Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men
by Charles Bukowski
Go to Tibet
Ride a camel.
Read the bible.
Dye your shoes blue.
Grow a beard.
Circle the world in a paper canoe.
Subscribe to The Saturday Evening Post.
Chew on the left side of your mouth only.
Marry a woman with one leg and shave with a straight razor.
And carve your name in her arm.
Brush your teeth with gasoline.
Sleep all day and climb trees at night.
Be a monk and drink buckshot and beer.
Hold your head under water and play the violin.
Do a belly dance before pink candles.
Kill your dog.
Run for mayor.
Live in a barrel.
Break your head with a hatchet.
Plant tulips in the rain.But don’t write poetry.
Meanings of Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men
This poem by Charles Bukowski presents a speaker enumerating several pieces of advice for young men. The poem’s main idea is the trivialization of poetry and the significance of doing something better in life.
Meanings of Lines 1-10
Go to Tibet
Ride a camel.
Read the bible.
Dye your shoes blue.
Grow a beard.
Circle the world in a paper canoe.
Subscribe to The Saturday Evening Post.
Chew on the left side of your mouth only.
Marry a woman with one leg and shave with a straight razor.
And carve your name in her arm.
The speaker of this poem presents a host of advice to the young men of the present day to persuade them to avoid poetry. He is of the view that they could either go to Tibet, ride a camel, or become religious and read the Bible. He further advises them to dye their shoes in different colors, or grow a beard, or circle around the world even if they have a paper canoe, or subscribe to the Saturday Evening Post, or chew something from a different side. He even advises them to marry a lame lady, shave with a straight razor instead of a slanting one, or even carve their name on the arm of their beloved. He enumerates all these tasks to make them realize that they several things in this world to do instead of writing poetry that he does not list here in these lines. These verses show the speaker’s intention to make the young men realize to do better things. Therefore, they present the partial main idea, which is to do something good.
Meanings of Lines 11-20
Brush your teeth with gasoline.
Sleep all day and climb trees at night.
Be a monk and drink buckshot and beer.
Hold your head under water and play the violin.
Do a belly dance before pink candles.
Kill your dog.
Run for mayor.
Live in a barrel.
Break your head with a hatchet.
Plant tulips in the rain.
This is the second stanza of the poem in which the speaker again narrates several stupid and not-so-stupid acts that the young men should do. He starts by brushing his teeth with gasoline and states that they could sleep all day or climb trees at night. They could have the opportunity to become a monk, drink better, hold their head under water, play the violin, do belly dances before pink candles, and kill their dog. They could even become mayors or living barrels, or even do stupid things such as breaking their heads with a hatchet or planting tulips in the rain. It means they have hundreds of things to do in the world, but they should not go for poetry. This stanza again enumerates different things to be done to belittle poetic writing.
Meaning of Line 21
But don’t write poetry.
This one-liner is the last line of this poem. It states the poem’s main idea, advising the young men that they should not write poetry. Although the poet has not listed why they should not write poetry, it is clear from the different stupid and good things listed by the poet in the first two stanzas that he does not consider poetry a good thing to do in life. That is why he advises young men to do something better in life.
Summary of Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men
- Popularity of “Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men”: Written by Charles Bukowski, a great German-American writer and poet, “Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men” is a thought-provoking poetic piece. It was published in 1957 in an anthology, The Rooming House Madrigals. The poet advises the young men that instead of producing low-quality content, they should try other activities to please themselves. The poem also reflects the importance of writing poetry. It became popular due to the representation of an unusual pack of suggestions the poet presents to emphasize his point.
- “Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men” As a Representative of Wonder: This is an exciting and unforgettable poem. It begins when the poet provides a series of interesting events and unusual images that he suggests people should seek out. To him, young men should try various exciting experiences to have something thrilling in life. He brings together a vivid description that includes traveling to Tibet, marrying a woman with one leg, brushing his teeth with gasoline, breaking his/her head with a hatchet, and planting tulips in the rain. All these images paint a picture of a life full of strange happenings. After giving these outrageous suggestions, he further proposes that men should do what they think is better, except writing poetry. The ending marks the center of the poem. The speaker suggests that one should do nothing better than do it inappropriately.
- Major Themes in “Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men”: Amazement, excitement, situational irony, and writing are the major themes of the poem. The poem catalogs a series of strange events that the poet wants young men to do. Apparently, the writer’s ideas seem weird and crazy, but once you dig deeper, they unfold a meaningful message. The writer is addressing people who attempt to write poetry even without knowing the art of writing. For great writers, poetry is a mode of expression. It allows them to express their profound ideas. Unfortunately, some writers take it as a sport and produce scrap, corroding the true value of this creativity.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men
literary devices are powerful tools that allow writers to load their simple texts with a variety of meanings. Charles Bukowski has also added various literary devices in the poem whose analysis is as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /e/ in “Circle the world in a paper canoe” and the sound of /o/ in “Chew on the left side of your mouth only.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession such as the sound of /w/ in “Marry a woman with” and the sound of /t/ in “Go to Tibet.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /r/ in “Marry a woman with one leg and shave with a straight razor” and the sound of /t/ in “Subscribe to The Saturday Evening Post.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
“Go to Tibet
Ride a camel.
Read the bible.”
- Irony: Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. This is an ironic poem; the speaker ironically talks about the seriousness of writing.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Charles Bukowski has used imagery in this poem such as; “Chew on the left side of your mouth only”, “Marry a woman with one leg and shave with a straight razor” and “Hold your head under water and play the violin.”
- Paradox: A paradox is a statement that may seem contradictory but can be true. Charles used this device throughout the poem. He wants young people to avoid producing meaningless poetry and try doing something else. The suggestions present an extreme paradox because all actions are not meant to be performed. The writer only wants young people to grab his ideas.
- Symbolism: Symbolism uses symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal ones. The poem uses symbols such as; fun, surprise, writing, and amazement.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: The poem shows descriptive diction having rhetorical devices, symbolism, and impressive images.
- Free Verse: Free verse is a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter. This is a free verse poem with no strict rhyme or meter.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas in this poem, with each comprising different lines.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful for the students to teach them the usage of irony.
“Brush your teeth with gasoline.
Sleep all day and climb trees at night.
Be a monk and drink buckshot and beer.
Hold your head under water and play the violin.”
