They Got the Beat

On October 7, 1955, five poets stood on a tiny stage at the back of a small art gallery in an unfashionable part of San Francisco and read their most challenging work. The result was an astounding success that no one expected. It was the right collection of poets reading in the right venue at the right time to the right audience. Against all odds, their work resonated with the approximately 150 people in the crowd and sparked a literary revolution. That night is widely considered the birth of the San Francisco Renaissance as well as the moment when the Beat Generation dramatically expanded and began to go public. Four of the five poets who read were complete unknowns when they stepped onto the stage, but two years later they were being talked about across the country. Before long, Allen Ginsberg would become the most famous poet in the world, and the successful defense of Howl and Other Poems by publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti would radically redefine what was considered art, and thus what could be published in the United States.