He is compared to a circus acrobat.
2. Name at least 3 feats of the poet/performer.
"balancing on eyebeams above a sea of faces," "sleight-of-foot tricks," "climbs on rime to a high wire of his own making"
3. "little charleychaplin man?"
Charlie Chaplin was short, comical little man who loved to perform in front of crowds and make them laugh. The image the author is trying to create by calling the poet a "little charleychaplin man" is that the poet is not necessarily the most attractive or well-dressed man in the world, but he still uses his creativity to please his crowd. This contrasts the image of beauty because those who are beautiful on the outside jump to their death in hopes that they will be caught by those with inner-beauty, such as the poet. The beauty is good art, but only once it has creativity will it be a masterpiece.
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."
One who is inclined to literal truth and pragmatism. By calling the poet a super realist, Ferlinghetti says the poetry is above realism and does not need to be logical to make sense. However, poetry must lie somewhere in realism to be effective.
5. Find three example of Ferlinghetti's inventiveness with language (puns, compound words, etc.) and describe the effects of each.
sleight-of-foot - pun and compound word that can represent both the kinds of tricks the poet does as well the term "foot" in poetry, meaning "two syllables."
Beauty - personification. Beauty is represented as a character in the poem to emphasize the thoughts of the poet.
spreadeagled - compound word. Beauty is not only spread out in the air, hoping to be caught, but she is also precious like an eagle.
6. What is the tone of the poem? Explain.
Tone - The tone of this poem is admiration toward the poet. He compares a simple poet to an acrobat, who has to do possibly fatal tricks in midair. This seems a bit extreme, as all a poet does is sit in front of an audience and read. The author clearly admires his fellow poets.