The power of poetry is in being able to communicate a message within verse. As literary critics, we should analyze and evaluate Ginsberg’s artistry to determine how he characterizes contemporary life. In “A Supermarket In California” by Allen Ginsberg, the speaker of the poem meanders through the streets and imagines he encounters Walt Whitman in a supermarket. Ginsberg harkens back to the thoughts of the transcendentalists and throughout his aimless stroll, he questions Whitman and through his questioning complicates the notion of modern America. Ginsberg uses word choice, structure, and symbols to present contemporary life as a new existence in which we are losing access to the past, which forces us to contemplate how to confront this …show more content…
The speaker refers to the supermarket as “neon” and describes “Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!” (XX). Fruits are natural, but Ginsberg describes the families of this America as packaged implying a fascination with consumerism that Americans have developed. These families seem at a glance ideal and perfect, but upon a closer glance they are disturbingly inorganic. Throughout the poem he continues his characterization of the modern America. At the end of the poem Ginsberg calls on, “the lost America of love”(XX) when questioning what he will do. This phrase highlights what America is for Ginsberg creates and instant dichotomy of what America used to be. America used to be something greater, but its current direction is isolating to Ginsberg. Characterizing this depraved America is not enough for Ginsberg; he calls on how we can confront this …show more content…
Throughout the tone of the piece is loneliness, but the symbols Ginsberg employs present a possible redemption. Notably, the individual the speaker encounters during his walk is Walt Whitman, whose presence moreover brings the implication of a truer world and finding an identity in nature. In the contemporary America, there is a lack of individuality and implies Whitman knows the answers to the questions he poses. At the end of the poem he calls on Whitman as a “lonely old courage-teacher who … stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe” (XX) making him seem like a hero. Whitman standing on the rivers of the underworld exemplifies how America is forgetting what was known and how America is losing touch with the past. The one solution that combats the supermarket is in Whitman’s vision of America, where there might have been an “America of love”, where there was more of an emphasis on love rather than consumerism. While Ginsberg does not explicitly claim that there is a better America, he does underline that the way to get there is through art and poetry like Whitman did in his
To create a sound piece of writing it is imperative to develop skills that make the piece both enjoyable and understandable to the reader. By doing so we become academic writers who acknowledge the importance of careful and concise writing. The piece of writing that I found best exemplifies an academic piece in its use of Craft tips is “The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate”, by Nestle. I believe this because of its meta-commentary, outstanding framework while quoting, and use of transitional phrases. This particular essay pulls together ideas about a modest subject, the grocery store and its’ setup, in a way that is intriguing to the reader by the expansion of simple ideas,
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.
Baldwin gives a vivid sketch of the depressing conditions he grew up on in Fifth Avenue, Uptown by using strong descriptive words. He makes use of such word choices in his beginning sentences when he reflects back to his house which is now replaced by housing projects and “one of those stunted city trees is snarling where our [his] doorway used to be” (Baldwin...
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.
“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, Angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.” The opening lines of Howl, by Allan Ginsberg, melodiously encapsulates the beat generation. The beats alluded to by the verbatim ,“The best minds”, are a group of idiosyncratic poets whom through the instrument of prose(driven by spontaneity and a primal lifestyle) , orchestrated a rebellion against the conservative beliefs and literary ideals of the 1950s. Howl, utilizing picturesque imagery, expounds holistically upon the instigator of the movement in culmination with personal experiences of beat members. Accordingly “Howl” evokes feelings of raw emotional intensity that reflects the mindset in which the poem was produced. The piece is structured into three stanzas, sacrificing temporal order for emphasis on emotional progression. The first sequence rambles of rampant drug forages and lewd sexual encounters, eliciting intonations of impetuous madness, one ostensibly hinging upon on a interminable need for satiation of hedonistic desires. Concordantly the following stanza elucidates upon the cause of the aforementioned impulsive madness (i.e corruption of the materialistic society motivated by capitalism), conveying an air of hostility coalesced with quizzical exasperation. Yet, the prose concludes by turning away from the previous negative sentiments. Furthermore, Ginsberg embraces the once condemned madness in a voice of jubilation, rhapsodizing about a clinically insane friend while ascertaining the beats are with him concerning this state of der...
After a close analysis of “America” by Tony Hoagland, the poem warns and points out the problems with our consumerism. Hoagland uses metaphors and imagery to describe the actions of American, while throwing in counteracting themes. And uses thoughts and dreams to bring in metaphors that complex the poem.
"Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,We, the people, must redeemThe land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.The mountains and the endless plain—All, all the stretch of these great green states—And make America again!” The free America is actually not free, the words on the constitution are just words. The dream has fade away. All these hard working people, all of their bloods and tears had really make the 1 percent of the American’s American dream came true. The reality is such a chaos for the narrator. he has suffered so much from this reality, so he now wants to share his idea to all the readers and try to wake them up, this is not the America that want, this is not the society they want. The American dream does not exist.
Introduction The purpose of this report is to undertake financial analysis of the position of the three major supermarket chains (Tesco plc, Morrison plc and Sainsbury plc) in the UK, using the financial tools such as Horizontal and Vertical Analysis and Ratio Analysis. The calculations done are considering the figures from the income statement and balance sheet of these three companies for the last 2 years (2008 & 2007). Doing these calculations is an effort to find out the current position and if any forecast on their performance. Tesco Plc *Interpreting the Horizontal and Vertical *Analysis The balance sheet’s horizontal analysis reveals the first worrying statistics about the company- the fact that stock level has increased by 25.84% in the year, even though net assets have increased by only 12.59%. The vertical analysis of the balance sheet again highlights the increase in amount of stock held by the company at the end of 2008 and increase in current assets. Interpreting the Ratio Analysis By looking at the ROCE* ratio it is clear that the business has not generated any higher return in the period 2007-2008. Though there is a marginal decrease in the returns (0.14% from 0.16%), however when compared with returns of other competitors Tesco plc has performed much better. Drop in asset utilisation ratio in the year 2008 indicates that the company did not use its assets efficiently to generate sales. As a result profit margin dropped down to 5.91% in 2008 from 6.21% in the year 2007. The Acid test ratio also doesn’t meet the ‘ideal’ ratio of 1:1. In other words Tesco had only 38p of quickly realisable assets to meet each £1 of current liabilities. Stock turn shows the effect of increased stock at the end of 2008 as it s...
Although Ginsberg’s views may come off as constricted, in some aspects this is what America is. It does not represent America as a whole but it is important to recognize all aspects of America and not just highlight all the good or all the bad. Sylvia
Evil is distance, and integration redeems. By condemning those mighty things that had made America vast and cold, and elevating those individual earthy things that were subjugated in the former’s impersonal course, Allen Ginsberg fashions a new religion that challenges the accepted order. Part I of Howl presents the pain that prompted such a reaction, and Part II points a finger at the perpetrator. Part III moves toward some semblance of hope, while shifting the poem’s focus away from the confinement of the “best minds” to tout a new state of empowerment through unity. The footnote to Howl can serve to unlock a sort of rationale behind these progressions, while perfectly at ease with putting its madness on full display.
Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California” criticizes America during the midst of the twentieth century in which society had acquired an attitude that heavily valued the materialistic aspects of life. In order to efficiently express the speaker’s discontent with society, he paints images by using vivid detail throughout the entire poem to allow the reader to experience what the speaker experiences himself. He begins by describing the setting on the streets of California, “I walked down the sidestreets under the trees…/… looking at the full moon” (2-3) and had thoughts of Walt Whitman, a nineteenth century poet whom Ginsberg deeply admired. The setting is essential as it describes the two worlds in which the speaker lives in; one represented by the metropolitan landscape of downtown California and another represented by nature, which the speaker longs to be a part of. The speaker describes himself as a lost soul in search of satisfaction in conventional America, a place where he does no...
He recognizes the prevalence of supermarkets in this time period by noting the “Whole families shopping at night” (Ginsberg) and expressing that the aisles are full of husbands, while the wives and babies are with the fruits (Ginsberg). He walks “in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans” (Ginsberg), criticizing the overconsumption of product and the excess garbage it leaves laying around. And while he denotes the frozen foods as delicacies, Ginsberg is in fact being sarcastic and expressing disgust for them (Ginsberg). Then Walt Whitman asks, “Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas?” (Ginsberg) and Ginsberg knows the store’s owner and employees would be unable to answer him, due to commoditization. So as it returns to Ginsberg’s perspective, he mirrors Whitman’s criticism by talking about “the lost America” (Ginsberg) and referencing the idiom “Keeping up with the Joneses” as he strolls “past blue automobiles in driveways” (Ginsberg). This references the growing importance of materialistic goods and the use of one’s neighbor as a benchmark for social caste and the accumulation of these
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.
C & C grocery store currently operates under a goal approach. They were committed to customer service and satisfaction. This approach provided the grocery chain with the profitability and growth they strived to obtain. The stores operative goals were attained and the chain had over 200 stores in operation. For years overall performance for C & C was excellent and came with ease. Unfortunately employee development and innovation and change weren't a top priority and it began to show. To remain successful C & C had to outsource and get advice from a team of consultants. The team dissected the company from top to bottom and advised the chain to implement an internal approach to go along with the goal approach. Implementing the internal approach will give the store managers full control of their stores which they do not currently possess. The store managers should be knowledgeable in all areas of the store to be able to fully communicate with staff. It was difficult for the district managers to give each store location the time and attention they needed when they were responsible for several other stores. Giving store managers more responsibility was a terrific idea of the consultants because the store managers have more day to day customer and employee interaction and could better assist needs. C & C was in desperate need of providing employee training and development. Cross training is beneficial for company as well as employees. Employees get the opportunity to learn other job positions and have the ability for advancement opportunities within the company. The company benefits from cross training because it provides flexibility if a store is short staffed, and it provides empowerment. A store full of happy employees from mana...
Although written in the twentieth century, much of Robert Frost’s poetry is still relevant today. Frost is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. His poetry was largely based on, although not limited to, man’s ever present battle with understanding his relationship with nature. Frost constantly illustrates the difficulties man face, and how they struggle to develop individual identities in the world that they live in. Frosts style and structure are said to take a more 19th century traditional stance however similarities are prominent with his work and the works of his twentieth century contemporaries. “A brook in the city” is a poem that demonstrates Frosts concerns of ever changing human life and man’s attitude towards nature and preservation, this essay will discuss if this poem, in connection with many others, exemplifies Frosts poetic style and views on poetry as a whole.