Lawrence Ferlinghetti is the poet, author, and narrator of this collection of poems. The poems reflect his opinions and beliefs about many aspects of society and the world. The title of the book is "A Coney Island of the Mind" which Ferlinghetti explains symbolizes a circus of the mind or soul, showing his frame of mind when he wrote these poems. His general tone is forlorn and pessimistic, seeming to despair of life and the current situation of the world and the people in it.