He was raised among several progressive political perspectives. With the help of Rexroth he did “The 6 Gallery Reading” which took place on October 7, 1955. Since that event took place it has been hailed as the birth of the Beat Generation, in no small part because it was also the first public reading of Ginsberg “Howl” a poem which also gathered world-wide attention for him and the poets he associated with. E became interested n countless political activities and even spoke openly about issues that concerned him, such as freedom of speech and gay rights agendas. Out of the many poems that Ginsberg wrote one poem by Ginsberg we can relate to this relevant information is “A Supermarket in California” a poem which condemns many aspects of contemporary even in the American Society. Ginsberg uses the American supermarkets as a longer metaphor for poet’s mind and experiences. In his thoughts he selects images and inspirations as one would search in a grocery list.
The free- verse he uses allows the poem for a free association of a variety of ideas. Ginsberg portrays the differences between his and Whitman perspective of seeing America. He mentions Whitman because in their days these two poets were considered very unique and rebellious. To have a better understanding of the poem “A supermarket in California” some research for Whitman was done for the purpose of this essay. Whitman was one of the greatest American poets of all time from the 19th century.
He invented an entirely native diction for his win work, known as a transcendentalist/ Realist that has been an inspiration and an example for American poets. He was a huge fan of being himself and a productive poet that stood for something even if it was Just for himself. Perhaps when writing “A Supermarket in California” Ginsberg thought what better poet to choose than Whitman to relate the whole idea of the poem. For example he starts the poem with “What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestrokes under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon”.
Since Whitman was a poet who broke the rules of American poetry Just like Ginsberg did he tries to portray the freedom of speech using the United States as a supermarket as a metaphor of how America became a mass of consumerism. He criticizes the society with our lack of human interaction and contact when he says he heard Whitman asking questions he states “l heard you asking questions of each: who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my angel”. Possibly what Ginsberg purpose when referring to all the
The fact that shopping has become a major leisure pastime in the U. S. , generate Ginsberg ‘s criticism of our own lack of human contact is further exemplified when he says that he heard By actuating bananas (Ginsberg . As humans , we have lost any meaningful contact between shop owners and customers or even the people who actually grow and produce our food . The customers have no idea where the food comes from they are content simply to wander through the store . They walk by each other in the supermarket and on their way home but never have any meaningful exchanges.
