Abstract This paper analyzes the poem, "A Supermarket in California", written in 1955 by AllenGinsberg. The author examines how the poem expresses the anxiety of this key period of change in Western history through Ginsberg's own unique form of socio-political criticism.
From the Paper "The decade of the 1950's was the beginning of a new era. Society was changing. The industrial revolution of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the two World Wars, and the threat of the Cold War had all pushed America to the forefront of change. Television brought ideas to the masses like never before. Progress was the ideal. "
Abstract This paper explains that AllenGinsberg's poem, 'Kaddish', was written as a tribute to his mother, who had gone through many severe psychotic episodes, after she had passed away. The author points out that Ginsberg, who missed the funeral of his mother, learned that the Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, had not been said because there had not been enough men present as required by Jewish law; subsequently, two years after his mother's death, Ginsberg performed the ceremony and started writing his 'Kaddish'. The paper explains that, in this poem, Ginsberg's style of writing is almost disjointed, yet not difficult to follow, as the poet goes through many different feelings as he remembers his mother in her illness.
From the Paper "Unfortunately, Naomi Ginsberg remained very unhappy and equally unstable throughout the teenage years of her son, and she often returned to Greystone, where she sometimes remained for more than a year at a time. Allen Ginsberg, his father Louis, and his brother Eugene managed to keep the house and the family together through all of the hard times that they faced, and they were very close to one another, which helped fight off some of the despair and the helplessness that they felt regarding their mother's condition. However, Allen had special feelings toward his mother, and he saw her condition and her insanity as being a spiritual problem instead of a mental condition."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the life of AllenGinsberg, one of America's most controversial poets of the mid to late 20th century. Ginsberg was made famous by his radical poem "Howl" and his views on American society, politics and the Vietnam War. This paper also takes a look at New Historicism, and Ginsberg's involvement.
From the Paper "Thus, most of the work of Allen Ginsberg can be seen as culturally significant, for it explores through verse and narrative the inner workings of the cities and how the people that worked and died in these cities during the late 1940's and 1950's experienced everyday life. In essence, Ginsberg's poetry and narrative pieces are filled with "cultural poetics," also known as New Historicism, "a theory that emphasizes the importance of history as a standard of cultural value or as a determinant of events" (Schumacher, 56).
Before commencing on the biography of Allen Ginsberg, it seems appropriate to make some brief comments on the status of America during the 1950's, the period which highly influenced Ginsberg and his writings. Following the close of World War II in 1945, America was plunged into a "Cold War" with the Soviet Union, a war based on threat instead of action. Culturally, America was in the throes of massive change, due to the victories over Nazi Germany and Japan and the economic boom that followed in the wake of World War II. For the most part, Americans were experiencing new and at times disturbing cultural trends linked to politics, economics and the rapid development of technology, especially regarding television. Also, as a result of World War II, Americans had a sense of belonging to the greater whole and began to see themselves as conformists, meaning that they never questioned authority and subscribed to "herd mentality."
Abstract This paper explains that AllenGinsberg, best-known for his radical poem "Howl" and for his outspoken views on American society, politics and the Vietnam War, was a very influential figure in the counterculture of the mid to late 1960s. The author points out that when it was first published, "Howl" reflected some of the most absurd and decadent traits of American culture, ignored by most people, such as the use of illegal drugs that was just beginning to spread in the urban cities. The paper relates that the contents of "Howl" disturbed many people, even those in San Francisco, a city known for its non-conformity and outlandish social life. The paper concludes that AllenGinsberg gave impetus to great cultural changes in the way young people chose to live within a society that, for the most part, rejected and denied them.
From the Paper "Clearly, it was Lucien Carr who introduced Ginsberg to the cultural miasma of Greenwich Village in New York City, a place rampant with people from all walks of life. It was in this setting that Ginsberg's literary mind was set on fire and where he first experienced the thrill of being an intellectual steeped in an explosion of culturally-diverse phenomenon. Not long after meeting Carr, Ginsberg wrote to his brother and said, "I plan to go down to Greenwich Village with a friend of mine who claims to be an intellectual, and knows queer and interesting people. I plan to get drunk, if I can.""
Abstract The paper provides a biography of AllenGinsberg and discusses his major poems, including "Howl!" "Kaddish" and "Reality Sandwiches". The paper looks at his political and social views and his allegiance to the Beat movement. The paper concludes that AllenGinsberg has given the world a fine example of principled existence and art.
Outline:
Biography
Major Works
The Significance of the Author and his Work in Society and History
The Beat Movement
From the Paper "The poet Allen Ginsberg was born during 1926 in Newark, New Jersey to second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants. His father, Louis, was a teacher and poet, and his mother, Naomi, had a tendency towards mental instability. Both his parents were interested in modern concepts such as Marxism, nudism, and feminism. During Allen Ginsberg's childhood, his mother began to suffer from paranoia, and was committed to an institution where she was lobotomized and eventually died in 1956."
Abstract This paper examines the poem "Howl" by AllenGinsberg which led to a widely publicized court case dividing readers between a view of art and obscenity. This paper discusses how "Howl" is not obscene or socially deviant writings, but instead, a valuable social critique of Ginsberg's time. By teasing out the parts that are labeled obscene, it picks the most controversial topics and explores the meanings behind them, also showing how it is more of a social critique than plan obscenity for no reason.
From the Paper "The topic of homosexuality and blatant crudeness towards heterosexuality makes itself visible in the text, a topic that society at the time tried to shy away from and viewed as indecent. The most obvious is the image of one having anal intercourse and not feeling ashamed to enjoy it, "who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy" (128), writing in this way without holding back literally shoves the idea of homosexuality in the face of the reader, without hiding from it, and makes the reader interpret it in the poem. The character does not care where the sex comes from, jumping into passing limousines "seeking jazz or sex or soup" (127), he or she seems to not care where or how they receive this sex they are looking for, comparing it to something as little as soup or jazz."
Abstract This paper discusses the individual and social conflict that is evident in the poem "Howl" by AllenGinsberg. In addition to the analysis of the poem in reference to its social relevance, the paper also includes a presentation of the poet's feelings while the lines and over-all content of the poem is delivered.
From the Paper "The poem ?Howl,? by Allen Ginsberg is a poem that evokes emotion and social awareness of the "illness" and "madness" of the people and the American society. Ginsberg's poem is divided into three parts, and each part of the poem elicits a different kind of emotion and focus; the three parts wherein the poem is divided also addresses and talks about a different kind of audience, while consistently extending the message of "madness" (in the literal and social sense) and with the issue of social strife and chaos within and among the members of the American society. The scenario Ginsberg presents in his poem is a reflection of the social and political strife that the American society had experienced during the post- Vietnam War era."
Tags: social, strife, chaos, insanity, carl, solomon, moloch, america, government
Abstract The paper analyzes two poems by American poet AllenGinsberg 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 AllenGinsberg 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."
Tags: Walt, Whitman, society, post-industrial, America
Abstract "Howl", AllenGinsberg's revolutionary poem, focuses on sex, drugs and misery. The paper shows that, divided into three sections, the poem's raw style and chilling images represent the best model of Ginsberg's writing. Flashes of weakness, brought on by drug misuse, are countered by joyful sexual romps; these two situations create even more despair as the poem continues. What was once passion turns to heartbreak; speed-induced frenzies end in gutters. The paper shows that Ginsberg's strongest message is one against the quintessential oppressor, as personified by the monster Moloch, who is eventually defeated.
From the Paper "Ginsberg, however, does not see "Howl" as a negative poem. Rather, he is "talking about a realization of love. LOVE" (Shadow). "Howl" is considered Allen Ginsberg's howl condemning the ills of society, but with whom does he identify? He addresses himself when he states that whole intellects "howled on their knees in the subway & were dragged off the roof waving genitals & manuscripts" (Ginsberg Collected 128, l.35.) Ginsberg also alludes to his days at Colombia, his trips to Texas, and his obsession with William Blake (Schumacher 202)."
Tags: homosexuality, sexuality, Beatniks, Buddhist
Abstract This paper looks at the poetry of AllenGinsberg and Marshall Mathers. Ginsberg, who published poems in the 1950's, was criticized for the content which were critical of American society at the time. Mathers, known in the music world as controversial rap artist Eminem, produced an album which was extremely anti-social and anti-establishment. This paper shows that even though these two artist were decades apart, their poems paint the same picture about American society - that ,as much as the mainstream tries to hide from it, injustice and inequality are still running rampant in society.
From the Paper "For most, the year 1956 conjures visions of cookie-cutter conformity and glazed-over domestic pleasantries. The 1950s seem to figure in most memories as a time of simplicity, without war or domestic conflict, yet despite the surface-level appearances, this era teemed with underground tensions. This was the age in which music was revolutionized by the new rock genre of Elvis Presley, when schoolchildren worried over threats of nuclear bombs, when the Cold War culminated in the secretive dispatch of troops in South Vietnam, and when all of this conflict was glossed over by Americans who wished to turn a deaf ear to the unpleasant. Out of this backdrop, Allen Ginsberg dropped a literary bomb on popular culture, publishing his book of poetry Howl and Other Poems, a collection which used obscenity, shock value, and literary genius to create an inflammatory portrait of America which could not be ignored. Over forty years later, in 1999, the formerly obscure rap artist, Eminem, born Marshall Mathers, released The Slim Shady LP, a collection of songs characterized by many as an obscene and self-indulgent abuse of his noteworthy talent. Eminem, in his endeavors, produced an album whose seemingly derogatory and misogynistic lyrics forced a politically correct culture to acknowledge the very thing they feared the most: that even in modern society, prejudice and hate still exist, and worst of all, his overwhelming popularity suggested there was still a market in white, suburban mainstream culture to embrace it. The similarities in the controversy sparked by Eminem's lyrics and Ginsberg's poems echo a deeper likeness between the poets; the endeavors of both artists to gain recognition for unpleasant realities that their contemporaries ignore resulted in parallels of style and theme."
This paper discusses Jack Kerouac's "On the Road", AllenGinsberg's "Howl", and William Burroughs's "Naked Lunch" as examples of the literary, 1950s Beat Generation.
Abstract This paper explains that Jack Kerouac, AllenGinsberg, and William Burroughs were the galvanizing forces behind the Beat Generation; their writings and revolutionary narrative techniques created a national sensation that is still debated in modern literary circles. The author points out that Kerouac's ?On the Road ?, the most respected work of the group, at first glance seems incoherent; but, as the novel progresses, we discover the story moves from a superficial sense of order to a deeper, more penetrating sense of openness. The paper relates that "Howl" is not the work of an angry young man; Ginsberg emerges from this rather long poem as a rancorous and somewhat gloomy mystic seer as opposed to a deferential and conventional kind of person that had symbolized the youth of the post-WWII period.
From the Paper "The sex that is virtually dominant in the world of "Naked Lunch" appears to reflect the sex that Freud revealed as the ultimate cause, means, and end. Anything goes in Interzone, and the sex is there in all varieties and expressions. However, it is "junk" which sufficiently separates the narrator from the group consciousness to let him have this vision of things as they are. Junk has its literal importance as a stimulus, but it is also important as a symbol. In general, it is a symbol of meaninglessness, or life as the be-all and end-all of an evolving world. Only be coming into ultimate contact with junk, by knowing it as a symbol, one can realize the separate life."
Abstract This paper reviews and analyzes the epic poem 'Howl' by AllenGinsberg. The paper then compares it to various other pieces of American literature. According to the paper, 'Howl' is not only a personal statement of society, but also a classic poem full of illusions to mythology and psychology. The paper reports that the poem itself is dedicated to Ginsberg's good friend Carl Solomon, who is addressed by name throughout the poem's verses.
From the Paper "Campbell's theories of the myth find their foundation in the works of Carl Jung, who studied the use of mythology in various cultural sects such as South American Indians. According to these sects, it is a fundamental belief that things do not have sharp boundaries as do things in rational, or modern day societies. (Jung, p. 45). This alone is in line with Ginsberg's use of the Moloch myth. The poet, as does a primitive society in Jung's studies, is able to express ideas without the boundaries of "rational" society. However, as Howel demonstrates, "rational" society makes this ability more and more difficult, essentially meaning that the culture of myth is being sacrificed to the evils of industrial society."
This paper discusses the technical and philosophical effects of the unorthodox movement surrealism on the poet AllenGinsberg's ideas, style, morality and images.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 8 sources, 1995, $ 55.95
From the Paper "Far from being isolated from one another, the fine arts are exceedingly cross-disciplinary. Composers take inspiration from poets, who in turn take inspiration from painters. Beethoven's use of Schiller's "Ode to Joy" in the concluding movement of his ninth symphony is one of countless examples of this tendency for artists to find inspiration outside the confines of their specialty. In fact, Wagner's "music drama" is an attempt to unify all of the creative arts in a single work. Cross-disciplinary inspiration occurs no less in the 20th century than it has in centuries past. One such instance is the inspiration American poet Allen Ginsberg has found in the Surrealist movement. Surrealism, which found its first expression among artists, has provided ... "
Abstract This paper will analyze the two poems entitled: "Howl" and "A Supermarket in California" by AllenGinsberg and discuss the elements of poetic usage that are present within the poems. By revealing the concepts of representation and subversion, as well as the rhythm and form, we can see how these poems were meant to be read at a deeper level. The main objective is to discover these elements within the two poems and relate them to each other in the spectrum of poetical analysis.
Abstract This paper looks at several of Woody Allen's most successful films and explains that the primary reason for their success was Allen's skillful use of satire and comedy. The films under discussion include "What's New Pussycat?," "Take the Money and Run," "Annie Hall," "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Everyone Says I Love You."
