Introduction The era of the Beat Generation was a time of reinvention, in a society recovering from the second world war, the Beats were a group of poets who strayed from social and literary conformity by questioning authority, and followed a more free verse way of writing with little to no rules; they were part of the counterculture that developed post 1945. For this essay I will be analysing the poems Howl, Supermarket in California, and Plutonian Ode and talk about how Ginsberg uses structure,juxtaposition and religious/spiritual influences in his work.The Beat Generation were part of a revolutionary time for literature and writing.Literary traditions were disregarded and a new, vibrant way of writing was implemented.The classic way of …show more content…
The introduction of nuclear warfare made the public afraid of a future that was no longer guaranteed. Hope was lost and striving to better yourself became almost nonexistent due to this new nihilistic attitude that developed from witnessing the horrors of war and capabilities of humans to themselves. Conformity was in its prime, where no one cared about themselves, only with trying to live and move on. However, the status quo was questioned through art and literature. Songs about the holocaust, tv shows discussing the war and books written in response to society and government action were created. A prominent part of this outspoken crowd were writers and poets who used an uncensored vocabulary and according to Allabdullah (2014) , “a clarity that lets them speak up with no fear or remorse” that shocked the media.The clarity that Allabdullah speaks of is the very thing that the Beats strove to find, they wanted to reach a level of enlightenment where they knew themselves as individuals and could stand up for their identity.These writers would become the Beats, a group that challenged society by the powers of the written, and sometimes spoken, …show more content…
Those who had served in the war were left to assimilate back into society after witnessing the horrors of it. The people could not trust their own government, a government that had lied to them about being the biggest fish in the world. Everyone knew that other countries also had weapons of mass destruction and so a sort of anxiety developed into the character of the society. Along with this came a society that strove to be very uniform as a way to cope with the after effects of a war by trying to find normalcy. The truth of the matter was that this war generation could not be normal, they felt angry and rejected from society. All the people who did not fit the mold of what the perfect American was supposed to be, was alienated. These people were your feminists, hippies, Beats, gay rights activists. All of these groups and many others formed the counterculture of
The "Poet of the New Violence" On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg. Ed. Lewis Hyde. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984. 29-31.
The 1950s saw a period of extensive contentment within postwar America. A majority of the population adapted to the modern suburban lifestyle that emerged within this time period. They bought houses, started families, got steady jobs, and watched the television while complacently submitting to the government. Although fairly monotonous, this sort of lifestyle was safe and secure many Americans were ready to sacrifice individuality for a sense of comfort. There was a minority, however, that did not quite accept this conservative conformity that had swept across the nation; some of these people took the shape of artists and writers. During the 1950s, what became known as the "Beat Generation" inspired the challenging of and rebelling against conventional America.
Throughout their fun and crazy adventure, they realize more what the world has to offer, opening their realistic minds. At this part of the poem, he begins to sound frustrated, confused, questioning the status quo. By line 65 and beyond, he begins talking about the time he spent in a psychiatric ward. Ginsberg wants people to know that someone like him, whose mind wandered over life’s truths, ends up at a madhouse. Why? Because he practiced Dadaism, a artistic art movement that opposed social, political, and cultural values, when he threw potato salad at a professor in CCNY. At this psychiatric ward, he was introduced to many therapies such as ping pong, shock therapy, and hydrotherapy. Also, his close friend, Carl Solomon, and Ginsberg’s mother was in a psychiatric ward, blamed for their insanity. For this, Ginsberg grew angry at
...the Beats" in the late fifties and early sixties, paving the way for a more accepting American society and the tolerance of alternative lifestyles we enjoy today.
A few cases in which this poem is particularly relevant in today’s society, apart from just the general hipster culture, is the fact that in many ways we’re faced with similar issues of social oppression of certain sects of the population, homophobia, discord amongst different cultures and excessive consumerism – all these being matters than Ginsberg felt strongly about and sought to fight against.
American poetry, unlike other nations’ poetry, is still in the nascent stage because of the absence of a history in comparison to other nations’ poetry humming with matured voices. Nevertheless, in the past century, American poetry has received the recognition it deserves from the creative poetic compositions of Walt Whitman, who has been called “the father of American poetry.” His dynamic style and uncommon content is well exhibited in his famous poem “Song of Myself,” giving a direction to the American writers of posterity. In addition, his distinct use of the line and breath has had a huge impression on the compositions of a number of poets, especially on the works of the present-day poet Allen Ginsberg, whose debatable poem “Howl” reverberates with the traits of Whitman’s poetry. Nevertheless, while the form and content of “Howl” may have been impressed by “Song of Myself,” Ginsberg’s poem expresses a change from Whitman’s use of the line, his first-person recital, and his vision of America. As Whitman’s seamless lines are open-ended, speaking the voice of a universal speaker presenting a positive outlook of America, Ginsberg’s poem, on the contrary, uses long lines that end inward to present the uneasiness and madness that feature the vision of America that Ginsberg exhibits through the voice of a prophetic speaker.
This war was massively destructive to the people involved in it. Despite the brutalities, many soldiers still agreed to enlist in the war due to the concept of nationalism. Nationalism
Influential Black Nationalist spokesmen Malcolm X, and others alike, preached racial solidarity, economic self-sufficiency, and black self-help during the tumultuous times of the 1960’s in America. Organizations like the SNCC, CORE, Black Panther Party, and Black Muslims attracted hundreds of thousands of followers for the sole purpose of bringing the black community, during these tremendously hard times, together. Musicians like Otis Redding, Ray Charles, and Sam Cooke touched on the struggles of the black man during this time period. It wasn’t until 10 years later that self-conscious poetry spoke of Black Nationalism over a beat, but from that point on the genre coined “hip-hop” has transformed.
Hippies- known for their love of drugs and sex, they often misguided the common folk of their intentions. In their minds, what they were doing was guilelessly standing up for themselves and what they considered was theirs; what they believed in. They believed in their rights, and they wanted to do what they pleased; not to conform to the requirements of living in the average society of the time. They wanted to create a culture where spiritual awareness was highly regarded (sometimes through psychedelic drugs), where everything was given freely, where everyone (even strangers) were thought of as one's brother, where everyone valued peace, and where rights were given freely to everyone. (Express Thyself. (n.d.)) These rights would include anything from free love to laws against racial discrimination. The hippies thought that these wants (or needs) should be a given in society and that America was not a free land without this form of a culture. However, when society refused to change, instead of giving up, the hippies stayed true to their beliefs and rose up, creating their own counterculture. The purpose of the counterculture was to create a community where there was a commonality of ideas and convictions. The American hippie movement of the 1960s was strengthened by the drastic increase of the youth population because of the the baby boomers, a longer adolescent period due to the improved economy, and the use of media and communications, such as TVs and radical college newspapers.
During the sixties Americans saw the rise of the counterculture. The counterculture, which was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, was embraced by the decade’s young Americans. Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and freer country.
The Counterculture movement was an alternate way of living for many American citizens. People began leaving big cities to escape issues in the urban areas. They started to live in large groups with people that were much like themselves. Those who participated in this movement strongly opposed the war, the Vietnam War in particular. They felt the ideal way of living was in peace and harmony. Better known as hippies, participants in the Counterculture movement started environmental awareness groups. The people started to be very concerned in the health of our planet and began to care much more about the damage being done to the earth. Hippies had a different view on politics, authority, marriage and sex. They rejected the social norms and viewed leaders unimportant. Politics were not a big concern when regarding the hippie culture because they believed that everyone was equal and no real leader was needed. In addition to a new way of life, the Counterculture movement became a time for young people to express their feelings through all types of music, art and literature that defined the 60’s generation.
Firstly, the group of friends and writers most commonly known as the Beats evolved dramatically in focal points such as Greenwich Village and Columbia University, and subsequently spread their political and cultural views to a wider audience. The three Beat figureheads William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac each perceived an agenda within American society to clamp down on those who were in some way different from the accepted ‘norm’, and in response deliberately flirted with the un-American practices of Buddhism, drug use, homosexuality and the avant-garde. Ginsberg courted danger by lending a voice to the homosexual subculture that had been marginalised by repressive social traditions and cultural patterns within the United States.
During the 1950’s, a group of young American writers began to openly oppose societal norms in favor of other radical beliefs. These writers believed in ideas such as spiritual and sexual liberation, decriminalization of drugs, and opposition to industrialism as well as consumerism (Parkins). Over time, these writers became known as the Beat Generation and created the Beat Movement. Among the members of this rebellious group was the infamous Allen Ginsberg who is considerably one of the most influential poets of his time. By utilizing tools like imagery, allusions, and symbols, Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California” discusses themes such as consumerism, sexuality, and alienation which reflect Ginsberg’s personal beliefs and desire for change.
The Beat Generation was an influence on the American society during the twentieth century on how they portrayed the way of the American dream through performing arts. It all began in the 1950’s where a bunch of writers got together to right about how much they resented the postwar society (Sterritt, 1). It was right after War World II had past and the postwar age was very unsettling for the beat writers. It was turning into a conservative lifestyle and the beats wanted a way of showing that there writings would make an impact of what and how they thought of society and postwar. They too, like many others were effected greatly by the war and wanted a way of rebelling towards all the pain they went through during the war. This began the introduction of the Beat Generation.
It sparked an interest in people and encouraged uniqueness and the idea of being open to new experiences. The Beat Generation stimulated the minds of Americans, inspiring people to think beyond the nation's conformity. This cultural phenomena pushed people to their limits and outside their comfort zones to create literary and musical masterpieces that would later change the world by expanding the boundaries of free speech. Firstly, the poets of the Beat Generation were the geniuses behind the success of the movement.