Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) by T. Hulatkan 11-c I

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) by T. Hulatkan 11-c

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angel headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night… - Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg was born into a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Paterson; in 1943, graduated from Eastside High School and briefly attended Montclair State College; wrote "Howl", the poem that brought him and his friends much fame and allowed him to live as a professional poet for the rest of his life.

Social and political activism Free speech Role in Vietnam War protests Relationship to Communism ("America, I used to be a communist when I was a kid I'm not sorry...." ) Gay rights Demystification of drugs

Allen Ginsberg's Poetry Themes Insanity (“ the "best minds" are driven insane by their inability to accept the models of normality and conformity imposed on them by modern life ”) The Holy Bum (freedom, liberty, or the ability to express oneself artistically; property or freedom taken by a justice system bent on destroying him)

The Natural World The Prophetic Tradition Hypocrisy of Modern Society

His Works: Howl (1956) A Supermarket in California (1956(54)) The Fall of America (1973) Deliberate Prose (1952–1995)

A Supermarket in California a critique of modern American life and a yearning for a “Lost America.”