Speak Out

Kelly-Renee Hunter

Professor Carter

Oral Interpretation of Literature ENGL 4433

12 September 2005

Ferlinghetti Obeys His Own Poem

Poetry can have many purposes, or reasons, for its' creation and production. One such purpose is that of sending a message to an intended audience. Some poets, when sending an intentional message, will do it directly using words that are more denotative in meaning, and some will express themselves more indirectly, using connotative wording, riddled with layered connections, or some combination in between. In this poem, however, "Speak Out!" by famous Beat Poet and painter, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, composed in March of 2003, Ferlinghetti is choosing to send his message in a very direct manner. His images cast indirect blame, but listen to whom he is really speaking to.

SPEAK OUT!

By Lawrence Ferlinghetti

And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land 1

And America turns the attack on its Twin Towers 2

Into the beginning of the Third World War 3

The war with the Third World 4

And the terrorists in Washington 5

Are shipping out the young men 6 To the killing fields again 7

And no one speaks 8

And they are rousting out 9

All the ones with turbans 10

And they are flushing out 11

All the strange immigrants 12

And they are shipping all the young men 13

To the killing fields again 14

And no one speaks 15

And when they come to round up 16

All the great writers and poets and painters 17

The National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency 18

Will not speak 19

While all the young men 20

Will be killing all the young men 21

In the killing fields again 22

So now is the time for you to speak 23

All you lovers of liberty 24

All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness 25

All you lovers and sleepers 26

Deep in your private dream 27

Now is the time for you to speak 28

O silent majority 29

Before they come for you! 30

Purpose:

Being 85 yrs old and having served in WW II as a ship's commander, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has experienced war first hand and as a result of expressing his opinions through poetry he became known as a poet in the beat generation - "beats were the anarchists in a time of general post-war conformism". Written in reaction to the newly declared war in Iraq, it is true that Ferlinghetti was very frustrated with the government's choice to go to war with Iraq. However, it is not the leaders of the U.S. Government whom Ferlinghetti is addressing these challenging words to, though he refers to them rather dramatically as "the terrorists in Washington" (line 5). No, this poem doesn't speak to those ultimately responsible for declaring the war, nor does it speak to his fellow writers and artists in his field who he insults by calling them members of the "National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency" (line 12) for not speaking up. I think it also important