|
Poet: Charles Bukowski
Poem: The Genius Of The Crowd
Comment 13 of 13, added on May 14th, 2008 at 9:22 AM.
This is not a message of love, as some have interpreted, but one of disgust. He's talking about the horror of mob metality and warning us against it. Those who preach peae and love yet have none of it themselves are those who protest something and hypcritically support it simultaneously. An example would be 'peace protesters' using violent means to make an example. They are so angry at what they stand for,they gather in crowds and together their hate disturbs them and makes them best at war. The line about bewaring those who read books and detest/are proud of poverty means that the narrow-minded mass of semi-educated people merely demonstrate their lack of involvement with the real world- the tough, no-nonsense world of Bukowski. The goes on to condemn that middle class crowd of the average and describes the tyranny of the masses, the hatred of those who group together "not wanting solitutde not understanding solitude" and blaming the world for their failures when truly, they are the incomplete ones. The majority is tempting like a shining diamond, and large as a mountain, and as dangerous as the knife, tiger, and hemlock he concludes the poem with. It is their hatred that is their "finest art".
Alison from Singapore
Comment 12 of 13, added on March 19th, 2008 at 2:36 AM.
those who detest poverty will never do anything to fix the problem and those proud of it are just, well, twisted.
bukowski is poetry. the best kind of poetry.
mari from United States
Comment 11 of 13, added on January 5th, 2008 at 12:55 PM.
bukowksi is not condemning people in this poem, he is telling people to beware, or question their surroundings. by saying beware of people who detest poverty he is saying question them-- why do they detest poverty? i think bukowski is saying that we must QUESTION things, not take them for their surface value. most people are filled with hate because they don't understand other people or where they are coming from. this is why we must beware of others so we don't end up surrounded by a bunch of average people who hate their lives doing a bunch of average things.
brittany McKallagat from United States
Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, The Genius Of The Crowd, has received 13 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Charles Bukowski with others on the American Poems poetry forum!
|
Comments
This is not a message of love, as some have interpreted, but one of disgust. He's talking about the horror of mob metality and warning us against it. Those who preach peae and love yet have none of it themselves are those who protest something and hypcritically support it simultaneously. An example would be 'peace protesters' using violent means to make an example. They are so angry at what they stand for,they gather in crowds and together their hate disturbs them and makes them best at war. The line about bewaring those who read books and detest/are proud of poverty means that the narrow-minded mass of semi-educated people merely demonstrate their lack of involvement with the real world- the tough, no-nonsense world of Bukowski. The goes on to condemn that middle class crowd of the average and describes the tyranny of the masses, the hatred of those who group together "not wanting solitutde not understanding solitude" and blaming the world for their failures when truly, they are the incomplete ones. The majority is tempting like a shining diamond, and large as a mountain, and as dangerous as the knife, tiger, and hemlock he concludes the poem with. It is their hatred that is their "finest art".
Alison from Singapore