He ends the stanza with another example of discrimination. He relates the poem to music, saying that the key to understanding the structure of the poem is “in the jazz choruses.” The final stanza of the poem is an amalgamation of rhythms and a stream of consciousness writing. 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”. Ginsberg's sentimentality towards the group is a result of his mother's influence. Such a statement risked not only government interrogation but possibly criminal charges brought against him for treason. Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site. Ginsberg then decides that he had "better consider my national resources." He goes on to detail his other "sins," though there is hardly in regret in his recounting. (…) The prominent ones include Apostrophe, Anaphora, Personification, Rhetorical Questions, etc. “America” was one of the first widely read literary statements of political unrest in the post-World War II United States. He wonders how long the country is going to let the Time Magazine rule or run their emotions for them. Like other Ginsberg poems, the structure is really meant to be heard rather than read, as it is conversational in nature. He moves his conversation from an attack on a personified country to a sarcastic attack on the citizens of the actual country. The end of the stanza begins to turn more cynical and violent. 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. 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. Miz Alb received her MA in English Literature. The poem is filled with cultural and political references as well as references to incidents and events in Ginsberg's own life as well as the lives of his friends and fellow Beat writers. By using this imagery from another country and culture, Ginsberg is attempting to tell America that its essence as a benevolent leader of the world is in decline. But Ginsberg is also referencing his own engagement with Asian religion and culture. The reader must acknowledge that America can be seen as the country, the place in which people live, but also America can be viewed as a living being, because it is comprised of them. He says that he wants "to be President despite the fact that I'm a Catholic." It is through advertising that we are able to contribute to charity. It is the East - both in its culture and its politics - that show the way to a better world. America its them bad Russians. Her thirst for literature makes her explore through the nuances of it. I won’t say the Lord’s Prayer. He was the leader of the Beat movement, which began in the 1940s but which reverberated through American literature and culture like an intoxicating bongo, well, beat. Ginsberg mocks the misdirected fear of those that choose not to learn and not to think for themselves about the political and social state of their country. Ginsberg uses an analogy to show the inhuman monster that is America repressing its people. Please check out the link below: Write a critical appreciation of John Donne's poem 'Sweetest Love I Do Not Goe?'. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content! Throughout his time in New York and San Francisco, Ginsberg saw several of his friends and acquaintances in the Beat movement arrested for murder. Instead, he makes a final statement that is both a statement of his difference and a statement of his desire to work towards a better America. America I've given you all and now I'm nothing. Context here is key: during the 1950's there was a strong anti-communist attitude in the nation, exemplified by Senator Joseph McCarthy's congressional hearings in which many Americans were accused of communist activities, often ruining their careers. The poem's first stanza is somewhat of an introduction that sets the time and context for the poem. Allen Ginsberg was an American poet who was one of the primary leaders of the Beat Generation. Allen Ginsberg’s ‘America’ deals with the turbulent times in America during the time post Second World War. 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 … In the lines that follow the comments on the “insane demands” of America that affect even the trivial acts of life. A persons emotion was to rise and build just as the long lines themselves built upon the emotion contained within. The plea is also for other downtrodden people. He is almost in disbelief over all that he has just accused the country of. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. The conversation turns into an indirect warning to America by line 16 for viewing itself as that sort of perfect world. He expresses his despair about his financial situation and the way the country is engaged in the war. Everybody’s serious but me. You can see the GradeSaver analysis of this poem at the link below: what is the summary of "First Party at Ken Kesey's with Hell's Angels" by Allen Ginsberg. The stanzas of the poem are also irregular and spontaneous. It is always speaking of the seriousness of businessmen and producers, possibly alluding to the conformist nature of American workers. “America” is a poem based on political theory that shows resentment towards democracy and is very opinionated about the greater aspects of society. Ginsberg, being coy, proclaims that "Everbody must have been a spy" (75-76), a sarcastic comment on the government's paranoia over all Socialist or Communist activity during this period. This stanza also sees Ginsberg offer themes of warning to his country. In the poem, the speaker converse with America as if he is talking to himself. I’m obsessed by Time Magazine. I smoke marijuana every chance I get. He has also personified America and urges it to bring in some positive change, that is possible only if it comes out of its inactivity. These are Ginsberg's examples of the decency of a political ideology that the American government sought to destroy. He acknowledges that his every action effects other's lives in some way or another. It's difficult to write just a note on it, there is so much to the tradition. The Lord's Prayer, which Ginsberg equates with culpability for one's sins, represents the oppression of what Marx called the "opiate of the masses." He is partly dissatisfied with the militarism of the country and he tells America to "go fuck yourself with your atom bomb" (5). Yet, while he often appeared in the media, he also often took the opportunity to criticize the media as well. 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. Ginsberg's "America" recreates a conversation that Ginsberg has with a personified country, its people, and its values. 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. Line 53 is an allusion to John F. Kennedy, whose Catholic faith caused the American people to doubt his political standing prior to his election. Ginsberg often had a kind of "love/hate" relationship with the media. Like other Ginsberg poems, the structure is really meant to be heard rather than read. Here, he explains his earlier statement about how he was a communist as a child and how he was not sorry for this fact. Her make us all work sixteen hours a day. America this is quite serious. Allen Ginsberg was one of the leading icons of the Beat movement, and "Howl" became one of the most widely read book of poems of the century, translated into more than twenty-two languages. “Personification” is the other technique the poet has used in the poem. As if to counter the damning claims of injustice that Ginsberg levels against America in the previous lines, he then begins to cite historical socialist and communist leaders who he felt worked for justice and peace, not for war and violence which were the charges leveled against leftists during this period of American history. He tells America that "Burroughs is in Tangiers," a reference to William S. Burroughs' time spent in Tangiers, Morrocco where he was in a kind of exile from the United States because of legal problems related to the transport of illegal drugs from Mexico. 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