Themes and Values: Allen Ginsberg
Themes and Values of the Beat Generation As Expressed in Allen Ginsberg's Poetry Perhaps one of the most well known authors of the Beat Generation is a man we call Allen Ginsberg, who expresses the themes and values in his poetry. He was, in fact, the first Beat Writer to gain popular notice when he delivered a performance of his now famous poem, ±Howl°, in October of 1955. The Beat Generation is typically described as a vision, not an idea and being hard to define. It is characterized as ±a cultural revolution in process, made by a post-World War II generation of disaffiliated young people...without spiritual values they could honor° (Charters XX). Although first condemned and criticized, it became a national phenomenon. Allen Ginsberg expressed the intangible beliefs of this generation in his poems about his childhood, curiosity, war, freedom of thought, and other people. Through Allen Ginsbergs ideal individualism, he has been able to express the themes and values of the Beat Generation. Because of Allen Ginsbergs tormented childhood, many of his poems were about his relationship with his mother and his own mental problems. Allen Ginsberg was born in Patterson, New Jersey to Louis and Naomi Ginsberg on June 3, 1926. His mother became insane during Ginsbergs formative years. She was described as a paranoid schizophrenic, believing she was in danger from assassins and was spied on by everyone, including her own family members. For example, in the poem, ±Howl°, Ginsberg writes ± I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked...° (Charters 62) of his mother, Naomi. This statement employs him as a witness to the destruction. Her struggle for sanity eventually led to the deterioration of her sons sound mind. Kaddish is a poem written by Ginsberg for his mother. It is 2. a relatively confessional poem and indirectly addresses the reader, or in this case, his mother. It is also seen as an autobiographical elegy that