Jack Kerouac is foremost a novelist. Poetry writing came later upon his discovery of Buddhism. His lifetime was filled with frustrations and unhappiness, drowned in drunkenness to somehow escape. His marriage failed thrice, he was financially unstable with a less thriving career. He had a few friends and they were distant. His many attempts to greatness seem to always fall short at some point like when he entered the football team during his college days and became injured that ended his ambition of becoming a great athlete. His mother was his constant companion and supporter. As a writer, he was also unrecognized during his time and his writing career was met with many struggles. He travelled and reached the East where he made an effort to find peace within himself through Buddhism expressed in his haiku poetry that he reinvented to inspire Western poets. He popularized the American haiku using a unique method. Why Kerouac uses this old form to shape his thoughts about modern life is an interesting discussion that this document attempts to answer.
