Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet best known as a leader of the beat movement of the 1950's. The beats were writers who condemned commercialism and middle-class American values. Ferlinghetti writes in colloquial free verse. His poetry describes the need to release literature and life from conformity and timidity. He believes drugs, Zen Buddhism, and emotional and physical love can open the soul to truth and beauty.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers, New York, in 1919. After spending his early childhood in France, he received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina, an M.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne. During World War II he served in the US Naval Reserve and was sent to Nagasaki shortly after it was bombed. He married in 1951 and has one daughter and one son. In 1953, Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin began to publish City Lights magazine. They also opened the City Lights Books Shop in San Francisco to help support the magazine. In......

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Title: Lawrence Ferlinghetti: An American Poet
Approximate Word Count: 1006
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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