"A Supermarket in California"

Paper Summary:

This analysis of Ginsburg's poem, "A Supermarket in California", examines the work line-by-line. The paper discusses Ginsburg's linking of Garcia Lorca and Walt Whitman to himself, identifying with their homosexual tendencies, imagination, and writing skills. Also, the paper looks at the structure of the poem, citing alliteration and assonance, where present. The supermarket is presented as the American Dream and not Ginsberg's ideal.

From the Paper:

"Ginsberg mentions the carefulness in which Walt Whitman checks out of boys working at the store in lines 10 through 12, in which the narrator, spying on Whitman, discovers his wandering eyes. "I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys." Whitman is acting interested in all the flashy images, while only truly finding interest in what he most likely cannot have: the grocery boys. Ginsberg's narrator, following closely behind, perhaps has the same desires, for he has forgotten about the "hungry fatigue" (line 4), which brought him into the supermarket to begin with."

More papers on "A Supermarket in California":

• Analytical Essay # 2935 : "Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California"
• Analytical Essay # 41569 : "Poetic Usage in Literature"
• Term Paper # 93512 : "Ginsberg's Poetry"

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