Speak Out
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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 ships 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 governments 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 doesnt 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