In lines 57 to 60, Ginsberg speaks of Tom Mooney, a World War worker, the Spanish Loyalists who fought for the Spanish republic, Sacco & Vanzetti the executed Italian activists, and the Scottsboro Boys who were released from their death sentences. It is included in his collection ‘Howl and Other Poems’ published in November 1956. The Wobblies were harshly criticized by the United States government which largely shut down the group during World War I by prosecuting and politically embarrassing many of its leaders. Themes from the decade’s previous wars are prominent such as the nuclear bomb or Asian foreign policy, yet the poem also seems prescient in its depiction of national racial unrest and the fight with communism that would characterize the Cold War foreign policy positions of the United States in the second half of the 20th century. ", As the poem begins to close, Ginsberg continues his rant on America's discriminatory attitudes, it's unthinking patriotism, and it's unjust treatment of minority racial and political groups. These lines function on several levels. In the lines follow, from his accusation on the government, the poet redirects his perspective towards people, their nature, and possibly the justice system of America post World War. America the plum blossoms are falling. Ginsberg accuses the country of "pushing" him and he asserts that he knows "what I'm doing" (25). After the therapist asked Ginsberg what would make him ultimately happy, Ginsberg tells him that writing poetry and living the life of the artist is what would make him happy. Here, the poet has used it ironically “The Russia wants to eat us alive. He tells both the country and the reader that it's time for him to "get right down to the job" (90). The poem carries a reference to the meetings of the communists, yet he knew that the era is long gone. He begins with a tone of reconciliation, trying to find commonality amongst himself and his country. Ginsberg sets a more "serious" tone for the end by telling America upfront that "this is quite serious" (87). He, who hopes to hold himself to a higher standard of justice and love, cannot escape the way his own perception of events is clouded by media interpretation. Line 26 uses imagery from Eastern influences, a region of the world whose religion and culture would fascinate Ginsberg throughout his life. I am talking to myself again. The poem is a statement of those times of political unrest and urges positive change by shedding the veil of national inactivity. America I will sell you strophes $2500 apiece $500 down on your old strophe (…) Ginsberg uses all of these historical examples to demonstrate to America that is is not the country that it presents itself to be in patriotic statements like the National Anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance. It is again proof of his indifference to the existing capitalist or the system of America at that time. “Rhetorical Question” does not expect a direct answer, rather used in many cases to put across the speaker’s opinion. While parts of the poem had been silly and Ginsberg had used his wit to try and outsmart the country, he now turns "serious" to indict America for its racial and social injustice. Are you going to let your emotional life be run by Time Magazine? Moving to a broader scope, he notes that he also has "jetplanes 1400 miles an hour and twentyfive-thousand mental institutions" (55-56). Line 61, describes the happy memory of a communist meeting Ginsberg attended as a child. Like other Ginsberg poems, the structure is really meant to be heard rather than read, as it is conversational in nature. Help.". And them Russians" (79). While he spent most of the last stanza of the poem abdicating himself from personal responsibility, he suddenly starts to take responsibility for the "emotional" reactions that media causes. Even though he became a writer, he never let that passion go away. His first published work, 'Howl and Other Poems' (1956), sparked the San Francisco Renaissance and defined the generation of the '50s with an authority and vision that had not occurred in the United States since T. S. Eliot captured the anxiety of the 1920s in The Waste Land. Again, Ginsberg has become the personified country that he began the poem in conversation with. In this poem, ‘America’, the speaker addresses America directly. “America” is a Beat anthem. and is affected/changed by some part of America’s nature. First, Ginsberg continues his mockery of American ignorance by continuing to use forms of colloquial speech. One of the most respected Beat writers and acclaimed American poets of his generation, Allen Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey and raised in nearby Paterson, the son of an English teacher and Russian expatriate. “Anaphora” the rhetorical device used that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses to give emphasis to the poet’s view or perspective. He acknowledges that his every action effects other's lives in some way or another. Such a statement risked not only government interrogation but possibly criminal charges brought against him for treason. He is referencing two particular events here: the first is the rise of China as a communist power in the East. As if to make his point, Ginsberg also says that he "won't say the Lord's Prayer." The United States and Russia had fought throughout the first half of the twentieth century to influence the politics of China and its population. It’s always telling me about responsibility. But Ginsberg's conscious then speaks up, as if another more interior voice has added its opinion to the matter. This, of course, goes against the values of worker rights and unionizing that Ginsberg says he once adhered to. He is almost in disbelief over all that he has just accused the country of. America is a largely political work, with much of the poem consisting of various accusations against the United States, its government, and its citizens. Ginsberg used the "long line" as his creative foundation, experimenting and riffing on rhythm and meter in one long line that would be "all held together within the elastic of the breath....". The poem involves many prominent themes such as the previous wars of the decade, nuclear warfare, the foreign policy in Asia, racial unrest in the US, and resistance against communism. Here, he mixes both the personal and the national. Ginsberg acknowledges that he doesn't have "a chinaman's chance" of avoiding this collision of values. The stanza then turns into a kind of angry lament. The problems that have been plaguing the United States are associated with his attitudes … He continues to comment on what the magazine telling him and the people. Even though his ambitions took him in a different direction - that of a poet instead of a lawyer - Ginsberg admits that he cannot "give up my obsession." It is an obsession with the promise of America, with the things that he once believe deeply in: justice, tolerance, freedom, and acceptance. In the following lines, he expresses how he too is obsessed with it and reads it every week. The poem begins with the author stating his disappointment in America and introducing his poor financial and mental condition. This it he American way, Ginsberg suggests. Businessmen are serious. Read the Study Guide for Allen Ginsberg’s Poetry…, An Analysis and Interpretation of Allen Ginsberg's America, From a Whitman Song to a Ginsberg Howl: Homophobia Creates a Forum for Biased Critical Evaluation of Poetry, Imagery in Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California", View our essays for Allen Ginsberg’s Poetry…, View the lesson plan for Allen Ginsberg’s Poetry…, View Wikipedia Entries for Allen Ginsberg’s Poetry…. In ‘America’ the poet has used rhetorical questions to express his perspective of America and to criticize the way of life prevails. It also makes fun of the people who blame every mishap on Russia. The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the victory of the Communist Party of China. But Ginsberg is also referencing his own engagement with Asian religion and culture. He wonders how long the country is going to let the Time Magazine rule or run their emotions for them. Ginsberg begins by claiming that "Asia is rising against me" (51). Allen Ginsberg, a true descendent of Whitman, did represent those individuals and allowed their voice to be heard in his poem, a postmodern American masterpiece, “America”.Works CitedGinsberg, Allen. "America you don't really want to go to war. In this poem, Ginsberg presents the Beat critique of a nation gone wrong—an entire culture obsessed with waging war, making money, and fostering a … (…) Buddhism would be an important religious outlook for many of the Beat writers, including Kerouac and Neal Cassady, as they sought to reach higher levels of consciousness using drugs like LSD. Ginsberg is taking a social risk by admitting in the poem that he was once a communist. A poem by Allen Ginsberg—Beat writer, Howl author, visionary, imp, hedonist, Buddhist, troublemaker, friend of Dylan, and poetic inheritor of Walt Whitman. I can't stand my own mind. In the lines between 38 and 46, Ginsberg addresses America directly and question the way the people live and lead by. The poem “America” is a significant part of American history since Allen Ginsberg confesses all the issues he was having with America during the late forties and fifties. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. I haven’t read the newspapers for months, everyday somebody goes on trial for murder. He tells America to "...save the Spanish Loyalists" (66), the leftist army supported by the Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War who fought the Fascist uprising supported by Nazi Germany. He begins with trying to imitate American colloquial speech, an indicator that he's mocking the uninformed and uneducated who would blindly follow a blind patriotism. Further, he decides to “get right down to the job” and put his “queer shoulder to the wheel”. I … The comparisons here are stark. He tries to ensure whether the impressions that he has made from the television is true. Join the conversation by. The therapist then answers that that is what Ginsberg should do. Ginsberg here critizes America, not just for seeing all events through the lens of the media (represented by Time) but also for letting its "emotional life" be effected by the magazine. I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations. This is both a lament at the violence, or threat of violence, that was increasingly a part of American culture. Ginsberg, one of the primary figures of the counterculture of Beat Writers during the 1940s and 50s, presents America as a land in the grip of a capitalistic conglomerate which smothers the individual spiritually, artistically and economically. The poem ‘America’ highlights the irregular meter and structure that is the hallmark of Ginsberg’s poetry. He is partly dissatisfied with the militarism of the country and he tells America to "go fuck yourself with your atom bomb" (5). And, the sentences often run on without punctuation. Allen Ginsberg's America Through a careful interpretation of A Defense of Poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Democratic Vistas by Walt Whitman, one can gain a holistic sense of poetry, what it is and what it … The second stanza continues the back and forth argument that Ginsberg is having with the personified country. Allen Ginsberg [1926-1997], born in Newark, N.J., is an American poet and leading apostle of the beat generation. He says that “its cover stares at [him]” every time he passes the corner store. The first line sets an exhausted and depressed mood for the poem. Ginsberg then moves into eight lines of stream of consciousness writing in which he remembers a meeting of a Communist Party cell that his mother took him to when he was seven years old. He ends the stanza with another example of discrimination. She loves reading and writing poetry. It is always speaking of the seriousness of businessmen and producers, possibly alluding to the conformist nature of American workers. America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956. My ambition is to be President despite the fact that I’m a Catholic. Naomi Ginsberg held strong Communist views throughout her life and, during Allen's childhood, often took him and his brother to meetings of the local Communist Party. To be on the cover of Time magazine was to grab the attention of the nation and of the world. In reading the poem aloud one better understands the conversational nature of the poem. He questions America when it can offer him justice, tolerance, freedom, and acceptance as it has made the world believe about it or changes its perspective of itself. The Russia’s power mad.” to emphasize the ignorance of the people of America who simply blamed Russia as a cause for all the difficulty faced post World War. Further, he ridicules the people for being ignorant through the phrases like “Russia wants to eat us alive” and “She wants to take our cars from out our garages” and “Her wants to grab Chicago”. In the line, line 37, Ginsberg disapproves of what America has done to a family who came over from Russia. Other poems with similar ideas and theme consist of: Subscribe to our mailing list and get new poetry analysis updates straight to your inbox. Ginsberg continues his mockery of American ignorance by continuing to use forms of colloquial speech. Ginsberg tries to point out the absurdity of such thought just as he is trying to point out that the American way of life is bankrupt to begin with and not worth stealing. Ginsberg mocks the misdirected fear of those that fail to learn and think about the political and social state of their country. He remembers this meeting fondly, recounting that "everybody was angelic and sentimental about the workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party was..." (71-73). These lines beg the question of why a country with such technological advances criminalizes and punishes their insane in such inhumane ways. Ginsberg expresses his own hopelessness that his life or work, or anyone's life, would mean anything within a culture of censorship and oppression. They believed that all wages should be abolished and that all workers should be united as a class of persons. It was written on January 17, 1956, while he was in Berkeley, California. This is coupled with the author’s rebellious nature, his mother originating from Russian lands, and so a sense of heritage emerges in his persona; thus, his views of a socialistic society in the United … By claiming that "Asia is rising against me," Ginsberg is relating how the tenets of Buddhism - peace, love, transcendence - testify against the America that he himself claimed identity with in the previous stanza. Those are the opening lines to Allen Ginsberg's " Howl " (1955–56), a poem which helped kickstart a major cultural and legal transformation in America, … Gratitude in the workplace: How gratitude can improve your well-being and relationships Ginsberg's "America" recreates a conversation that Ginsberg has with a personified country, its people, and its values. GradeSaver, 31 December 2009 Web. "A Supermarket in California" Summary and Analysis. A few years before writing "Howl" and "America," Ginsberg had sought psychological help for the depression and guilt he felt over the life he was choosing. Allen Ginsberg’s Definition of the Beat Generation ... between Buddhism and the Beat Generation can be found in a scholarly survey of the development of Buddhism in America, ... by Rick Fields. He laments the cultural poverty of the time, equating it to only a few dollars and cents, and finds that he is not even able to be himself in such a culture. Ginsberg finishes the stanza by telling America that he has not "read the newspapers for months" and that the reason is because "everyday somebody goes on trial for murder" (27-28). I think he would not approve of Chris Christie. Like "Howl," the poem displays the irregular meter and structure that was to be a hallmark of Ginsberg's poetry. Poem Analysis: "America" by Allen Ginsburg. Everybody’s serious but me. This happens, of course, to be beneath all of the "serious" people in the world, but it does not change the fact that he himself adapts and conforms to the societal norms imposed by Time magazine and the media. Please log in again. In the lines that follow the comments on the “insane demands” of America that affect even the trivial acts of life. The purpose of the device switches depending on the mood of the poet from the question to the country, to a detailed description of his perspective on the country. He wants to stop the conversation before it even starts, making excuses that he doesn't want to be bothered with such a conversation (ignoring that he was the one who started it) and declaring that he won't write until "I'm in my right mind" (7). In the first, Allen Ginsberg appears quite overly infantile and immature in his response to America’s actions, as if he isn’t a part of them. 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