Dee ihe ọzọ maka paragraf a - Amụrụ na Portland, Oregon, Whalen tolitere na The Dalles site na 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 n'akwụkwọ ọgụgụ a ma ama bụ Six Gallery reading
na 1955 nke gosipụtara mmalite nke West Coast Beats n'ihu ọha. 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".