Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Poets around the world are known as unique individuals. They are people who are able to put their feelings, emotions, experiences, and opinions into words. One of these unique individuals is poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He is a man whose poems are simple and speak easily. In Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poetry: confusion, love, culture, background, politics, and war in the world from the 1940's to the 1960's are all themes communicated in Ferlinghetti's poems. He is a poet who is able to use what he knows, believes and hopes for the world. Through three of his poems: "Dove Sta Amore", "A Vast Confusion", and "I Am Waiting", he is able to communicate the issues of his time. Whether the themes of his poems come from personal struggles or social struggles, Ferlinghetti communicates the issues at hand effectively.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is the son of Italian immigrants. As an Italian American, he uses his Italian background and mixes it with his English to write one of his classics, "Dove Sta Amore".

Poetry

Lawrence Ferlinghetti From the poetry reading at C...

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem plague near the City ...

His ability to speak two different languages allowed him to communicate his poetry to two different cultural groups; the Italians, and the English. New York was heavily populated with Italian immigrants at the time. To Italian readers, this poem took them back to a wonderful place. They felt some form of nostalgia remembering home. Dove sta amore translated to, "where lies love?" A part of this poem goes, "Dove sta amore, where lies love, dove sta amore, here lies love." These opening lines are stating that love lies here, within all of us. It can be interpreted in a personal love sense, or a loss of love in the world in general. Regardless, it represents an issue of his generation to the readers.

Life after World War II wasn't so...