Allen Ginsberg's America
In Allen Ginsberg’s “America,” the speaker angrily blasts America in a one-sided argument. In this poem America is personified and is addressed by the speaker as if it were human. After calling himself America the speaker asks several rhetorical questions that make the reader think about America’s ethical and moral values while questioning its goals and ambitions. In essence, the speaker presents to the reader those unanswerable questions that neither himself nor him as America are able to answer.
Ginsberg starts this poem with the speaker declaring that he has given America everything and has not received anything in return. The first line signifies the speaker’s intimacy with America. One will only voluntarily give up everything to another if the other is someone close, important, and special to them. The diction of the first line confirms that the speaker is referring to a voluntary submission (“I’ve given you all” instead of ‘you’ve taken everything from me’ or ‘stolen from me’ etc). This distinction is important because it establishes the angry tone of the speaker in the poem. The speaker has some expectations that America does not meet and that is why he questions America about all those issues that anger him (line 1).
In the first question, “When will we end the human war?” Ginsberg very quickly establishes the speaker’s tone and attitude while maintaining the notion of an intimate relationship between America and himself connoted by the word “we” in the verse. At the conclusion of the previous verse, “I can’t stand my own mind,” a sudden outburst of anger and a barrage of questions shock the reader. The poem seems to be moving at a fast pace much like an argument between two peop...
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...iction to appeal to the audience’s emotions by means of rhetorical questions that require no answer, which is also the reason why the reader is attracted to the poem. These questions, even though unanswerable, present serious problems that need to be addressed. In the world that Ginsberg creates in this poem answers are not important but the acknowledgement of those questions and problems that require some action is important. Ginsberg uses his questions to make the reader feel a need for action and that is the purpose of this poem. These issues can only be resolved if each individual accepts their responsibility of helping the country and realize that these problems exist. The poet wants the readers to acknowledge that every citizen is an important part of America. Therefore, each individual, like Ginsberg, is America and can make this country a better place.
Dubbed as “The Greatest Country in the World” by god knows who, America is not as awesome and free as some may see. In doing a close reading of Heather Christle’s “Five Poems for America”, we can see how the author uses metaphors to portray a flawed American, specifically within its political system, religion, obsession with technology and basic human rights. Americans have been living with the oppression of these everyday issues, completely oblivious thus creating the America we infamously know today.
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.
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.
Throughout their fun and crazy adventure, they realize more what the world has to offer, opening their realistic minds. At this part of the poem, he begins to sound frustrated, confused, questioning the status quo. By line 65 and beyond, he begins talking about the time he spent in a psychiatric ward. Ginsberg wants people to know that someone like him, whose mind wandered over life’s truths, ends up at a madhouse. Why? Because he practiced Dadaism, a artistic art movement that opposed social, political, and cultural values, when he threw potato salad at a professor in CCNY. At this psychiatric ward, he was introduced to many therapies such as ping pong, shock therapy, and hydrotherapy. Also, his close friend, Carl Solomon, and Ginsberg’s mother was in a psychiatric ward, blamed for their insanity. For this, Ginsberg grew angry at
A few cases in which this poem is particularly relevant in today’s society, apart from just the general hipster culture, is the fact that in many ways we’re faced with similar issues of social oppression of certain sects of the population, homophobia, discord amongst different cultures and excessive consumerism – all these being matters than Ginsberg felt strongly about and sought to fight against.
Ginsberg, Benjamin, Theodore J Lowi and Margaret Weir. We the people. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Print.
American poetry, unlike other nations’ poetry, is still in the nascent stage because of the absence of a history in comparison to other nations’ poetry humming with matured voices. Nevertheless, in the past century, American poetry has received the recognition it deserves from the creative poetic compositions of Walt Whitman, who has been called “the father of American poetry.” His dynamic style and uncommon content is well exhibited in his famous poem “Song of Myself,” giving a direction to the American writers of posterity. In addition, his distinct use of the line and breath has had a huge impression on the compositions of a number of poets, especially on the works of the present-day poet Allen Ginsberg, whose debatable poem “Howl” reverberates with the traits of Whitman’s poetry. Nevertheless, while the form and content of “Howl” may have been impressed by “Song of Myself,” Ginsberg’s poem expresses a change from Whitman’s use of the line, his first-person recital, and his vision of America. As Whitman’s seamless lines are open-ended, speaking the voice of a universal speaker presenting a positive outlook of America, Ginsberg’s poem, on the contrary, uses long lines that end inward to present the uneasiness and madness that feature the vision of America that Ginsberg exhibits through the voice of a prophetic speaker.
The tone of the short story “America and I” changed dramatically over the course of the narrative. The author, Anzia Yezierska, started the story with a hopeful and anxious tone. She was so enthusiastic about arriving in America and finding her dream. Yezierska felt her “heart and soul pregnant with the unlived lives of generations clamouring for expression.” Her dream was to be free from the monotonous work for living that she experienced back in her homeland. As a first step, she started to work for an “Americanized” family. She was well welcomed by the family she was working for. They provided the shelter Yezierska need. She has her own bed and provided her with three meals a day, but after a month of working, she didn’t receive the wage she was so
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.
Poems are forms of communication that give an applicable view of the past, present and future events. Reading the poem titled “America”, written by Richard Blanco brought me memories from my childhood in my parent’s house and also what is happening now in my house as a parent. The poem explains how one person doesn’t have all the knowledge about something. It also, describes the daily life struggles I experienced during my childhood, when my parent 's and I moved from our hometown to live in another town becuase of their work and it brings to light the conflict of cultures I and my children are going through since we moved to United State of America .
Poems are expression of the human soul, and even though, is not everyone’s cup of tea when the individual finds that special poem it moves their soul one with the poet. There are many poets in the world, but the one that grab my attention the most was no other than Langston Hughes. It would be impossible for me to cover all the poems he wrote, but the one that grab my attention the most is called “Let America Be America Again.” It first appeared in “1938 pamphlet by Hughes entitled A New Song. Which was published by a socialist organization named the International Worker Order” (MLM) and later change back to its original name. I have never felt such an energy coming out of a poem like this one which is the reason that I instantly felt in love with it.
By posing the question of who is actually free in this land, he then can answer by telling the reader no one is free and explaining why. This is evident in the stanza “The millions who have nothing for our pay? / for all the dreams we’ve dreamed / and all the songs we’ve sung / and all the hopes we’ve held / and all the flags we’ve hung / the millions who have nothing for our pay / expect the dream that’s almost dead today” (???). Here the speaker is making a statement that despite everything that people have done for this country throughout its history, the dream of equality and fairness for all is all but lost by most. This dream is something that can be chased but not obtained. It is the thing that keeps Americans going, and gives them hope for a better future for themselves and their children. It is the thing that drives America despite the fact that in today’s society it seems that the poorer get poorer and the richer get richer. That “basic dream” (???) dreamed by everyone has become a hope for some and something that has been abused and corrupted by
Homosexuality remained illegal in most parts of America until the 1960s, but Ginsberg refused to equate his Gay identity with criminality. He wrote about his homosexuality in almost every poem that he wrote, most specifically in ‘Many Loves’ (1956) and ‘Please Master’ (1968), his paeans to his errant lover Neal Cassady. Ginsberg’s poems are full of explicit sexual detail and scatological humour, but the inclusion of such details should not be interpreted as a childish attempt to incense the prudish and the square.
Often depicted as a melting pot, America is always being put on a pedestal by the rest of the world due to the large amounts of successful immigrants in the United States. Millions of people have packed their bags and moved to America in hopes of achieving their dreams. While some succeed, others fail and are let down by the dim reality that not everyone can achieve their goals. This essay will compare the poems, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes and “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus to exhibit my perspective on both works. Both poems portray people’s hopes that America will be great, however, due to the different eras and the authors’ backgrounds, the poems have different meanings. Lazarus’ poem was written in the early stages of America, as it describes her cheerful
...g with many individuals, are alienated and in turn, wish for extreme change and even another life. Ginsberg conveys a vital message that carries through to the year 2010 even more. Materialism does not make a person, it is insignificant. What is imperative is the natural world; beauty, individuality, and real human interactions as these are concepts that make an individual.