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

Ginsberg unfortunately died in 1997 in New York, New York due to liver cancer, he left an everlasting cultural influence as part of the Beat Generation (Lewis, 2002).
Ginsberg mother was put into the hospital in 1929 due to her mental stress for the first time, which he would later talk about in his poem “Kaddish” (Lewis 2002). While he was in high school, he got two of his works published in the school magazine. In 1941, he attended Columbia University to study law, but then got influenced by some of his friends, such as Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and changed his study to literature (Lewis, 2006). With his friends, they formed a group called “The New Vision” which was “a precursor of the Beat generation precepts he exemplified in his later work” (Lewis, 2006). He got into some trouble in 1945 which got him suspended from the University for letting Kerouac to spend the night in his room. As he was suspended, he got jobs as a “welder, dishwasher, assistant at the Gotham Book Mart, and apprentice seaman in the merchant marine” (Lewis, 2006). In 1946, he went to Columbia University again and worked for the Columbia Review as an editor’s assistant. Ginsberg graduated with a bachelor’s degree in literature in 1948 (Lewis, 2006).
In 1949, Ginsberg got into even more mischief and had to go to “Columbia Presbyterian Psychiatric Institute to avoid criminal charges” (Lewis, 2006). During his time at the Columbia Presbyterian Psychiatric Institute, he met Carl W. Solomon and was intrigued by his persona (Lewis, 2002). Ginsberg wrote “Howl” in honor of Solomon “recognizing immediately a fellow enthusiast for avant-garde art and an unconventional life pattern” (Lewis, 2006). Allen Ginsberg moved to Manhattan in 1953 which became his permanent home for the rest of his life. During this time, he “worked as a copyboy at the New York World-Telegram” (Lewis, 2006). He met Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1954 who became his publisher of City Light Books for about 25 years (Lewis, 2006). Hinsberg wrote “A Supermarket in California” in 1955 in honor of Walt Whitman. He also “organized the now-legendary landmark reading of October 13 at the Six Gallery [Berkley, California], where he joined Gary Snyder, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, and Philip Whalen to read “Howl” in public for the first time” (Lewis, 2006). He met Peter Orlovsky for the first time at this reading, and they soon developed a progressive relationship (Lewis, 2006).
In 1956, “Howl and Other Poems” was published and Ginsberg had to “[defend] the Howl volume against charges of obscenity” (Lewis, 2006). That same year, his mother died and spent some time writing “Kaddish” in honor of her, which was published in 1961. In the late 1950’s, Ginsberg and his friends who were named “Beatniks”, became more recognized by society and began a “literary movement” (Lewis, 2006). He performed with the Beatles and Bob Dylan in 1962 at a concert in London (Lewis, 2006). Ginsberg experimented with drugs and formed “LeMar (Organization to Legalize Marijuana) in 1964 with the poet Ed Sanders” (Lewis, 2006).
Allen Ginsberg was expelled from a few countries in his lifetime. He was known to criticize the United States, so Cuba and Czechoslovakia invited him thinking that he would like their form of government. Ginsberg was expelled from Cuba in 1965 when he “challenged the totalitarian aspects of Cuban society, unsettling the puritanical Communist regime with rampant erotic invitations” (Lewis, 2006). Ginsberg was the declared the “King of May” by Czechs in Prague. He was then expelled due to his poem “Kral Majales” for “unusual sex politics dream opinions” (Lewis, 2006).
Ginsberg was becoming more popular within American literature by the late 1960’s (Lewis, 2006).

“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

art.
One of Allen Ginsberg’s most popular pieces is Howl and Other Poems which was published in 1956.

“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

America.
The main idea of “Howl” is to inform the reader that these unique misfits are victims due to their creative minds and that they are different. These misfits are Beat writers including himself who write and express themselves in a unusual form compared to other artists during that time. Ginsberg described his poem as a “huge sad comedy of wild phrasing” (Lewis, 2002). The poem is written in a sad and angry tone in defense of these misfits. “Howl” is written with no rhyme scheme and writes as if he is speaking.
Another popular poem by Gingsberg is Kaddish and Other Poems which was published in 1961. “Kaddish” was written to celebrate his late mother’s life by incorporating some of his childhood memories with her (biography). “The course of his life’s journey from early youth and full parental love to the threshold of middle age is paralleled by Naomi’s life as it advances from late youth toward a decline into paranoia and madness” (Lewis, 2002). Ginsberg first writes about how he feels that he is unable to get closure since he is unable to “cut through — to talk to you” (Lewis, 2002). Ginsberg then talks about a time he goes to the clinic with his mother. His mother wants him to take her home, however Ginsberg tells her "No, you're crazy Mama -- Trust the Drs" (Jason). Ginsberg has to now take the responsibility of being an adult since his mother is unable to due to her mental illness (Lewis, 2002). He then prays for his mother in Hebrew and gives her “the formal service that had been denied his mother because of a technicality” (Lewis, 2002). Ginsberg ends the poem with another prayer for his mother and as if he is visiting her grave. He also repeats the sounds of a crow (anaphora) as he conjures the memories that he had with his mother (Asher). The poem is an elegy and written with stream of consciousness (Jason). “Kaddish” also contains no rhyme scheme and written as if he is speaking. Ginsberg wants forgiveness and to have peace within himself since he did not attend his mother’s funeral.