Allen Ginsberg Influences

Allen Ginsberg was a beat poet who rose to popularity in the 1950’s when his two most popular pieces of poetry were published. Allen Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey on June 3, 1926 to parents Naomi and Louis Ginsberg. His parent’s professions seemed to have influenced him since his mother was a political activist and his father was a poet and teacher (Lewis, 2002). One of his most popular works, “Howl”, was a poem written about his thoughts on capitalism and fellow Beat poets, while “Kaddish” was written to celebrate his late mother’s life (Lewis, 2002). Most of Ginsberg’s poems were about the processes of one’s thoughts based on surrounding influences. They were about controversial topics such as war, civil rights, and drugs. Although

“In 1969, he was awarded a National Institute of Arts and Letters grant for poetry, and in 1971, he served as a judge on the National Book Awards panel for poetry” (Lewis, 2006). In the 1970’s, Ginsberg was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was awarded a gold medal from National Arts Club Academy (Lewis, 2006). In 1984, “Collected Poems, 1947-1980” was published making him more significant within American literature. It was “a volume [which was] received with wide attention and respect by both academic critics and the national media” (Lewis, 2006). He became a professor at Brooklyn College and Graduate Center of City University in 1986. That same year he published a poem named, “White Shroud”, which was an epilogue to “Kaddish” (Lewis, 2006).

On April 5, 1997, Allen Ginsberg died from liver cancer in Manhattan, New York. He was appraised by “members of the American cultural community, as well as some typical disparagement from those who decried his undeniable influence on American letters” (Lewis, 2006). People’s perception of Ginsberg had changed from a crazy man threatening American culture, to literary genius who formed and encouraged a new culture for a new generation of open minds and people. Allen Ginsberg’s work has changed the values of many who can appreciate his

“Howl” is written as “a three-part prophetic elegy” (Lewis, 2002). The first part talks about misfits and claims them as “the best minds of my generation” and explains on how they are not supported very much by Americans (Lewis, 2002). Instead, they are looked down upon and have a negative image. In the second part of the poem, Ginsberg names a demon called Moloch. Moloch is “the monster of mental consciousness that preys” on the misfits (Lewis, 2002). He starts each line in this part of the poem with “whose”, which is an anaphora. In the third and final part of the poem, Ginsberg gives an example of a misfit he met at a Psychiatric Institute, a poet named Carl W. Solomon (Lewis,2002). He ends the poem with Ginsberg hoping for the misfits to be appraised and that their uniqueness is approved by