Constantly Risking Absurdity   

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making
and balancing on eyebeams
above a sea of faces
paces his way
to the other side of the day
performing entrechats
and sleight-of-foot tricks
and other high theatrics
and all without mistaking
any thing
for what it may not be
For he's the super realist
who must perforce perceive
taut truth
before the taking of each stance or step
in his supposed advance
toward that still higher perch
where Beauty stands and waits
with gravity
to start her death-defying leap
And he
a little charley Chaplin man
who may or may not catch
her fair eternal form
spread eagled in the empty air
of existence

1. To what sort of performer is the poet compared?

• The kind of performer the poet it compared to is an acrobat climbs on rime to a high wire of his own making and balancing on eyebeams

2. Name at least 3 feats of the poet/performer.

• Three feats of the poet/performer are perforce perceive taut truth, climbs on rime to a high wire of his own making and balancing on eyebeams, and performs entrechats
  and sleight-of-foot tricks, and risking absurdity
  and death

3. What picture of the poet does Ferlinghetti create by calling him a "little Charley Chaplin man?" Contrast this image with that of beauty in lines 25-26. What does this contrast suggest about the relationship between a poet and art? Create links to Charley Chaplin information sites or to a Charley Chaplin short feature on the web. 

• The poet creates a funny sort of picture. When people think of Charley Chaplin, they think of laughing, and craziness. The performer is compared to Charley Chaplin because performers are supposed to be funny and perform crazy stunts. Performers, like Charlie Chaplin, are suppose to be funny, and silent artists.  The comparison of Charlie Chaplin to the performers signifies the idea that any type of performing is an art and any one can be good at it. 

4.  Define realist. Since super means both "above" and to "a greater degree, what two ideas about poetry does Ferlinghetti suggest when he says that the poet is a "super realist."

• The word realist means one who maintains the generals, or the terms used to denote the general and species of things, represent real existences, and are not mere names, as maintained by the nominalists. Two ideas about poetry that Ferlinghetti suggests are

5. Find three example of Ferlinghetti's inventiveness with language (puns, compound words, etc.) and describe the effects of each.

• Three examples of Ferlinghetti's  inventiveness with language are

6. What is the tone of the poem?

• The tone of the poem is exciting, scared, funny, and fun.