beat poets

plural noun

1. numerous U.S. poets concentrated in California in the 1950s and noted chiefly for their rejection of poetic as well as social conventions, exemplified through experimental, often informal phrasing and diction and formless verse that attempts to capture spontaneity of thought and feeling.

Word History and Origins

Origin of beat poets¹

Beat Generation

Example Sentences

The non-narrative libretto is by one of our few remaining Beat poets and a treasure of that era, Anne Waldman.

From Los Angeles Times

Future exhibition subjects might include gang injunctions, Chicano community histories and Venice Beat poets, he said.

From Los Angeles Times

Her father was the head of Berkeley’s Buddhist temple, where the beat poets loved to hang out in the 1950s and 1960s.

From Los Angeles Times

But Thompson never doubted his talent and had a voracious appetite for culture in many forms: He consorted with New York’s Beat poets and its free jazz musicians as well as a broad range of artists.

From New York Times

Weaving his way into the bohemian underground of the Soho district of London, he was quickly drawing comparison to the American Beat poets, although he later cited influences closer to home, in particular the British poet Christopher Logue, who provided inspiration with his “jazzetry” — poems read to a jazz accompaniment.

From New York Times