Question

How is the first garbage man described ? What is the feeling that he evokes . In two scavenger in a truck two beautiful people in a Mercedes​

Answer 1

Explanation:

Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes is a poem that highlights the difference between two types of people: the working class poor and the elite rich.

The scene is an everyday occurrence at a stoplight in downtown San Francisco but could be happening in any major city of the world - a red traffic light causes everyone to stop, regardless of status, race, creed or gender. It's at this point that the poet pounces and details a microcosmic duality.

Everyone has to stop at the lights but not everyone is subject to the same cultural and social conditioning, not everyone is of equal status, especially in the western world where capitalism and democracy rule.

So the poem becomes political and challenges the reader to think about such themes as inequality, democracy, capitalism and class divides.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti has long been a political activist and cultural guru, helping to initiate publications of cutting edge poetry and other radical literature going back to the early 1950s, when he opened his famous City Lights bookshop in San Francisco.

He was instrumental in getting Allen Ginsberg's Howl into book form and became known for his counter-cultural activities which culminated in the legendary Summer of Love, 1967, a landmark meet up of hippies and flower people in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco.

Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes was first published in 1968 and appeared in the book Landscapes of Living and Dying, 1979.

The poem's main theme reflects the mindset of the poet, who wrote this line in another book, Poetry as Insurgent Art:

'Challenge capitalism masquerading as democracy'

By focusing on this slice of life in downtown San Francisco, the poet has brought to the attention of the reader the need to question political values and human value. Ferlinghetti does this in a way that is ironic and entertaining.