Allen Ginsberg Essays (Examples)

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The Buddhist practice of "just sitting" while in meditation also emerges in Ginsberg's poem when he writes, "I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet."
The narrator also likens himself to Buddha by saying, "You made me want to be a saint." The Buddha abnegated his wealth to pursue a path of total transcendence. Dissatisfied with asceticism, however, the Buddha pursued a middle path. The narrator in Ginsberg's "America" admits "I smoke marijuana every chance I get." Antithetical to formal Buddhism, which denounces mind-altering substances, the assertion nevertheless echoes the idea that total abstinence is not the spiritual goal. Honesty and respect for human life, on the other hand, are the goals of spiritual practice.

Thus, Buddhism is like communism in their mutually egalitarian philosophies. Both Buddhism and Buddhism affirm similar social values. "No political system, no matter how ideal it may….

This reading also featured Ginsberg's "Howl."
Along with the rest of the world, the attendees at the reading also provided wide acclaim to this particular work. Indeed, the poem was seen as groundbreaking in the struggle against the destructive American powers that be at the time. Indicative of this is the fact that Howl and Other Poems was banned for obscenity shortly after its publication. Despite this, the work was translated into more than twenty-two languages, and became one of the most widely read poems during the 20th century.

Ginsberg furthermore showed his allegiance to the Beat movement by being involved in protests against the Vietnam War, as well as other political activities and speaking opportunities, as mentioned above. The most important issues for the poet included free speech and gay rights.

For his work in both politics and poetry, Ginsberg received the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (the Order of….

hen he left home for Columbia in 1943, he remembered his past and was happy to leave his problems -- his mother's insanity especially -- behind him. Later, he noted that he had lost quite a bit by distancing himself from her. He wrote that he lost the ability to become close to "later friendly girls" (35). He believed that he had denied his feelings toward women out of fear of what happened to his mother (35). However, he was on a path to become a lawyer, although this path would change his sophomore year when he changed his major to English literature (35).
At the end of his second term at Columbia, Allen met Lucien Carr, who thought Ginsberg to be, a "shy little Jewish boy" (Morgan 37). Paul Roth had left for the war and Lucien became Allen's first serious "crush" (37). They two built a strong friendship….

Not long after meeting Carr, Ginsberg wrote to his brother and said, "I plan to go down to Greenwich Village with a friend of mine who claims to be an intellectual, and knows queer and interesting people. I plan to get drunk, if I can" (Hyde, 89).
It was while Ginsberg was attending Columbia University that he realized, for the first time as an adult, his sexual orientation as a homosexual. In a letter to his brother Eugene, Allen stated that he had "accumulated a modest number of close friends, some neurotic, some insane, some political." He placed these friends in categories of social standing -- "the madmen and artists from Greenwich Village and Columbia," such as Kerouac and Carr; the "sensitive youths and young intellectuals," mostly composed of his "normal" classmates at school, and lastly, a group of other classmates whom he had daily contact with, such as his….

Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg Howl

Alen Ginsberg lived a colorful life in which he participated in many of the contemporary periods subcultures. He believed that the United States had evolved into something of a materialistic society that demanded conformity and submission to cultural norms. The radicals that resisted the mainstream culture were what Ginsberg referred to as the "best minds" and they were fallen heroes in his view. The group experimented with drugs, sex, Eastern religions, anti-consumerism, and a general opposition to any kind of expression through materialism.

The poem Howl uses intense symbolism, imagery and word play throughout. The central theme of the poem seems to incorporate madness. The best minds that he envisioned were considered mad and only allowed to move freely at night. He uses a lot of variations of words to describe various aspect of the underground society that he relates to. The addicts chase a "fix" that is….

Whitman in the Supermarket
Considered by many to be the father of free verse, Walt Whitman was a19th century American poet, essayist, and journalist. In his poetry, Whitman often incorporated aspects of realism -- presenting things as they are -- with transcendentalism, which seeks to transcend things as they are.

In Allen Ginsberg's poem, "A Supermarket in California," Ginsberg encounters "Wives in the/avocados, babies in the tomatoes!" And "Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,/poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery/boys" (7-8, 10-12). Whitman was also an open bisexual who never married, never had children, and was one of the first American poets to incorporate homosexual eroticism into his work, though he is most famous for his semi-tragic depiction of American ideals -- just as Ginsberg himself is. In "A Supermarket in California," Ginsberg not only encounters Whitman but actually follows him, which is symbolic of Ginsberg's work following….

Art
"Howl" and "Guernica" Outline

The paper demonstrates the ways in which both pieces of art contemplate and express multiple themes, including those of religion, morality, happiness, life-affirmation, and freedom.

"Howl" is a poem that is both a mourning and a celebration of life.

"Guernica" is an expression of pain and war.

oth works of art have many themes and many of the same themes.

Ginserb, the 1950s, and "Howl"

He composed the poem in the middle of the 1950s, one of the greatest decades in history for mainstream America.

He is heavily influenced by previous poets and by his own lived experiences.

Howl" shows readers how they can be connected to spirituality, religion, and what is sarcred or holy with, and without the use of the formal church.

Poetry is another form of storytelling that is best when read/performed aloud.

Howling, Expression, and Jazz

A. If we are howling, either out of pain or out of pleasure, we are alive and….

Beat Generation the Beats
PAGES 18 WORDS 5341

beat generation are several strong principles, the most notable is associated with the founder, Jack Kerouac and his definition of the generation as a whole.
The road" has been a powerful metaphor for freedom from the constraints of ordinary life, ever since Jack Kerouac's On the Road became the Beatnik Bible in the 1950's. Kerouac saw beauty in gas stations and freedom on the road. The metaphor caught the imagination of a generation. Many of the key phenomena of "the Sixties" developed in coherence with this metaphor... getting high on psychedelic drugs was called "taking a trip."

Jack Kerouac and others developed through his mostly autobiographical works the "positive" concept or purpose of the retaliatory generation of the beats.

ithin the works of the small elite group of writers associated with the beat generation there are many messages about, life, the world and rejection of conformity. There is little doubt that one….

Old When the Music of
PAGES 3 WORDS 1069

For me, that afternoon was like a raid siren in the dead of the night as I could see Allen Ginsberg's poetry come to life in front of my eyes; also, I am positive that afternoon changed my perception not only of poetry, but of art in general. I became interested in the life of the artist, and the period of time a particular piece of art was created.
I can now look back and attempt to accurately evaluate the impact of Ginsberg's work on my life. Nonetheless, I am not sure how objective I can be in this assessment. Since Ginsberg has become an integrated part of my system of thought and belief, it is quite difficult to separate myself from what I believe in, and evaluate my own mind. What I can say though is that thanks to his poetry, I was able to get a more profound….

Lights Up to Reveal a
PAGES 7 WORDS 1858


AUDRE: I still say I'm the only one who even comes close to understanding the struggle Obama has gone through, even though he is a man

ALLEN: And heterosexual

ADRIENNE: And alive

WILLIAM: Let's just take a step back and look at this objectively. Scientifically. Medically.

AUDRE: I think you've got the wrong hat on, doc. Figuratively speaking.

ALLEN: No, no, this could help. William, you want to right it because your sense of rhythm is uniquely American, right?

WILLIAM: Well, more or less -- m rhythm is the unique American rhythm, I would say

ALLEN: OK, buut close enough. And Adrienne, you think that because you're alive

ADRIENNE: And for other reasons, like, uhh...subjectivity, and er

ALLEN: Right. And Audre

AUDRE: The subjugation of this society which has made me an outcast in every

ALLEN: Yeah, yeah we know. Those are all some pretty valid reasons. As for me, I don't really care about writing the poem, I just want….

works of art speak to different people in different ways. Explore and explain which performances and which ideas from the course that you have seen and heard this semester have "spoken" with most impact…how and why?
Works that Speak to Me

The quote by poet Allen Ginsberg made a big impact on me. He says, "Whoever controls the language, the images, controls the race." (Maser 180). This means a lot to me because I am international student from Korea. I am trying to understand a new culture through its theater. Theater to me is like breath of fresh air when visiting other country like the United States because it gives culture and meaning to the world within it. The theater is a place where "language, images" are shown.

Everything on the stage has a meaning. It is there for reason. It serves a purpose. The lighting is put upon others to shine….

Viderunt Omnes by Protin
PAGES 4 WORDS 1850

Perotin's "Viderunt Omnes"
My fascination with Perotin's "Viderunt Omnes" -- the aspect of the piece which intrigued me enough to select it for this exercise -- begins and ends with one name -- not that of Perotinus Magnus (as you might suspect) but that of contemporary composer Steve Reich.[footnoteRef:0] My own interest in musical analysis very often involves the question of what composers are doing now. If we approach the aesthetics of music from a perspective that is informed by Harold Bloom's approach to the aesthetics of literature, a critical approach that has been exemplified by (for example) John Fallas suggesting that the creation of Schoenberg's Serial Technique was a sort of Modernist revolutionary break with past aesthetics[footnoteRef:1], on the order of Bloom's description of the invention of "Romanticism" in literature, whereby we analyze any composer by means of his sense of "the burden of the past" and his own approaches….

His own work was also published in a wide variety of literary magazines several of which were prestigious and nationally respected. His publication and involvement in publishing impressive accomplishments for an African-American man in the United States in the 1960's (Woodward, 1999).
In 1957 he moved to Greenwich Village in New York and became interested in both in jazz and the Beat Movement. he following year he began the otem Press (I have seen this referenced as Yugen).

he Beat Generation -- later just "he Beats" or the beatniks -- were a collection of writers centered first in New York and later in San Francisco. While there was a great deal of variation among the artists, they were joined to each other by a common rejection of mainstream American culture and some dabbling in Eastern religious ideas. hough counter culture and alternative religion was their focus, they became at least as….

homelessness in America, especially looking at children and families who are homeless. Homelessness has always been an issue in America, but today, there are even more homeless people in the country because of the economic crisis. People have lost their jobs and their homes, and have nowhere to go but the streets. Homelessness used to be viewed as an often solitary issue, but today, many families with children are homeless, and that leads to a dim view of the future for these families.
First, it is important to define homelessness. Two authors write, "It is usually accepted that those who sleep in public places or squat in derelict buildings are homeless" (Chamberlain, and Johnson 35). However, there are many other ways to define homelessness. Families living temporarily in shelters are homeless, and so are people who are hospitalized or institutionalized that have nowhere to go on their release. So are….

Obviously, Sal Paradise, much like Kerouac himself, loves American jazz music, especially played on the acoustic guitar by an African-American jazz/blues giant like Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly.
As Mark Richardson sees it, writing in "Peasant Dreams: Reading On The Road," "The strain of the basic primitive," in this case jazz, ". . . is what Sal and Dean listen to in order to hear" what they call "wailing humanity" (Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Internet) or, in other words, the vocals of someone like Leadbelly wailing out the blues, another original form of American music with roots sunk deep in the elements of jazz. For Richardson, it seems that Kerouac's application of jazz in the text of On The Road serves not only as a theme but also as the basic framework for the personalities of Sal and Dean, two rebels "on the road" and "on the….

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2 Pages
Term Paper

Mythology - Religion

Ginsberg Allen Ginsberg's Poetry Reflects

Words: 667
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Term Paper

The Buddhist practice of "just sitting" while in meditation also emerges in Ginsberg's poem when he writes, "I sit in my house for days on end and stare…

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5 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

Allen Ginsberg Biography the Poet

Words: 1571
Length: 5 Pages
Type: Term Paper

This reading also featured Ginsberg's "Howl." Along with the rest of the world, the attendees at the reading also provided wide acclaim to this particular work. Indeed, the poem…

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image
2 Pages
Essay

Literature

Allen Ginsberg Was Born to

Words: 817
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Essay

hen he left home for Columbia in 1943, he remembered his past and was happy to leave his problems -- his mother's insanity especially -- behind him. Later,…

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16 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

Allen Ginsberg Beat Poet Extraordinare

Words: 4846
Length: 16 Pages
Type: Term Paper

Not long after meeting Carr, Ginsberg wrote to his brother and said, "I plan to go down to Greenwich Village with a friend of mine who claims to…

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1 Pages
Essay

Literature

Ginsberg Allen Ginsberg Howl Alen Ginsberg Lived

Words: 391
Length: 1 Pages
Type: Essay

Ginsberg Allen Ginsberg Howl Alen Ginsberg lived a colorful life in which he participated in many of the contemporary periods subcultures. He believed that the United States had evolved into…

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2 Pages
Dissertation or Thesis complete

Literature

Allen Ginsberg Compared to Other Poets

Words: 559
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Dissertation or Thesis complete

Whitman in the Supermarket Considered by many to be the father of free verse, Walt Whitman was a19th century American poet, essayist, and journalist. In his poetry, Whitman often incorporated…

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10 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

Political Statements and Forms of Expression Poetry and Painting

Words: 3122
Length: 10 Pages
Type: Term Paper

Art "Howl" and "Guernica" Outline The paper demonstrates the ways in which both pieces of art contemplate and express multiple themes, including those of religion, morality, happiness, life-affirmation, and freedom. "Howl" is…

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18 Pages
Term Paper

Sports - Drugs

Beat Generation the Beats

Words: 5341
Length: 18 Pages
Type: Term Paper

beat generation are several strong principles, the most notable is associated with the founder, Jack Kerouac and his definition of the generation as a whole. The road" has been…

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image
3 Pages
Essay

Literature

Old When the Music of

Words: 1069
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

For me, that afternoon was like a raid siren in the dead of the night as I could see Allen Ginsberg's poetry come to life in front of…

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7 Pages
Thesis

Literature

Lights Up to Reveal a

Words: 1858
Length: 7 Pages
Type: Thesis

AUDRE: I still say I'm the only one who even comes close to understanding the struggle Obama has gone through, even though he is a man ALLEN: And heterosexual ADRIENNE: And…

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2 Pages
Essay

Communication - Language

Works of Art Speak to Different People

Words: 580
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Essay

works of art speak to different people in different ways. Explore and explain which performances and which ideas from the course that you have seen and heard this…

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4 Pages
Research Paper

Music

Viderunt Omnes by Protin

Words: 1850
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Research Paper

Perotin's "Viderunt Omnes" My fascination with Perotin's "Viderunt Omnes" -- the aspect of the piece which intrigued me enough to select it for this exercise -- begins and ends with…

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12 Pages
Thesis

Black Studies

Corrections in Blue Suggestions

Words: 3480
Length: 12 Pages
Type: Thesis

His own work was also published in a wide variety of literary magazines several of which were prestigious and nationally respected. His publication and involvement in publishing impressive…

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4 Pages
Essay

Family and Marriage

Homelessness in America Especially Looking at Children

Words: 1380
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Essay

homelessness in America, especially looking at children and families who are homeless. Homelessness has always been an issue in America, but today, there are even more homeless people…

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4 Pages
Research Proposal

Literature

American Jazz in Jack Kerouac's

Words: 1262
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Research Proposal

Obviously, Sal Paradise, much like Kerouac himself, loves American jazz music, especially played on the acoustic guitar by an African-American jazz/blues giant like Huddie Ledbetter, better known as…

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