Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Two Scavengers in a Truck...

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1 Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Two Scavengers in a Truck... Context Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born in 1919 in New York, but he is mostly associated with San Francisco as one of the main poets of the Beat movement. In 1953, he co-founded a publishing house and bookshop called City Lights, which specialised in Beat poetry and became a meeting place for poets and artists. His first book was published in 1955; he has since written 17 more books of poetry, drama, prose and translation. He often writes about politics and social issues, as seen in Two Scavengers... He was named as San Francisco's first Poet Laureate in At the stoplight waiting for the light nine am downtown San Francisco a bright yellow garbage truck with two garbagemen in red plastic blazers standing on the back stoop one on each side hanging on and looking down into an elegant open Mercedes with an elegant couple in it The man in a hip three-piece linen suit with shoulder-length blond hair & sunglasses The young blond woman so casually coifed with a short skirt and colored stockings on the way to his architect's office And the two scavengers up since four am grungy from their route on the way home The older of the two with grey iron hair and hunched back looking down like some gargoyle Quasimodo And the younger of the two also with sunglasses & long hair about the same age as the Mercedes driver

2 And both scavengers gazing down as from a great distance at the cool couple as if they were watching some odorless TV ad in which everything is always possible And the very red light for an instant holding all four close together as if anything at all were possible between them across that small gulf in the high seas of this democracy (Picture courtesy of Gonzalo Herná ndez Aravjo and Katie Deedy Robison) Vocabulary Words coifed (line 13) Meanings Styled - she has a casual-looking hairdo. gargoyle (line 22) A spout in the shape of a grotesque head, used to clear rainwater from old buildings (especially churches). Quasimodo (line 22) The title character from Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame What is 'Two Scavengers...' about? The poem describes four people held together for a moment at a red traffic light. There are two scavengers - garbagemen 'on their way home' after their round - and two 'beautiful people', an elegant couple 'on the way to his architect's office'. The garbagemen's day ends where the young couple's begins. The poet

3 compares the two pairs in detail, then seems to ask - at the end of the poem - whether America really is a 'democracy'. Structure (Picture courtesy of Shannon Kuanfung and Pete Jelliffe) idea. The poem's structure is fairly free. The poet doesn't use punctuation; instead, he begins a new line when he wants us to pause in our reading. This slows the poem down and gives us time to appreciate each The poem appears very fragmented on the page. Do you think this might suggest the fragmented or 'broken' nature of society? Language Think about how the language the poet uses helps to convey his ideas. Here are some points to consider: The title shows us straight away that the poem will be about the contrasts between two pairs of people. 'Scavengers' is a derogatory term for the garbagemen because it suggests that they live off the rubbish of others - a scavenger beetle lives off rotting flesh. However, 'Beautiful People' is a compliment. So, right from the start, we feel the garbagemen are at a disadvantage. However, the garbagemen are 'looking down' (line 7) into the Mercedes. At face value, this is clearly because the garbage truck is taller than the car, but is there an ironic message too? You might have expected the rich couple to 'look down on' the dustmen, not the other way round. The descriptions of the four people are very visual, making it easy to imagine the scene. Appearances tell us a lot. The rich couple are very fashionable: he has an expensive 'hip three-piece linen suit' (line 11), while her blond hair is 'casually coifed' (line 13). On the other hand, the garbagemen are 'grungy' (line 17). The younger one has 'sunglasses & long hair' (line 24) just like the 'Mercedes driver', which forces us to compare the two.

4 The poem is written in the present tense. This gives a sense of immediacy - we feel that the poem is happening now. From a wider perspective, it also suggests that the huge gap between the rich and the poor is a problem now, too. The language is modern, simple and sometimes colloquial (eg, 'cool couple'). There are short cuts - '&' is used instead of 'and' (lines 12 and 24). Why did Ferlinghetti choose this style? What point is Ferlinghetti making about American democracy? Has it failed, because there is still an obvious gap between rich and poor? Or would it be unrealistic to expect a perfect democracy, free of class distinctions? What do you think the political views of the 'Two Scavengers' and the 'Two Beautiful People' might be? Imagery (Picture courtesy of Benjamin Alman) The garbagemen are riding 'a bright yellow garbage truck' (line 3) and wear 'red plastic blazers' (line 4); later on we find one of them has 'grey iron hair' (line 19). These are strong colours. The couple in the Mercedes, though, are almost colourless: he wears a 'linen suit' (line 11) - natural linen is a cream colour - and they both have blond hair. Is the poet suggesting that the garbagemen have more colour in their lives? Are the young couple actually colourless and boring? (Picture courtesy of David Milnes) The older garbageman has a hunched back and looks 'like some gargoyle Quasimodo' (line 22). This simile is striking: Quasimodo is the Hunchback of Notre Dame in Victor Hugo's novel. He is a tragic figure: kind and loving despite his ugliness, he finally dies of a broken heart. Quasimodo means almost finished or half made. Do you think Ferlinghetti compares the dustman to Quasimodo simply to help us imagine his appearance, or for other reasons?

5 (Picture courtesy of Bas Slabbers) The garbagemen stare at the young couple 'as from a great distance' (line 27). They are actually close together, stuck at the red light. Does the image suggest the 'distance' between the lives each pair lead? (Picture courtesy of Shannon Kuanfung) For the dustmen, looking at the couple is the same as 'watching some odourless TV ad' (line 29) - the ways of life portrayed seem impossibly perfect. To the garbagemen, the couple are almost unreal and their lifestyle is out of reach. The closing lines of the poem involve a metaphor about the sea. If America is the high seas, the distance between the two vehicles is a 'small gulf' (line 35) or narrow mouth that should be easy to cross. Yet we also think of the other meaning of gulf - a deep chasm or abyss. It may look possible to cross, but really it is impossible. The lives of the two pairs may cross 'for an instant' (line 31), but they will never be genuinely close together. Sound Ferlinghetti uses repetition in his poem. Individual words are repeated, for instance, 'elegant' (lines 8 and 9) and 'scavengers' (lines 16 and 26), as well as phrases such as 'as if' (29 and 33). What is the effect of this?

6 Attitude, tone and ideas Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it expresses toward its subject matter. Attitude can be thought of as a combination of the poet's tone of voice, and the ideas he or she is trying to get across to the reader. A good way to decide on the tone of a poem is to work out how you would read it aloud. Should this poem be read: o In a loud, angry tone, to protest about the failure of democracy? o In a sombre, muted tone, to express sadness that a gap remains between rich and poor? o In a dramatic tone, so that we wonder what may happen between the two pairs of people? Ideas Select a short quotation to justify your choice. The ideas in this poem are to do with the extreme divisions between rich people and poor people in a supposedly egalitarian society, and the effect these divisions have on how people perceive each other. Have a look at these quotations, and our suggestions about how they fit into this theme Quotation Commentary We are encouraged to sympathise with these...the two scavengers up garbagemen who work anti social hours and who become since four am/grungy dirty and smelly as a result. The specific detail (four from their route am) and the expressive word grungy make us pity them. The elegant couple are not described in as much detail as the garbagemen, as if the poet is less interested in...the cool couple... them. He uses a cliché here, the cool couple - which is how they probably think of themselves... 'as if anything at all were possible/between them...' It seems that the poet would like to believe that the two pairs he describes really could be friends - but the 'as if' tells us he knows that is only imaginary. He feels that democracy hasn't succeeded because communication between the rich and poor is still impossible.

7 Comparison In the exam, you will be required to write about two or more poems. Which poems could you compare 'Two Scavengers in a Truck...' to? There will be a number of ways in which the poems can be compared, and you may well be able to think of other similarities! Have a look at our suggestions and the comparison Poet and poem Imtiaz Dharker: 'Blessing' Niyi Osundare: 'Not my Business' What to look for in your comparison - Both poems have a very free structure and describe the lives of ordinary people.- We are not told where the action of 'Blessing' takes place, but can guess that it is set in a rural village; 'Two Scavengers' takes place very explicitly at 'nine am downtown San Francisco'. - Both poems use individual stories to make a political point.- Osundare's poem is about political oppression in a police state, while Ferlinghetti's is about social inequality in a democracy.