English

Armstrong

28 August, 13:19

Which lines best reveal Lawrence Ferlinghetti's troubled view of modern American society?

To the Oracle at Delphi

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (excerpt)

I, Americus, the American,

wrought from the dark in my mother long ago,

from the dark of ancient Europa-

Why are you staring at me now

in the dusk of our civilization--

Why are you staring at me

as if I were America itself

the new Empire

vaster than any in ancient days

with its electronic highways

carrying its corporate monoculture

around the world

And English the Latin of our days-

Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries,

Awaken now at last

And tell us how to save us from ourselves

and how to survive our own rulers

who would make a plutocracy of our democracy

in the Great Divide

between the rich and the poor

in whom Walt Whitman heard America singing