Walt Whitman. He was compelled by their shared experience as homosexuals and fascinated by their different perspectives on American culture. Ginsberg shocked America with his manifesto Howl. [6505] Anonymous, The Howl Trial, San Francisco Municipal Court, 1957 (1957), courtesy of City Lights Books. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, arrested for publishing Ginsberg's poem, comments on the Howl obscenity trial: "The prosecution put only two 'expert witnesses' on the stand--both very lame samples of academia--one from the Catholic University of San Francisco and one a private elocution teacher, a beautiful woman, who said, 'You feel like you are going through the gutter when you have to read that stuff. I didn't linger on it too long, I assure you.' The University of San Francisco instructor said: 'The literary value of the poem is negligible. . . . This poem is apparently dedicated to a long-dead movement, Dadaism, and some late followers of Dadaism. And, therefore, the opportunity is long past for any significant literary contribution of this poem." [6783] Edward S. Curtis, Altar Peyote with Rattle (Osage) (1930), courtesy of the Library of Congress [E77. C97]. Poets seeking transcendence--particularly Gary Snyder and James Wright-- were drawn to Native American belief systems and to the use of peyote. [7341] Arthur Rothstein, Strip Mining Operations with a Thirty-Two Cubic Yard Steam Shovel. Cherokee County, Kansas (1936), courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection [LC-USF34-004274-D DLC]. Heavy machinery at mining site. Meditative poets found inspiration in nature and were alarmed by increasing environmental destruction in the United States. [8314] Joy Harjo, Interview: "Native Voices and Poetry of Liberation" (2003), courtesy of American Passages and Annenberg Media. Writer Joy Harjo discusses the power of the spoken word. [8608] Native Alliance for Red Power, NARP Newsletter (June/July 1969), courtesy of the Special Collections, Michigan State University Libraries. The Native Alliance for Red Power (NARP) was a Canadian organization similar to the American Indian Movement (AIM). Both were part of tribalism and the Pan-Indian movement of the 1970s. Organizations like AIM, NARP, and the Black Panthers called for changes in the treatment of minorities and were more willing to use physical confrontation than their predecessors in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and early 1960s. |
|
 This tool builds multimedia presentations for classrooms or assignments.   An online collection of 3000 artifacts for classroom use.   Download the Instructor Guide PDF for this Unit. |
|
|
|