Constantly Risking Absurdity
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making
1. To what sort of performer is the poet compared?
The poet is compared to a high-wire acrobat.
2. Name at least 3 feats of the poet/performer.
3. What picture of the poet does Ferlinghetti create by calling him a "little charleychaplin man?" Contrast this image with that of beauty in lines 25-26. What does this contrast suggest about the relationship between a poet and art?
Ferlinghetti compares the poet to the actor/comedian Charley Chaplin, who was a master of physical comedy in silent films. Just like Chaplin did not always seem successful in life and has a hard time "getting it right", especially in getting the girl, the poet is not always successful in capturing the sense of beauty that he wants to express in his art. Beauty just "stands and waits" for the poet to describe her and express her beauty in his words. Art needs an artist, or poet, to make it become art that is beautiful or meaningful to others.
Create links to Charley Chaplin information sites or to a Charley Chaplin short feature on the web.
Charley Chaplin
4. Define realist. Since super means both "above" and to "a greater degree," what two ideas about poetry does Ferlinghetti suggest when he says that the poet is a "super realist."
Realist is one who pays attention to what is real; the tendency to represent things as they really are; style of writing that emphasizes fidelity to the details
A poet needs to look at the world realistically to a greater degree than other people do if he is to interpret it successfully without "falling." He needs to be "above" the world, kind of removed from it, so he can study it and be realistic about what he is writing about, even if his interpretation ends up being romantic.
5. Find three example of Ferlinghetti's inventiveness with language (puns, compound words, etc.) and describe the effects of each.
"sleight-of-foot"—Since he is describing an acrobat he invents this term which he uses instead of "sleight-of-hand"
"
charleychaplin man"—He makes this kind of like all one word to give the effect of the movements and attitude of the film star."
climbs on rime"—He uses rime like it is an object that the acrobat/poet is climbing onto. The reader can picture the acrobat climbing, and then imagine how a poet struggles with and uses rhyme as one of his tools for creating his form of art.6. What is the tone of the poem? Explain.
The tone of the poem fun and entertaining. The writer is using the fun idea of being a high-wire performer to explain what it feels like to be a poet. The word plays and examples show the risks that poets take in their work, just like the acrobats.