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Wild Dreams of a New Beginning

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 155 ratings · 7 reviews

Two acclaimed poetry volumes, Who Are We Now? (1976) and Landscapes of Livingand Dying (1979), are brought together.

Paperback, 129 pages

Published December 1st 1988 by New Directions Publishing Corporation (first published November 1st 1988)

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Jun 13, 2009 Juliet Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Lawrence Ferlinghetti has been described as one of our 'ageless radicals and true bards'. Before I picked up this collection of his, I took that description with a pinch of salt, being very used to finding highly praised poets to often be disappointing in the reading. However in this case there was no disappointment at all. Ferlinghetti's poetry is well crafted, vivid, passionate and engaged with life. He also has a strong environmental consciousness. Seascape with Sun and Eagle describes an eag...more

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Jan 01, 2009 George rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ferlinghetti was one of my favorite poets when i first got into poetry, late high school, early college. looking back on some of his work the literalness of it can seem almost didactic and lacking a certain freedom that would appeal to me or on the other end that sense of focus and intent that makes taut poetry (or prose) more appealing to me. Still, his progressive politics, his sense of organization, his ability to recognize the importance of marketing outsider, marginal or avant-garde work is...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars

He was the reason I left Ohio to discover the City Lights Bookstore and it was because of this book.

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May 23, 2012 Ben rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was okay, but not my favorite of Ferlinghetti's works.

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Aug 17, 2011 Deanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Has so many good poems that had i not read this i would not have been interested in his work so much

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Jun 28, 2007 Bryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Back when I used to read things other than slightly tinged religous texts, I liked Lawrence. A lot. This was one of my favorite collections.

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Mar 29, 2008 Kirsten rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-pre-12-07, own, poetry

This isn't my favorite of Ferlinghetti's collections, but it's still truly excellent.

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May 13, 2013 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

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May 02, 2013 D.L. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

May 04, 2013 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 15, 2013 Emma added it

Apr 14, 2013 Vanessa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apr 14, 2013 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Apr 09, 2013 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Feb 23, 2013 Caprice Carmona rated it 4 of 5 stars

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About Lawrence Ferlinghetti

A prominent voice of the wide-open poetry movement that began in the 1950s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has written poetry, translation, fiction, theater, art criticism, film narration, and essays. Often concerned with politics and social issues, Ferlinghetti’s poetry countered the literary elite's definition of art and the artist's role in the world. Though imbued with the commonplace, his poetry canno...more A prominent voice of the wide-open poetry movement that began in the 1950s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has written poetry, translation, fiction, theater, art criticism, film narration, and essays. Often concerned with politics and social issues, Ferlinghetti’s poetry countered the literary elite's definition of art and the artist's role in the world. Though imbued with the commonplace, his poetry cannot be simply described as polemic or personal protest, for it stands on his craftsmanship, thematics, and grounding in tradition.

Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers in 1919, son of Carlo Ferlinghetti who was from the province of Brescia and Clemence Albertine Mendes-Monsanto. Following his undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a ship's commander. He received a Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1947 and a Doctorate de l’Université de Paris (Sorbonne) in 1950. From 1951 to 1953, when he settled in San Francisco, he taught French in an adult education program, painted, and wrote art criticism. In 1953, with Peter D. Martin, he founded City Lights Bookstore, the first all-paperbound bookshop in the country, and by 1955 he had launched the City Lights publishing house.

The bookstore has served for half a century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals. City Lights Publishers began with the Pocket Poets Series, through which Ferlinghetti aimed to create an international, dissident ferment. His publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl & Other Poems in 1956 led to his arrest on obscenity charges, and the trial that followed drew national attention to the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movement writers. (He was overwhelmingly supported by prestigious literary and academic figures, and was acquitted.) This landmark First Amendment case established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work with redeeming social importance.

Ferlinghetti’s paintings have been shown at various galleries around the world, from the Butler Museum of American Painting to Il Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. He has been associated with the international Fluxus movement through the Archivio Francesco Conz in Verona. He has toured Italy, giving poetry readings in Roma, Napoli, Bologna, Firenze, Milano, Verona, Brescia, Cagliari, Torino, Venezia, and Sicilia. He won the Premio Taormino in 1973, and since then has been awarded the Premio Camaiore, the Premio Flaiano, the Premio Cavour. among others. He is published in Italy by Oscar Mondadori, City Lights Italia, and Minimum Fax. He was instrumental in arranging extensive poetry tours in Italy produced by City Lights Italia in Firenze. He has translated from the Italian Pier Paolo Pasolin’s Poemi Romani, which is published by City Lights Books. In San Francisco, his work can regularly be seen at the George Krevsky Gallery at 77 Geary Street.

Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind continues to be the most popular poetry book in the U.S. It has been translated into nine languages, and there are nearly 1,000,000 copies in print. The author of poetry, plays, fiction, art criticism, and essays, he has a dozen books currently in print in the U.S., and his work has been translated in many countries and in many languages. His most recent books are A Far Rockaway of the Heart (1997), How to Paint Sunlight (2001), and Americus Book I (2004) published by New Directions.

He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Los Angeles Times’ Robert Kirsch Award, the BABRA Award for Lifetime Achievement, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Award for Contribution to American Arts and Letters, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award. Ferlinghetti was named San Francisco’s Poet Laureate in August 1998.(less)

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“We have seen the best minds of our generation destroyed by boredom at poetry readings.” — 29 people liked it

“Almost every truly creative being alienated & expatriated in his own country” — 6 people liked it

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