poetry of Ted Hughes" by Panecka, 2018. Here
the author looks at tradition, healing,
mythmaking as well as animal transformation in,
what is, an in-depth analysis of shamanist and
poet Ted Hughes. Another seminal text which
looks at shamanism and poetry is “The figure of
the shaman in contemporary British poetry” by
Mortuza, 2013. Here writers such as Maggie
O’Sullivan and Barry MacSweeney are examined
in the context of shamanism. The research
community continues to grow with everyone from
visual text artist Basquiat to bardic wordsmith
Jim Morrison falling under the term Shaman.
However despite this understanding there is a
strict definition about what the history of
shamanism means. Throughout the course of this
essay I will look at each poet of the beat
generation and critically examine the shamanic
elements present. In addition I will look at some of
the 20 th -century influences on the beat poets. I
hope that the reader will gain a further
understanding of beat generation phase writers
and what it means to be a shaman-poet. Firstly I
shall look at the history of the beat generation and
a brief history of shamanism.
3