Patti Smith Biography | Poet

Introducing Patti Smith

Patti Smith is one of the most versatile poets that people are ever going to encounter. She was born on the thirtieth of December in 1946 in Chicago, Illinois as Patricia Lee Smith. She has been nicknamed the punk poet laureate because of her ability to master both punk rock and poetry and the fact that she's been committed to being both a rock musician and a poet. Patti Smith is a famous singer and songwriter, a poet, and a visual artist, demonstrating her wonderfully multi-faceted contribution to the art world. Her 1975 album Horses has become a timeless classic today.

The Educative Path of Patti Smith

Patti Smith graduated from Deptford Township High School in 1964 and became a factory worker shortly afterwards. Patti Smith attended Glassboro State College, which is now known as Rowan University. However, the education that ultimately seemed to matter the most to her was what she learned about music. Her mother gave her a wide range of records at a very young age, including Another Side of Bob Dylan, The Money Tree, and Shrimp Boats. She was also personally inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations, demonstrating that she had a grounding in famous and classic poetry as well as popular music.

The Important Work History and People in Patti Smith's Life

Patti Smith had a humble background. Her mother was a waitress and her father was employed by the Honeywell plant. The fact that her mother was the person who first got her into music likely made all the difference for her later in life. The punk rock movement that she helped popularize often spoke to the experiences of frustrated members of the working class, and Patti Smith had more cause to feel that way than many of the people who later got absorbed into the movement.

Her experience working in a factory and a bookstore gave her some of the grounding that she needed as an artist. Her romantic relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and her friendship with poet Janet Hamill taught her a good portion of what she needed to know in order to be the performer that she later became.

Patti Smith started doing performance art and busking in 1969. These arts were very popular at the time. In the early 1970's, she started to do her own performing, painting, and writing, developing the skills that were going to make her famous. Creem and Rolling Stone magazine both published her rock journalism pieces. She was also involved with the Blue Öyster Cult band.

The Great Works of Patti Smith

Patti Smith is still known for the works that she performed as part of the Patti Smith Group. The people who are fans of Patti Smith today and the people who were fans of her back in the late twentieth century will usually point to her 1975 debut album Horses when they talk about her best work. Many music fans tend to rate the earlier works of their favorite artists over their later works. Other fans will talk about the group's intentionally rough second album Radio Ethiopia. Easter was one of their most successful albums, and many people love her 1979 album Wave. She received the 2011 Polar Music Prize and was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Patti Smith Then and Now

Patti Smith more or less helped create the modern punk rock movement, with its aggressive progressive politics and its raw, uncompromising music. Her fusion of rock music and poetry helped to really get people to understand that there is nothing mutually exclusive about the two art forms. While this is a dated opinion today, in the mid-twentieth century, it was widely believed that rock music was an inferior art form.

Artists like Patti Smith helped to demonstrate that rock music, including hard punk rock music, could be as socially useful and progressive as the best poetry. The fact that her poetic background enabled her to write more sophisticated lyrics in the first place helped, and it demonstrated that there is no reason why rock music had to have the simplistic feel that it often did back in the 1950's. Patti Smith is still an active performer today, and her work continues.