Allen Ginsberg, Covert Patriot
Allen Ginsberg is, without a doubt, most famous for his poem "Howl" which he published in October of 1956 through City Lights Books in San Francisco. "Howl", like much of his other poetry, is an intensely personal and also very complex poetic expression lacking rhyme and, to many people, also lacking reason. In actuality, however, "Howl" serves as an autobiographical sketch and it acts, in some ways, as a precursor to his lesser known poem from the same publication, "America," which is his final articulation of his love for his country and his disillusionment with its current state of affairs. Together, both of these poems form a culmination (as of 1956) of the journals he had been keeping throughout his life and are the final "howl" of the simultaneous love and discontent with his situation as well as that of his country. Through "Howl" and "America" Ginsberg is expressing his disillusionment with American culture and his own life by retelling his own life experiences; however, he is also demonstrating a love of America and American culture that he has held throughout his life and which he, finally, was able to put down in poetic verse in his compilation Howl and Other Poems.
From a very early age, Ginsberg's life was chaotic, and that, in turn, produced a disenchanted view of society. His parents were both extremely politically active and were not in political agreement. As a result politics was a subject to which he became accustomed rather early because his mother, Naomi, was a member of the Communist part and his father, Louis, was a Democratic Socialist (Miles 6). Naomi and Louis fought often about politics and the situation, no doubt, left Ginsberg both passionate and confused about poli...
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...sberg as a cynic, it is crucial to remember that, both as a poet and as a person, he is much more complex, as is his view of the country. Ginsberg was not anti-American, he loved a great deal about America and felt awful about its situation in the 1950s. Ginsberg was simply another man who wanted change.
References
Caveney, Graham. Screaming with Joy: the Life of Allen Ginsberg. New York: Broadway Books, 1999.
Foster, Edward Halsey. Understanding the Beats. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992.
Ginsberg, Allen. Howl and Other Poems. 57th printing San Francisco: City Light Books, 2001.
---. Journals Mid-Fifties 1954-1958. Gordon, Ball Ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.
Merrill, Thomas F. Allen Ginsberg: Revised Edition. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1988.
Miles, Barry. Ginsberg: A Biography. London: Virgin Publishing Ltd., 2000.
First, Abraham Lincoln, a great leader in the midst of an incredible time of change and confusion, delivered the Gettysburg Address to an assembly that came to him saddened and horrified by the trials of war. These same people left, changed, that day from the cemetery. The other, Allen Ginsberg, wrote the poem "America" for a generation of people caught between World War II and the Cold War. The comparison between these two works is important for learning the identity of all Americans. The histories of America were used to attest to each work's ideas.
Throughout the words and the lives of the Beat Generation, one theme is apparent: America, everywhere from Allen Ginsberg’s “America,” to Jack Kerouac’s love for Thomas Wolfe. Although the views of America differ, they all find some reason to focus in on this land. Ginsberg, in his poem “America,” makes a point that not many of us can see as obvious: “It occurs to me that I am America. I am talking to myself again.” Each and every one of us make up America, and when we complain about something that is wrong, we are complaining about ourselves. Being raised by his mother as a Communist, and being homosexual, Ginsberg found many things wrong with America, and he does his fare share of complaining, but at the end he decides, “America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.” Ginsberg didn’t want to sit and watch everything go wrong. He was going to do something, despite the fact that he was not the ideal American.
Arensberg, Mary. The American Sublime. Ed. Mary Arensberg, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1986.
Widely recognized as an American classic, Howl by Allen Ginsberg of The Beat Generation is a poem that managed to have a powerful influence on the American society in the 50s - the impact
Ginsberg, Benjamin, Theodore J Lowi and Margaret Weir. We the people. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Print.
...erg’s lines are inwardly. The self of Whitman is all-encompassing but Ginsberg’s self is passive, lacking diversity by excluding rural settings. In short, Ginsberg’s Howl” is a journey through a different route to reality by leaving the doubts behind and taking the lead role of a public American poet-prophet, which Whitman only dreamt of in his life by composing poetry for an imagined audience.
successful lyricist. Also, it was Ira’s interest in music that made their parents purchase the
The early 1960s was a time of extreme social issues such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement; everyone was looking for their own voice in this time of adversity. A young Bob Dylan arises to the spotlight and sings songs speaking of protest and originality, expressing societal dissatisfaction felt by not only himself but by his entire generation. In the 1960s Dylan wrote many protest songs that people of his generation found themselves connecting to, leading way to a counterculture aside from popular music which also paved a way for introspective song writing.
Leonard Bernstein is widely known not only as one of the greatest American conductors, but also as a composer whose creativity and passion was spread over a wide range. His social and cultural influences helped shape his career into a musical icon and his music rekindled the American spirit. Above all, he will be remembered as one of the most amazing and influential musical personalities of the twentieth century.
As a child Dylan was comfortable being the center of attention, often writing creative poetry for his mother and on occasion singing. Dylan had no formal music lessons, but none the less he began to compose. Later at age 14, he took up the guitar and shortly after formed a band, one of many he played the guitar in. Always plunging ahead, performing to his up most potentional, Dylan absorbed his surroundings as a source of inspiration. Even during his early efforts Dylan responded very positivly to mainstream musicians, such as country star Hank Williams. Yet, he responded especially well to early rock stars such as Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. In the summer of 1959, after graduation Dylan began to work at a cafe, where he began to pay increasing attention to folksingers such as Judy Collins and Jesse Fuller. Finding an instant connection with their songs, songs relevant to social issues. Dylan was drawn into both the musical style and the social message of these indivisuals.
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.
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.
Raskin Jonah, American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004.
The 1950’s beatniks gather around coffeeshops, writing and grumbling about the unfairness of the government and society’s closed mind. Today, youth gather around their laptops and type away, despairing over the unfairness of the government and society’s closed mind. Allen Ginsberg’s poetry embodies those angry youth. His unique choices in diction, symbolism and imagery artfully conveys his criticism against the wrongdoings of Uncle Sam and his subjects. Through his poem America, Ginsberg reaches out to all generations of people and exposes the ethical mistakes that both the government and society as a whole make, and these mistakes are classic in the sense that it is always a mistake that everyone keeps repeating.
Ginsberg says that Moloch is a “sphinx of cement and aluminum”, a “heavy judger of men”, and “whose soul is electricity and banks” (line 79-85). All these can point towards higher powers such as the Government. Such things like government buildings, the law makers, and the banks that control all the money in our cities and states. This means that our government can be the Moloch in our lives just like how they were to Ginsberg. Ginsberg says that it is “Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy” and that it is Moloch in which he “wakes up in”. The word play used confirms that he is suffering by the hands of “Moloch”, the ridged and unchangeable false god that we sacrifice our very lives