Final Essay (Poetry Research)
Inside the Life of Allen Ginsberg
A very well known and unusual poet of the early 1960's Allen Ginsberg captured many supporters and friends with his literary works. Allen Ginsberg led a very atypical life, and his poems reflect his lifestyle and the lifestyle of those who influenced him. Allen's work is a reflection of his life experiences, the vast influences of his family and friends formed him into the superior poet he was.
First, one must understand the world that young Allen was born into. Allen's father, Louis, was a modestly successful poet, high school teacher and a Jewish democratic socialist. Allen's mother, Naomi, was a communist and irrepressible nudist who becomes tragically insane in early adulthood. His father, Louis, routinely recited Dickinson, Shelley, Keats, Poe and Milton to his children during early childhood. Allen begins to learn of his mother's mental decline in 1932 when she is hospitalized for the first time. "Allen's home life was dominated by his mother's bizarre and frightening episodes. A severe paranoid, she often trusted young Allen when she was convinced the rest of the family and world was plotting against her" (Ginsberg, "search" 1). Naomi's mental condition continues to deteriorate, she suffers a series of mental breakdowns, which suggest her illness is permanent. She is placed her under care of the New Jersey Greystone State Mental Hospital. Young Allen begins to write at eleven years of age capturing his thoughts in her first personal journal. This is very hard on young Allen who is unsure of the man that he is becoming. "As the sensitive boy tried to understand what was happening to him, he also tried to understand what was happening inside him, because he was consumed by lust for other boys his age" (Ginsberg, "search" 1).
Nonetheless, Allen continues to seek out information about poetry. Ginsberg is first exposed to Walt Whitman, which was one of the prime influences on some of his later work. Allen graduates from high school in 1943 and plans his career as a labor lawyer. Allen then enters college at Columbia University in New York City. "But he fell in with the crowd of wild souls there" (Ginsberg, "search" 1). Among these new friends were Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, and non-student friends William S.
This is displayed in lines one through five, as he expresses through imagery the bliss of a first chapter. Many examples of positive imagery is displayed when he says lines such as, “how even the banisters are polished for us, / that we feel free to walk out / with the lady of the house and smoke / a cigarette, down the grand alley of elms” (9-12). The fact that the poet enjoys the first chapter of a book helps develop a positive connotation towards the chapter, which helps contribute to the innocence of the first chapter. When readers relate this to their own life, they will think back at how joyous and buoyant their early life was. The first chapter and early childhood go hand-in-hand because they are both so simple. The first chapter is mostly the exposition, where you explain the time, place, and characters. Nothing that furthers the plot or suspense of the book is introduced in the first chapter. The poet institutes this simplicity by saying, “Nothing really happens now, / beyond the delivery of breakfast trays” (15-16). This can relate to one’s own childhood because no sense of responsibility is established. So, someone will be stuck being a kid with no worries of the outside world and no mature
The "Poet of the New Violence" On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg. Ed. Lewis Hyde. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984. 29-31.
One of the best, most valuable aspects of reading multiple works by the same author is getting to know the author as a person. People don't identify with Gregor Samsa; they identify with Kafka. Witness the love exhibited by the many fans of Hemingway, a love for both the texts and the drama of the man. It's like that for me with Kurt Vonnegut, but it strikes me that he pulls it off in an entirely different way.
“We’re just musically and rhythmically retarded. We play so hard that we can’t tune our guitars fast enough. People can relate to that.” Kurt Cobain’s thoughts on why his band, Nirvana was such a massive success in an unexpected way. A heroin shooting, guitar strumming musician who sang the barely audible lyrics which spoke so loudly for the angst ridden youth of America had such an important influence on our culture that over twenty years later, the details around his suicide are still heatedly debated. The impact that Cobain had on the world was intense at the time and can still be found today; the music he wrote for Nirvana had influence on the music industry, his unintended voice to angst-ridden society and even the fashion industry cashed in on his style.
Robert Frost is very successful poet from the 20th century, as well as a four time Pulitzer Prize winner. Robert Frost work was originally published in England and later would be published in the US. He was also considered one of the most popular and respected poets of his century. Robert Frost created countless of poems and plays, many of them containing similar themes. Some of the most popular themes found in his poems encompass isolation, death and everyday life.
Throughout time, Edgar Allan Poe has been recognized as a famous writer that wrote about his tragedy of a life. Just thinking of his name, Poe, makes one think about his dark felt Poems. Most people believe that Poe had to be depressed or even evil to write his historic writings. He had to deal with a numerous amount of death of love ones throughout his lifetime. Though he had to deal with death and depression he became one of the United States famous authors of all times.
As written by the Academy of American Poets, Poe began losing loved ones at the very young age of three. By this age, both of his parents who were actors at the time have died, thus leaving him to have to find another family. Afterwards, he moved to Richmond, Virginia to live with his new family Frances and John Allan. Edgar was sent to University of Virginia by his new father, John Allan, and excelled academically. Within less than a year, Poe lacked the funds from his father needed for his education, so he t...
Homosexuality remained illegal in most parts of America until the 1960s, but Ginsberg refused to equate his Gay identity with criminality. He wrote about his homosexuality in almost every poem that he wrote, most specifically in ‘Many Loves’ (1956) and ‘Please Master’ (1968), his paeans to his errant lover Neal Cassady. Ginsberg’s poems are full of explicit sexual detail and scatological humour, but the inclusion of such details should not be interpreted as a childish attempt to incense the prudish and the square.
Poetry is a form of writing that is commonly used to express feelings. There are many famous poets, from modern and past times, that are famous for the expression of their feelings through poems. One of the most famous rappers of all time is Tupac Amaru Shakur. Tupac Shakur was not only a Rapper, but also an actor, and a poet. One of his most famous works is “When Ure Heart Turns Cold”. In this poem, he talks about his loss of emotion caused from his experiences. Tupac’s work was very famous in his time because he was a unique poet; He talked about things nobody really spoke about in his time. In his poems and raps, Tupac expressed his thoughts towards police brutality and personal experiences, using figurative language, unique diction, and
Three distinct characters found in “The Kugelmass Episode” represent the Id, Ego, and the Superego of the author Woody Allen’s persona. Whereas, the character Emma reflects upon Allen’s desires. Much like the character Kugelmass, Allen experiences several unsuccessful relationships. His most notorious relationship was with Mia Farrell, who he cheated on with their adoptive daughter. The way he treated their relationship establishes his need to trade in the old for something new and improved because he cannot find satisfaction.
Shel Silverstein, though shaded from the public eye, was a well known author, poet, illustrator, songwriter, photographer and musician. His poems told the story of incredible people, places and animals from around the world of the imagination. He had a following of millions, yet was very secretive about his life. He had many tragedies take place in a short while, not affecting his professional life enough to hinder him from still creating some of the most unusual and wild poems and stories ever told. He is still recognized as one of America’s best poets and was honored by many awards. Shel Silverstein overcame a lot of struggles and still seemed to touch the lives of millions of children and adults all over the world. Shel Silverstein always encouraged his readers to make their own magic, though he was always making enough for all of us to share.
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, to David and Elizabeth Poe, both actors, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, a heavy drinker, abandoned the family when Poe was a year old, and at two years of age, Poe witnessed his mother’s death of tuberculosis. He was haunted by his mother’s death; it was a topic that he often explored in his writings later in life. Poe was then separated from his two sibling and taken in by the Allans, from whom he took his second name, in Richmond, Virginia. Although, Poe had a good relationship with his foster mother, he had a turbulent relationship with his foster father, with whom he often argued (Giammarco, 2012).
Woody Allen has proven himself as one of the forefathers of the American film industry and media as a whole. He has helped mold the standard for modern day film through is many movies that cover a wide range of styles, from comedy and drama to romance to tragedy. He has acted in 28 of the 36 movies he has produced while also famous for his writing. Allen is known best as the creator of films containing self-deprecating and intellectual mockery. His films typically parody the neuroses of the social class of New York sophisticates. Almost of his movies dealt with sex.
Art is in everything. Artists can be experts with a paintbrush, phenomenal with piano or a master of their pen. Authors and poets have a chance to manipulate words like no other artist can. Poets in particular can use their words to encompass different kinds of art by painting a picture with lyrical rhythm and imagery. Poets may be common, but for their poetry to be timeless it must be universally relatable. Edgar Allen Poe is regarded as one of the most famous poets in American history due to his well renowned debauchery, gothic tales of terror, and poems which are taught in schools and still analyzed today.
The story opens with the boy, whom to this point had ignored his mothers coughs, drops everything to rush to her aid as she “collapsed into a little wicker armchair, holding her side”. (O’Connor 206) As he watched his mother struggle trying to light the fire he told her, “Go back to bed and Ill light the fire”. (206) Now to this point, as the reader, I am unsure of the age of the boy, but I get the impression that he is a young boy. My idea of this boy is that he tries to take on too much throughout the day and eventually it was the demise of the opposite sex that eventually caused the meltdown of the “awesome” little boy. This is certainly something that will happen again to this young lad but he has definitely learned his lesson this time.