Reddit Reddit reviews The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry

We found 9 Reddit comments about The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Literature & Fiction
Books
Poetry
Poetry Anthologies
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry
From the Beat poetry of the '50s to the spoken word of today, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry brings readers the words, visions, and extravagant lives of bohemians, beatniks, hippies, punks, and slackers
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9 Reddit comments about The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry:

u/_lordgrey · 7 pointsr/writing

Hey VA. Awesome question. In my opinion, the best thing you can do to improve your writing is read voraciously. A lot of people say, read "hard" books above your ability, but I think truly hard reading is reading stuff outside the bounds of what you normally read. For instance, if you love SF/Fantasy novels, read some literary fiction. If you're into pulp romance novels, read some fan fiction.


It also helps to think about what you mean by improved writing, because a lot of the most beautiful, exquisite novels don't do well commercially with a few rare exceptions, like Thomas Pynchon. Gravity's Rainbow is notorious for being almost unreadable; a Dostoyevsky novel is considered some of the most elite literature in the world, yet to me, it's unreadable. I feel the same way about Tolkein's books. Tolkein was writing to document his languages. He was a very 'correct' English writer, but stylistically I find him very dull.


Immediate writers who can craft a vivid world and story are my favorite. Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Robbins are all great novelists with a very specific style. You gotta just devour writing of all kinds.


I also find that reading and writing poetry has crafted my understanding of precise, sexy word choice and pacing tremendously. Check out The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. A lot of these poems are from the beat generation era writers, who struggled with exactly what you're talking about, growing up in that 1950's mentality which was very repressive.


Finally, you have your own lifestyle. The best writing tends to be the most honest and direct experience of the writer. Consider what a personal revolution would be to you, what you intensely love, the things you wish for but are afraid to do. Honestly, if you want to approach the highest level of writing, go do some of those things. Or at least fantasize about doing them in your writing. A great example is Samuel R. Delany - he is a very gay, african american writer who grew up repressed by society from every side, but he also had a really wild sex life, and he was able to use those details in his writing. It isn't smut, but he knows smut. It isn't racist, or the kind of bitter, woe-is-me writing that a lot of minorities or subcultures can't escape - but it's informed by that narrative, as well as the counter-narrative of affluent white people who don't even think in those terms. So reading a Delany novel (most of which are Sci Fi novels) is an intense experience. I get so much value from those books, because he's taken the time to really go into these issues that, being gay and black, he can't ignore. If you can start thinking in these terms, you can start making literature on a really high level. It doesn't matter how exquisite your vocabulary is, or how complex your plot structures are - it just matters how you see and interact with the world, your world, and how immersively you can bring us into that world.

u/Daedalus18 · 5 pointsr/AskLiteraryStudies
  1. The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry 1 -

    This book is heavy, so it doubles as a brick for smashing in the windows of capitalist bourgeois pigs. Reading it is like taking a shot of tabasco sauce and injecting it into your eye with a hypodermic needle.

  2. Surrealist Poetry in English 2 -

    I had to buy this one on ebay, but it's a damn fine collection. Makes me want to hand out LSD-laced lollypops to schoolkids, then piss on the grave of H.W. Longfellow.

  3. Norton Anthology of Modern & Contemporary Poetry 3 -

    These two have all the good ones of the 20th century, a clean layout, and a fine selection. Good for reading beneath a tree in the autumn, in a graveyard.

  4. Penguin Anthology 4 -

    It's edited by Rita Dove, so you know this collection has good taste. The poems are from a wide spread of poetry movements, but personally, I find a lot of the pieces in it to be a little too 'delicate'. But very good for reading naked in bed, while softly stroking the hair of your sleeping lover.

  5. English Romantic Poetry 5 -

    Got all the biggies like Byron, Shelly and Keats. I fuckin love Keats. This book is a great introduction to 19th century poetry. This is good for reading on a bus while driving past a field of flowers on a humid summer evening with the windows open, reminiscing about your high school crush.
u/dontforgetit · 3 pointsr/writing

I'm pretty sure there's a collection of the pics you mention in The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. It's amazing to see.

u/jaki_cold · 2 pointsr/Anarchism

The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry is one of my favorites.

u/Fishare · 2 pointsr/Poetry

If you want modern American Poerty I HIGHLY recommend this [book] (http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Bible-American-Poetry/dp/1560252278).

It covers so many of the best poems by many of the famous Contemporary Beat Poets. As well as incredible lesser known beat's like DA Levy, and Bob Wallace. Some of my favorites, are Richard Brautigan, Bukowski, Jack Micheline, Ray Bremser, Neal Cassady. There is even, an incredible poem by Jackson Pollock.

u/zachizsinister · 2 pointsr/ELATeachers

The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry

I would give this a read if the opportunity presents. Some of the works contain harsh language but the quality is undeniable. My 12th LA teacher introduced me to this book years ago and I still give it a go-through now.

u/pleachchapel · 1 pointr/literature

There's a kickass compendium of outlaw American poesy, I wonder if there's something similar for Europe/other places as an introduction to more poets.

u/muffinbutt1027 · 1 pointr/books

The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, it's thick and has everything from slam poets to contemporaries.