1. To what sort of performer is the poet compared?
He's compared to an acrobat.
2. Name at least 3 feats of the poet/performer.
a. climbs on rime to a high wire
b. balancing on eyebeams
c. sleight-of-foot tricks
3. What picture of the poet does Ferlinghetti create by calling him a "little charleychaplin 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 picture that the poet creates by saying he is a little charley chaplin man is that he is funny and maybe a little clumsy. In the poem he says that beauty waits which is what he does before taking the death defying leap
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." Realist- A practitioner of artistic or philosophic realism. That he uses real feelings and that his work is deep rather than superficial. The super just adds a sense of urgency to the word.
5. Find three example of Ferlinghetti's inventiveness with language (puns, compound words, etc.) and describe the effects of each.
1. Sleight-of-foot- this gives an effect that sleight and foot go hand in hand.
2. who must perforce perceive taut truth- this gives an effect of the thought put into the description of something.
3. who may or may not catch her fair eternal form- this gives the effect that her internal personality is harder to obtain.
6. What is the tone of the poem? Explain.
The tone towards this poem is pity. The author has pity for the acrobat because of his job, and he compares him to Charlie Chaplin.