Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
HL VII-2 Literatura Norteamericana
Jorge A. Ortega Espinosa
On Allen Ginsberg
The Beat Generation
“Bohemianism,” “inconformity” and “counterculture” are useful terms to comprehend what
the Beat Generation movement was concerned with, and in order to talk about Allen
Ginsberg we ought to talk about such movement which the poet not only formed a part of,
but in a manner, represented. This is not to say he was the only one; along with him there
were Jean-Louis Kerouac and William Burroughs.
These poets, who initially met in New York, chose San Francisco as the
headquarters1 for their intellectual efforts. Such selection, however, was not fortuitous.
“From about 1944 on, the area has been distinguished by considerable artistic activity, and
during that period it was one of the strongholds of experimental poetry.” (Parkinson, 25)
There, they became bohemians in that they developed a strong sense of community and
lived unconventionally.2 And it was precisely this lack of conventionality, that strangeness,
what made the Beats so appealing. It’s important, however, to bear in mind a previous
Bohemianism: that of the 1920’s. In that period what characterized authors was “a
repudiation of the provinciality, philistinism, and moral hypocrisy of American life.”
(Podhoretz, 15) It is clear then that the Beats were not the first group of artist to criticize the
American society, but prior approaches had been based on quite different preoccupations.
1
2
Prothero, Stephen. “On the Holy Road: The Beat Movement as Spiritual Protest.” p.116
“Bohemian” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. http://www.merriam-webster.com/
The literature of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Eliot, Pound, et al. presented characters
who “fled [to] New York or Paris in search of a freer, more expensive, more enlightened
way of life than was possible in Ohio or Minnesota or Michigan.” (Podhoretz, 15) Their
ideals were cultivation and refinement, and in such manner, contrast with the ideals of the
Beat generation. The new Bohemians worshiped primitivism and simplicity.
This might be considered idealistic: “Allen Ginsberg’s public posture on literary
matters is that of an innocent who writes from impulse, but he know better.” (Parkinson,
27) Such issue won’t be new to us; just as with Twain’s characters’ or Emerson’s own
reluctance to follow establishments, Ginsberg finds himself unable to set himself apart from
tradition and civilization. This, however, is not to say that the efforts of the Beats were
unproductive. The greatest asset of their poetry is its vigor and force.3
It’s important to highlight that the matter of inconformity was at the core of the
movement, from its very labeling. Beat has a dual meaning: “…weariness with society in
general, but also […] in a spiritual sense, the beatific4 inspiration that many of them found
in music and religion.” (Zott, 1) The aforementioned is not the only contrast we will find;
while the critical stand of the beats raised awareness: “To many people the chief force of
the beat movement was the suggestion that all was not well without unrivaled happiness;”
(Parkinson, 26) they also managed to reassure people with ideals such as that of
community: “the illusion of community promoted by the hip jargon, the agreed values, the
common rites, and relaxed tone – this was the chief source of attention and interest.”
(Parkinson, 27)
3
4
This is a feature commonly granted to Beat poetry, in which Parkinson, Zott, and Podhoretz agree.
From beatitude: a state of utmost bliss | any of the declarations made in the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5:3–11) beginning in the Authorized Version “Blessed are” http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Moreover, the inconformity applied as well to their sense of rebellion. Unlike the
conception of a rebel who “…went on to formulate his motives in terms of some ideal
mode of social organization,” the beats proposed no such solution; theirs could be described
as “a social refusal rather than a revolt.” (Parkinson, 28) In an extensive analysis, Stephen
Prothero provides an insightful comparison of beat poets with pilgrims who shared “…not
an identifiable geographical goal but an undefined commitment to a spiritual search. They
aimed not to arrive but to travel and, in the process, to transform into sacred space every
back alley through which they ambled.” (Prothero, 118)
As the poets decided to set themselves apart, they became “a culture with values and
mores that run counter to those of established society.”5 This is particularly evident when
bearing in mind religion: “[the beats] were wandering monks and mystical seers. They went
on the road –from New York to San Francisco to Mexico City to Tangier– because they
could not find God in the churches and synagogues of postwar America. (Prothero 121122) Indeed, the interest in Buddhism, Zen and other Eastern philosophies is one of the
main traits of the beat movement,6 as well as sex,7 drug addiction,8 madness910 and the
individualistic nature of its prose.11
5
“Counterculture” http://www.merriam-webster.com
“The Beat Generation: An Overview” p.1
7
“[There was a] defiant denial of the idea that sex was permissible only in marriage and then only for the
sake of the family. […] to be “promiscuous” was to assert the validity of sexual experience in and for
itself.” “The Known-Nothing Bohemians.”
8
“…interest in drugs and hallucinogenic substances surged among the Beats during the 1950s.” Ibidem
9
“The Known-Nothing Bohemians.” p.15
10
Madness represented freedom, as it meant getting rid of limitations and promoting the inner strength.
This is exemplified in Ginsberg’s “Howl”
11
“Beat prose was usually autobiographical, with personal awkwardness and fragmentation takes as
expression of social reality as well as of individual sincerity. Many of the writers pontificated on not being
“literary” and “intellectual” but personal and direct. Kingsley Widmer, “The Beat in the Rise of the Populist
Culture.” p.49
6
What is left to analyze is how the beat generation was received by people. Above
all, people found in beat literature a refreshing experience: “After ten years of literary
dandies carefully machining their Fulbright poems in a social atmosphere of cold war and
general stuffiness, the beats were welcomed.” (Parkinson, 27) Podhoretz supports this
idea,12 which is crucial to understand the wide social acceptance of beat ideas that was to
come.
One way to look at it is that “the San Francisco Beat scene […] brought many
features of the underground into the mainstream of American life.” (Barlow, 408) This was,
however, by no means intentional. The close relationship of the beats and media “helped
[them] to promote their works more easily.” (Zott, 1) The secondary effect was that “…it
also publicized their lifestyle in a way that allowed “traditional” society to observe them in
a way not possible for any previous countercultural movement.” (Zott, 1) In the end beats´
effort against the cannon resulted in “their lifestyle and ideas gained a strong foothold in
American popular culture, and in a little over a decade the movement itself became
absorbed in mainstream life” (Zott, 1) so that through their alternative modes of dress, their
experiments with drugs and their art “the Beat Generation themselves laid the groundwork
for the next generation of disgruntled youths–the hippies.”13
12
“I think that the unveiling of the Beat Generation was greeted with a certain relief by many people who
had been disturbed by the notorious respectability and “maturity” of post-war writing.” “The KnownNothing Bohemians.”
13
Eric V. Patterson. “Juxtaposition of Wor[l]ds: The Cultural and Literary Legacy of the Beat Generation”
http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/
Ginsberg and his poetry
Allen Ginsberg’s childhood was marked by both, the radial left stand of his mother
and his father, who introduced his son to literacy being himself a poet and a high school
teacher. In addition to this, he struggled with being homosexual and an introvert. Apart
from his parents, some figures who influenced Ginsberg were his mentor William Carlos
Williams, and the friends he made while attending Columbia University, among which are
Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Neal Cassidy.14
The first two are known as the founding members of the Beat Generation. Cassidy,
however, was significant to Ginsberg in a different manner. Cassidy was a romantic interest
of Ginsberg: “They became sexual partners, but Ginsberg’s passion was not equally
reciprocated and the affair ended bitterly.” (Merrill, 400) Peter Orlovsky was the second
most important figure in Ginsberg’s sentimental life: “[Orlovsky] […] was to become his
lifelong friend, lover and spouse.” (Merrill, 400) These relations contrast in that they were
tormenting and nurturing respectively; nevertheless, they both met similar conclusions:
“Moving on to the San Francisco Bay area, [Ginsberg] endured an uncomfortable reunion
with Neal Cassidy, who by [1953] had settled into a life of marriage and children;” about
35 years later, through which Ginsberg lived with Orlovsky “[the latter] still his close
friend, moved out to live with Denise Mercedes and raise children.” (Merrill, 400)
As to his ideology, apart from his interest in Zen Buddhism, he “Helped organize
protests against the Vietnam War and advocated “flower power,” a strategy in which
antiwar demonstrators would promote positive values like peace and love to dramatize
14
Most of Ginsbergs biographic information is based on “Allen Ginsberg.” The Beat Generation: A Gale Critical
Companion Vol. 2
their opposition to the death and destruction caused by war.” (Zott, 364) Carl Solomon,
who Ginsberg met in the New York State Psychiatric Institute,15 had an effect on the poet,
as he “introduced [him] to the French surrealist and reinforced his sensitivity to the uses of
literature as a political force.” (Merrill, 401)
Ginsberg has been praised for his “unique ability to employ traditional forms and
ideas to advance innovative concepts” (Zott, 363) His Jewish heritage plays an important
role in his poetic creation, though the eastern influence resulted in a style which can be
compared to mantras, in that the author’s objective is to appeal to the reader “through
repetitive, chant-like language” (Zott, 363). Furthermore, his usage of breath as measure for
rhythm16 reveals a great concern with orality: “As more than one critic has observed, the
printed poems bear the same relationship to the actual poems as an orchestra score does to
its performance.” (Barlow, 411)
Evidently, Ginsberg deals with an apocalyptic vision, of people doomed by
“dehumanizing and exploitative technocratic civilization –bomb-ridden, consumercompulsive, competitively anxious, sensually confused, mass-media warped, institutionally
boxed, politically mad–” (Widmer, 49). There was in him, nevertheless, a sense of humor
that kept his work away from unidimensionality.17
15
“Herbert Huncke […] stored some goods in Ginsberg’s apartment. When, at Ginsberg’s insistence, they
removed the goods in a stolen car, they were arrested by the police. Ginsberg was sent to the New York
State Psychiatric institute for eight months where he met Carl Solomon, the dedicatee of Howl.” “Ginsberg
and the Beat Attitude.” p.401
16
“In his use of breathing as a rhythmical unit there is probably some connection with the Projective Verse
theories of Olson and Duncan, but the influence of Whitman is also obvious.” A Short History of American
Poetry p.411
17
“Like Whitman, Ginsberg saves his poetry from becoming purely bombastic rant because he has a sense of
humor. Some of it is satire, some self-deprecatory about his Jewishness or his homosexuality, some simply
playful.” Idem
2 Poems: “A Supermarket in California” and “Howl”
“A Supermarket in California” is a good example of Ginsberg’s rejection to
tradition, his humor and his criticism towards society. In this instance, the criticism is not
as acute as it will be in “Howl,” but instead exemplifies the less emblematic side of
Ginsberg, which in the lack of a better term I’ll refer to as “passive.” This poem does not
involve a prophetic intensity, but solely highlights and questions with an insightful eye.
Ginsberg sets the reader in a familiar environment, and provides small elements
which from very early on depict the main problem: “In my hungry fatigue, and shopping
for images, I went / into the neon fruit supermarket;” (L.4-5) while shopping for images
make us aware of impressions which seem to be more relevant that substance, the fact a
fruit supermarket -which we would usually think as a humble, small business- has a neon
sign alerts us of its standardization in relation to capitalist needs. The fact that people are all
over the place, at night, and including toddlers in the process, refers us to them having
developed a crippling necessity to purchase: “Whole families / shopping at night! Aisles
full of husbands! Wives in the / avocados, babies in the tomatoes!” (L.6-8)
Whitman, as portrayed in the poem, is an outsider: “heard you asking questions of
each: Who killed the / pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?” (L. 13-14)
His interest in things as such sets him apart from the crowd. Ginsberg, thus, contrasts not
only the conformist and desensitization to the rebellious impetus, but also the oppressing
community to the individual.
The aforementioned rebellious impetus is present as well in the characters actions,
which are described vividly, and though Ginsberg persona joins Whitman, there is an
emphasis on that they remain isolated: “We strode down the open corridors together in our /
solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen / delicacy, and never passing the
cashier.” (L. 17-19) In addition to this, their breaking of the law is what seems to free them
from their peers.
The last stanza is composed of two questions; having left the supermarket, the
poetic voice wonders about the future. The first one is based on materialism, which limits
and superposes an actual interest in the qualities which the poetic voice considers lost:
“Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love / past blue automobiles in driveways,
home to our silent cottage?” (L.27-28) The second one questions what might be considered
an idealization of an earlier (unspecified) golden age; in this manner, the conclusion of the
poem is negative in tone.
“Howl”, the poem which gained Ginsberg the interest of great audiences, and that
(as many considered) established the beginning of the Beat Generation will be analyzed
next. The style of this poem is that which, charged with a conviction in the rottenness of
society and in a spiritual resurgence, defined the inconformity and willpower of the author.
Due to the length of the poem, I won’t be able to analyze as I did “A Supermarket
in California;” instead I will analyze some particular extracts, as well comment on the
strategies Ginsberg employs, some thematic elements and the features which are most
prominent in the poem.
In “Howl” we find an interest in repetition, related to Ginsberg’s notion of rhythm
in relation to breath; his sentences are long, and provided with a meticulous and
provocative vocabulary: “who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burning their
money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror through the wall.” (L.16-17) We can find
numerous extracts based on personal experiences. One from early on the poem would be
“who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the
windows of the skull,” (L.13-14), which refers to one of the reasons for which Ginsberg
was expelled from College: painting obscenities in the windows of his dorm.
Ginsberg also refers to “… dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol
and cock and endless balls,” (L.21-22) which is to say the tendency of the beats to consume
substances which allowed them to clear their mind and come one step closer to clearmindedness. Their rebellious is not portrayed solely in this, but on their activism as well:
“who chained themselves to subways for the endless ride from Battery to holy / Bronx on
benzedrine until the noise of wheels and children brought them down / shuddering mouthwracked and battered bleak of brain all drained of brilliance in the drear light of Zoo.”
(L.30-34). In contrast, the author highlights the reaction of government towards them: “who
howled on their knees in the subway and were dragged off the roof waving genitals and
manuscripts,” (L.79)
These poets, concerned with existentialism “…studied Plotinus Poe St John of the
Cross telepathy and bop kabbalah because the universe instinctively vibrated at their feet in
Kansas;” (L.53-54) in addition to this, they are able to perceive beauty in spite of the decay
of the world: “who thought they were only mad when Baltimore gleamed in supernatural
ecstasy.” (L.57)
The interest of the beats in travelling is also addressed: “who disappeared into the
volcanoes of Mexico leaving nothing behind but the / shadow of dungarees and the larva
and ash of poetry scattered in fireplace Chicago” (L. 65-66) There is also the idea of sexual
freedom, which the author relates directly with a statement about homosexuality, which fits
among the complains about obscenity: “who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly
motorcyclists, and screamed with joy;” (L. 79) sexuality is also exploited to stress the
interest beat poets had on feeling and raw expressions of it: “who copulated ecstatic and
insatiate and fell off the bed, / and continued along the floor and down the hall and ended
fainting on the wall / with a vision of ultimate cunt and come eluding the last gyzym of
consciousness,” (L. 92 -94) Finally, we find the element of religion; among different
examples, the following portrays the impossibility of finding a valuable answer in the
existing western canon: “who fell on their knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for each
other's salvation / and light and breasts, until the soul illuminated its hair for a second.”
(L.148-149)
This first section of the poem focuses on the problems that poets have to face in
Ginsberg’s context. Though the second section of the poem still bears these problems in
mind, it introduces what is somewhat an origin and reason for them: “Moloch! Solitude!
Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways!
Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!” (L.195-196) This Moloch, a
pagan deity to whom children were sacrificed, can also be interpreted as “A tyrannical
power to be propitiated by human subservience or sacrifice.”18
18
“Definition of Moloch” http://www.lexic.us
“Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! /
Moloch the heavy judger of men!” (L. 196-197) When Moloch is referred to we can
appreciate how it exists in the mind only, and that not in spite, but because of this it has
greater power over men. Moloch is related quite closely to capitalism, as the poem stresses:
“Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! / Moloch
whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! / Moloch whose
ear is a smoking tomb!” (L.202-205)
Moloch seems to be revered, something the poet despises as it causes unhappiness:
“They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven! Pavements, trees, radios, tons! lifting
the city to Heaven which exists and is everywhere about us!” (L. 218-219) In the last stanza
of the section, the poet takes this situation to an extreme, portraying it as a downfall which
people don’t seem to be able to escape.
The third and last19 section of the poem is addressed to Carl Salomon. Apart from
this evident variation we have also that of the variation in structure; here, Ginsberg decides
to employ much shorter sentences, though he continues to use repetition to charge his
sentences with greater strength, as well as to create an effect of chanting, as I have
previously developed. Thematically, Solomon’s madness remains the characteristic which
allows him to resist the threats of the world.
19
There is a fourth section to the poem. However, this is contained in “Footnote to Howl”
QUESTIONS:
 Would you say there is an element of homosexuality in "A Supermarket in
California"? If so, how is it employed?
 How is the reader addressed in "A Supermarket in California"? (If at all)
 Which do you think is the importance of reference to the author's personal events in
“Howl”?
 How is Solomon portrayed in the third section of "Howl", and how is that relevant
to the poem in comparison with section 2?
WOKRS CITED
Barlow Sauffer, Donald (ed.) “Chapter Twelve: Some Comtemporaries” in A Short History
of American Poetry. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. 1974
Merrill, Thomas F. “Ginsberg and the Beat Attitude.” in Zott, Lynn M. (ed.) The Beat
Generation: A Gale Critical Companion Vol. 1. United States of America: The Gale
Group, 2003.
Parkinson, Thomas. “Phenomenon or Generation.” in Zott, Lynn M. (ed.) The Beat
Generation: A Gale Critical Companion Vol. 1. United States of America: The Gale
Group, 2003.
Patterson, Eric V. “Juxtaposition of Wor[l]ds: The Cultural and Literary Legacy of the Beat
Generation” Empty Mirrors. Cited April 29, 2012.
<http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/beat/beat-generation-legacy.html>
Podhoretz, Norman. “The Known-Nothing Bohemians.” in Zott, Lynn M. (ed.) The Beat
Generation: A Gale Critical Companion Vol. 1. United States of America: The Gale
Group, 2003.
Prothero, Stephen. “On the Holy Road: The Beat Movement as Spiritual Protest.” in Zott,
Lynn M. (ed.) The Beat Generation: A Gale Critical Companion Vol. 2. United
States of America: The Gale Group, 2003.
Widmer, Kingsley. “The Beat in the Rise of the Populist Culture.” in Zott, Lynn M. (ed.)
The Beat Generation: A Gale Critical Companion Vol. 1. United States of America:
The Gale Group, 2003.
Zott, Lynn M. (ed.) “The Beat Generation: An Overview” in The Beat Generation: A Gale
Critical Companion Vol. 1. United States of America: The Gale Group, 2003.