Lawrence Ferlinghetti illustrates many dimensions of San Francisco in his poetry. His collection of poems investigates a wide range of topics that include San Francisco’s cultural diversity, the expansive social-economical rifts that exist, he is critical of the Imperial United States of America, and articulates on other elements that are unique to San Francisco.
The poem, The Changing Light, in particular is a depiction of the awesome phenomenon that is San Francisco’s brilliant light. San Francisco has its own splendid, radiant gleam that is unique to this earth. It is “none of your East Coast light...none of your pearly light of Paris,” Ferlinghetti says. The light of San Francisco is distinctive, similar to the Mediterranean perhaps, but without comparison. The poem describes the cycle of San Francisco’s light stages. The foggy mornings, the lambent afternoons, the sweeping wing, the casing sunset, and the new fabric of fog that floats in every night.
As our professor suggested, it might be attributed to the combination of the reflection of the ocean, the golden gate, the misty luminous fog, the refulgent glass from the skyline, the harbor light, that truly creates such an awe- inspiring light. Notice it is “Light” not “Lights,” as if San Francisco was a single island of light; A beacon. A drifting island of light is the main image constructed by Ferlinghetti; “an island light.” This might allude to the idea that San Francisco is its own island apart for the rest of the United States, an exceptional metropolis or hub of progress. Structurally, the lines and stanzas seems to be floating, almost drifting, off the page, just as if they were “anchorless upon the ocean,” as the last line of the poem suggest.
We're all beautiful golden sun flowers inside
Have a nice day.
Questions:
Serious: Ferlinghetti employs the element of water thru out many of his poems, what effect does this have on his poems and how would they differ if the water element was removed?
Unserious: “Wake up and pee, the world is one fire” was our advice from Mr. Ferlinghetti… is this Freud reading sexist pig being misogynistic?
