Some San Francisco Renaissance Poets Part One Summary

After Ginsberg moves to Berkeley, the entire Beat Generation shifts to the West, and this shift culminates with the Six Gallery reading of six different poets in 1955.

Kenneth Rexroth is an older influence on the poets of the Beat Generation and features anarchist themes in much of his poetry. Rexroth's poetry "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is written to mourn the early death of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. In the poem, Rexroth claims that the young men of the world are constantly being killed because they are willing to speak against their societies. Rexroth names off a long list of writers who died or gave up writing at a young age and specifically mourns Thomas as the "canary of Swansea" and other flattering names. Rexroth blames the rich and powerful for all...