Ginsberg's Poetry

Paper Summary:

The paper analyzes two poems by American poet Allen Ginsberg written in the mid-1950s: "A Supermarket in California" and "Howl" in terms of both their individual content and their broader implications within the poet's work. The paper discusses how Ginsberg describes a prosperous post-World War II era America, spoiled by mid-to-late-20th century artificiality, inhumanity and modernization and by the competitive ruthless and non-reflective attitudes that accompany it. The paper shows how Allen Ginsberg expresses disillusionment in the first poem semi-humorously and in the second more seriously and sometimes despairingly about the overall state of post-industrial America.

From the Paper:

"In Ginsberg's poem "A Supermarket in California" (1955) Ginsberg, one of America's greatest Beat Poets of the 1950's and 1960's, juxtaposes descriptions of one of his literary idols, the 19th century American poet Walt Whitman (a homosexual like Ginsberg himself), against descriptions of average contemporary people who might be found inside a California supermarket (e.g., husbands; wives; babies). Alongside these average American consumers, Ginsberg's speaker and Walt Whitman himself (resurrected, for this poem) shop in a supermarket in California. Ginsberg's poem offers a post-modern, sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, wholly impressionistic view of an imagined time-traveling Walt Whitman within an antisepticised, artificially-packaged, and homogenized 1950's American grocery store."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ginsberg, Allen. "A Supermarket in California." Online Poems by Allen Ginsberg. Modern American Poetry. Retrieved March 19, 2006, from:< http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/ginsberg/onlinepoems.htm>.
• Howl and Other Poems. Pocket Poets Series, No. 4. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1956.

More papers on Ginsberg's Poetry:

• Analytical Essay # 2935 : "Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California"
• Research Paper # 75095 : "The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg"
• Analytical Essay # 63131 : "Philosophy of Poetry"

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