Poetry Supermarket

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Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926 and died on April 5, 1997. He was born into a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey. His father was also a poet and his mother was a member of the Communist party. When he was young he began to write to the New York Times about some political issues he saw going on in the world. He attended Columbia University. Ginsberg was also an early and firm believer in gay rights. Ginsberg was a homosexual and expressed this in his poems. His spouse was a man named Peter Orlovsky. He wrote mostly in the realism period of poetry. Because he wrote during this period it was a little easier reading and responding because we had just got done studying this period.

After reading "On Burroughs Work" I did not know what it was really about at first. After reading it over a few times and also reading some background information on Ginsberg it began to seem more clear. Ginsberg as a child saw and experienced the political problems that were associated with World War II. Later in his life he also experienced life during the Vietnam War. I think some of those influences led him to write this poem. He uses the word prisons a few times and also specifically names prisons. I think he does this to describe briefly what life was like during the wars. In the last lines Ginsberg says "But allegories are so much lettuce.
Don't hide the madness." I think when he says don't hide the madness it possibly refers to the government or people in general trying to hide or pretend that these terrible things did not happen.

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Allen-Ginsberg/8929

When I read this I saw a similar theme to "On Burroughs Work." I noticed him talking about war again. I think that growing up during two major wars drastically impacted his life as in the two poems I chose both talked about it. He also uses repetition in this poem, which he does not use in "On Burroughs Work."

From the two poems I chose and read I think there are some distinct things that can emphasize Ginsberg as an American poet. The obvious thing I think is his references to war. Living during World War II and how the United States got involved, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, can be something that can greatly affect someone and their poetry. Also with the Vietnam War which was one of the deadliest wars in American history and Ginsberg writing about them show him being an American. That was the major thing I noticed when reading his works that showed Ginsberg as being an American.