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 1998.
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
(with acknowledgements to BBC Bitesize)
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
Meanings
coifed (line 13)
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
(with acknowledgements to BBC Bitesize)
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)
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
idea.
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:
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•
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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.
(with acknowledgements to BBC Bitesize)
•
•
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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?
(with acknowledgements to BBC Bitesize)
(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.
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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?
(with acknowledgements to BBC Bitesize)
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.
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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?
Select a short quotation to justify your choice.
Ideas
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...
It seems that the poet would like to believe that the
two pairs he describes really could be friends - but the
'as if anything at all
'as if' tells us he knows that is only imaginary. He feels
were possible/between
that democracy hasn't succeeded because
them...'
communication between the rich and poor is still
impossible.
(with acknowledgements to BBC Bitesize)
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
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
Imtiaz Dharker:
action of 'Blessing' takes place, but can guess that it is
'Blessing'
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
Niyi Osundare:
point.- Osundare's poem is about political oppression in a
'Not my Business' police state, while Ferlinghetti's is about social inequality
in a democracy.
(with acknowledgements to BBC Bitesize)