Monday, September 12, 2011
Blog #3 "America" by Allen Ginsberg
This is a very complex poem. I feel that is is written maybe post-World War II. He speaks of the nuclear bombing and what I think is some kind of Asian policy. I feel when he is referring to the supermarket he is actually talking about America. It is known that if you have good looks you tend to get ahead in life here in America. He goes on to talk about the media and how he hates it yet he reads "Time Magazine" to know what is going on in the rest of the world. When Ginsberg is talking about selling his strophes I think he is making a reference of selling his work like a car salesman. He also talks about how we as Americans are afraid of Russia when we have no reason to be because we as a nation are bankrupt. He ends his poem by talking about the discrimination that us so evident in this country.
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Hi Jodi,
ReplyDeleteGinsberg wrote this in the 1950s so it definitely has those post-WWII blues. It has hints of the HUAC investigations (American communists being punished), too. The historical part makes this poem difficult to understand and, as you say, more complex. I would like to hear more of your thoughts on the Time Magazine section of the poem. How does it relate to our current culture? Did he foreshadow a kind of reality-TV-driven society?
SM