Mezue ahịrịokwu na-esonụ: A mụrụ Whalen na Portland, Oregon, o toro na The Dalles site na mgbe ọ dị afọ anọ ruo mgbe ọ laghachiri Portland na 1941. O jere ozi na US Army Air Forces n'oge Agha Ụwa nke Abụọ. Ọ gara mahadum Reed na GI Bill. N'ebe ahụ, ọ zutere Gary Snyder na Lew Welch, wee nweta akara ugo mmụta BA na 1951. Ọ gụrụ akwụkwọ n'ụlọ akwụkwọ a ma ama
Ọgụgụ nke Six Gallery n'afọ 1955 nke gosipụtara mmalite nke West Coast Beats n'anya ọha na eze. Ọ na-apụta, n'ụdị akụkọ ifo, dị ka agwa "Warren Coughlin" na Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums", nke gụnyere akụkọ banyere ọgụgụ ahụ. Na "Big Sur" a na-akpọ ya "Ben Fagan". E gosipụtara uri Whalen na nchịkọta Donald Allen "The New American Poetry 1945-1960".