There is a tradition in the U.S. of baseball poetry. Poems like Casey at the Bat have a established baseball poetry as something that celebrates patriotism. After all baseball has a reputation of being the national pastime. However, Ferlinghetti's Baseball Canto subverts this tradition. Rather than upholding the status quo and using the National Anthem as a symbol of how great the U. S. is. Ferlinghetti's speaker wishes "Juan Marichal / would hit a hole right through / the Anglo-Saxon tradition / in the First Canto" (5-8). This shows that Ferlinghetti knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote this poem, subverting the traditional view of patriotism by utilizing imagery commonly used to uphold its ideals.
By using the San Francisco Giants a team that Wilson informed us in class was ethnically diverse when much of the major leagues still consisted of all white teams Ferlinghetti allows his speaker to draw attention to the vast economic disparities that are upheld by "the Anglo-Saxon tradition" (7). For instance Ferlinghetti describes Tito Fuentes as fleeing "around the bases / like he's escaping from the United Fruit Company" (42-43). In doing so Ferlinghetti brings to mind the plight of farm workers. This is a very California image, a very San Francisco image, however it is the whole nation that grows fat on their work.
In Ferlinghetti's vision of baseball it is not of it as a white upper class pastime it is the multi-ethnic working class which fill the stands of his poem. In his stanzas "the rightfield bleachers go mad / with chicanos & blacks & Brooklyn beerdrinkers" (37-38). For Ferlinghetti baseball belongs to the working class and to the struggling. It is symbolic of triumph but not the triumph of war rather the triumph of work. The people celebrated in Ferlinghetti's poem are not "the Founding Fathers" they are the fans and the players. And more importantly the ones who have been underepresented in baseball poetry thus far. Ferlinghetti uses this tradition and the symbology associated with it in order to subvert the values it upholds.
Week 10: (also optional) comments on paper postings
17 years ago
2 comments:
I really like your interpretation of this poem. I was very drawn to it when I first read it. I agree that Ferlinghetti brilliantly uses the American passtime to subvert American nationalism. The use of the national anthem as a tool to control the masses is something we see in all types of situations. How many times have we seen people persecuted for not respecting the song, or seen entire crowds break into sobs of pride when they hear it? We all break out our flags when we feel insecure. These symbols belong to all Americans, but they have been hijacked for more vulgar purposes. The failure of the national anthem to elicit quiet and solemn respect at the end of the poem is seen as a triumph rather than chaos. Perhaps Ferlinghetti is suggesting that, with the new diversity America is experiencing, we need new songs and a new brand of patriotism. We have outgrown the old ones.
This poem is engaging, ingenious, and immensely important. It seeks to take what is "American"--meaning it belongs to white, American-born, wealthy people--and expanding it to include all Americans.
I was originally going to write about this poem, but then I read your post and felt that your interpretation of the poem was similar to my own.The poem speaks out on American nationalism in America's favorite passtime quite cleverly.
He comments on the diversity within San Francisco. I liked that he commented on how people from other places expect the players of a baseball team to be white and lack ethnic diversity, but how the SF Giants go against that common misconception. He writes of some SF greats like Willie Mayes, Tito Fuentes, and Juan Marichal.
I especially enjoyed how he ended the poem by saying "in the Territorio Libre of baseball" implying that SF baseball is free of any borders, whether they be physical or mental. His portrayl of SF was what caught my attention the most with this poem.
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