American Poets Term paper

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Compare and contrast the work of at least two poets on the theme of American society and its values.

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Walt Whitman (1819-92) wrote, The chief reason for the being of the United States of America is to bring about the common good will of all mankind, the solidarity of the world (Leaves of Grass). Walt Whitman, one of the most influential poets to come out of America was a true patriot. This loyalty to his country is clear in his poetry which continually praises the United States, and was born out of his belief that The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem (Leaves of Grass).

Allen Ginsberg (1926-97), on the other hand, was one of the original American rebels. His hedonistic lifestyle and open rejection of the conservative American values of his time show him in sharp contrast to Walt Whitman. Much of his poetry blatantly throws commonplace norms back in the faces of the people of the Land of Hope and Glory .

These very different attitudes to their homeland create an obvious contrast between the two poets. Whilst Walt Whitman saw himself as a man of the people and a voice for America, Allen Ginsberg revelled in his outcast status. Whitman s Song of Myself is a lyric poem told through the joyful experience of the narrator. Ginsberg s America is the negative admonishment of an outsider to the America he detests.

As a member of the Beats generation Allen Ginsberg abhorred conservative America. This preoccupation to attack the repressiveness of mainstream American culture with little sense of a collective identity is a main theme of Ginsberg s America and this poem emphasises the differences of opinion about America that Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman held.

As celebration of the counterculture of the Beats America asserts itself in Ginsberg s many frank and open admissions of his own activities and personality. Homosexuality, the use of illegal drugs, and a lack of respect for the politics of his society were taboo in the America of the 1950s and 60s and Ginsberg delights in highlighting these activities, a major part of his own life, in his poetry.

In America Ginsberg reveals many of his complaints about his country. His disgust at the nuclear arms race, prevalent at the time, emerges early in America . In line 5 he tells his country to go fuck yourself with your atom bomb . In a humorous if satirical way Ginsberg, in line 16, then wonders When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks? Here Ginsberg belies the superficial nature of his fellow Americans. Ginsberg s love of shock value asserts itself in admitting in line 29 that I used to be a communist and again in line 30 I smoke marijuana every chance I get . In 1950s America these would have been seen as very controversial statements to make publicly. It is for these reasons that Ginsberg was thought of as a dangerous poet and disliked by conservative Americans. Marcus Cunliffe says Ginsberg s work is a dangerously attractive kind of poetry for the legion of young Americans who want to be the great writers but have no talent except the talent (temporary, alas) for being young (The Literature of the United States).

Midway through the poem, line 48, Ginsberg, in a parody of Whitman who saw himself as the American voice, claims It occurs to me that I am America . Unlike Whitman, however, Ginsberg continues this line of thought in line 53 by insulting the country that he is My national resources consist of two joints of marijuana millions of genitals . In line 61 he continues this abusive line of thought by claiming that the American public would have poetry churned out in mass production without thought or understanding I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as individual as his automobiles .

In typical Beats fashion in line 66 he is honouring the alienated individual who suffers for his cause, Ginsberg celebrates the memory of two anarchist immigrants Saco and Vanzetti must not die . These two were convicted of the murder of a guard during a shoe factory robbery on what some claim to be very little evidence. It is believed that they were only convicted due to the fact that they were anarchists.

Towards the end of the poem, line 76, Ginsberg satirises the McCarthyist paranoia about Communism. The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia s power mad . Ginsberg s mother was a Communist and he believes that Communist countries-have been unfairly stereotyped as power hungry megalomaniacs and here he laughs at Americas fear of them.

In the final line of the poem, line 90, Ginsberg claims that he will change America for the better to something he can admire, but he also makes a shocking admission of his own homosexuality America I m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel . Such an admission would have been very rare for 1950s America, for Ginsberg, however, due to his contempt for all American conservative social norms it is almost to be expected.

The complexity and great lengths Ginsberg goes to to attack America in this poem are in stark contrast to Whitman s poem of the same title. Whitman s America is a short but heartfelt proclamation of Whitman s desire to bring together the America that he loves and unite it in all its aspects. George Saintsbury says of Whitman It is not difficult to point out the central thesis of Walt Whitman s poetic gospel. It is briefly this: the necessity of the establishment of a universal republic or rather a brotherhood of man (The Unwritten War). This is the exact point of America . Instead of the open wounds of division and misery which Ginsberg takes from his surroundings Whitman in line 1 calls all men to the centre of equal daughters, equal sons and claims them to be all alike endear d . Whitman sees America as an amalgamation of cultures where everyone is welcome and equal, his great faith in American democracy is obvious and in this way he characterises The American difference in terms of America s open, pluralistic, and democratic character (Modern American Culture).

In American Air , a manuscript fragment more than a published poem, Whitman again supports the idea that America is one for all and all for one . In line 2 he says American ground that supports me, I will support...

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