San Francisco Literature

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Walt Whitman and the Beats

Last year, I got pretty into Walt Whitman. Upon reading Leaves of Grass and many of his other poems, I came to realize the striking similarities between Whitman and the Beats, especially between him and Ginsberg, who even references Whitman in at least one of his poems.

In both structure and content, Whitman's work is synchronous with some of the main concerns of the beat writers, as the beats and Whitman were seeking enlightenment in similar ways through similar experiences and in the same locations. Two poems that I feel bear the most similarities are Ginsberg s Sunflower Sutra, and Whitman s Passage to India, which I will post a link to because it is incredibly long, and share a journal I wrote that contains brief analysis of the two poems:

http://www.bartleby.com/142/183.html

In both of the aforementioned poems, the speakers romanticize the idea of returning to the appreciation of the beauty of nature as it is observed being juxtaposed with the rapidly expanding progress of industrialization and modernization of the western world. "I see over my own continent the Pacific railroad surmounting every barrier, I see continual trains of cars winding along the Platte carrying freight and passengers, I hear the locomotives rushing and roaring, and the shrill steam-whistle, I hear the echoes reverberate through the grandest scenery in the world,"(Whitman). Throughout his poem, Whitman uses the locomotive and the railroads in California to symbolize the modernization and industrialization of the western world. Through doing so he acknowledges, and even stands in awe at the progress of humanity. However, the main point of Whitman's poem is the importance of returning to and acknowledging humanity's roots through the characterization of the Eastern and Western worlds juxtaposed against each other. This is evident as the speaker of his poem reaches for the past when he says ." In the Old World the east the Suez canal, The New by its mighty railroad spann'd The seas inlaid with eloquent gentle wires; Yet first, to sound and ever sound , the cry with thee O soul, The Past! the Past! the Past! The Past- the dark unfathom'd retrospect! The teeming gulf-the sleepers and the shadows! The past- the infinite greatness of the past! For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past?" (Whitman).

Just like Whitman, Ginsberg uses the image of the locomotive in his poem “Sunflower Sutra” to represent the industrialized western world and to highlight the beauty he finds in a sunflower or the more simplistic things of the past that one might overlook in the industrialized world. The title of his poem in itself also alludes to Sanskrit, and to the return to the values of the Old World, or the east which is exactly what Whitman is doing with his poem as well. “Poor dead flower? when did you forget you were a flower? when did you look at your skin and decide you were an impotent dirty old locomotive? the ghost of a locomotive? the specter and shade of a once powerful mad American locomotive?” (Ginsberg). The image Ginsberg creates here suggests the forgetting of ones roots as he suggests this sunflower has as it has died, and lost its identity in the shadow of this locomotive. This is comparable to what Whitman does in his poem, as he suggests that the erection of the new westernized society has made the old world obsolete in the eyes of many.

Ginsberg's "Wild Orphan"

Ginsberg's "Wild Orphan" is a powerful poem narrating the internal crisis of a young man whose father he's never met. I found this piece extremely powerful as the boy dreams and grieves of a life that he can not have. The "nostalgias of another life" are akin to the desires most people have; We dream of another life that has never happened. Furthermore, the boy seems to experience a sort of personality crisis as there is a "mythology he cannot inherit." In other words, he does not know his ancestry and so does not know who he truly is.
Ginsberg's organized form conveys a sense of stability and structure despite the title's description of the boy as "wild." This is because, while the boy is yet to figure out where he has come from, and perhaps then who he truly is, he has already established a sense of self unique to himself.

Below is a picture of Ginsberg seemingly celebrating life. I could not find anything relevant to this poem but I figured this would convey some sort of "wildness."

America When Will You Be Angelic?

"America" is my favorite poem by Allen Ginsberg, mostly because it addresses and personifies the nation head-on in a dynamic conversation, and because I think it remains so relevant almost 60 years later. The poem is at once angry, disappointed, nostalgic, and slightly hopeful. It alternates between Ginsberg's concerns with America and himself, saying "America when will we end the human war? Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb," but in contrast the next lines say "I don't feel good don't bother me. I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind." I am interested in when it occurs to Ginsberg that he is America and that he is talking to himself, because for a chunk of the poem thereafter he is talking/writing as America, as the nation, stating "I'd better consider my national resources." I think that part is really creative and genius, plus the whole idea of himself as America brings to mind the idea that we are all part of this nation, all contribute to it, maintain it, consent to it, consciously or unconsciously. There are multiple Cold War and Communist references throughout the poem, and it points to the many stereotypes and shames of America.
On a whole I interpret this poem as Ginsberg being disillusioned with America and it's promises of freedom, success, and abundance. I think a similar feeling is shared by many people today, where two dollars and twenty-seven cents will get you even less than it did in 1956, and there is more technology, stricter laws, more prisons, and ongoing wars. The poem really makes me think of myself in the context of being an American and living in America, rather than as just an individual in Santa Cruz, and I think its important to consider what that nationality means.

Monday, April 13, 2015

"Song" and The Weight of Love

"Song" by Allen Ginsberg was one of my favorite pieces of poetry I've read this week because of its simple expression of an emotion- love- that takes the reader through an evolving story, while writing in accessible language. Sometimes we couch poetry in beautiful, complicated words that make your eyes cross and your head ache. Ginsberg doesn't give me a headache, but he reminds me of the weight of love and, in a way, the weight of caring. "Song" tells the reader that love is our Big Bang and our weight to bear. We were made from love, and we carry the responsibility to love and hope for love in return. Eventually, as the poem tells us, we will end up waiting for the burden of love to fall from our shoulders as our souls (hopefully) crawl back from where they came from. Until then, our burden is to care, because we are made from love and by love. I tack on the weight of caring as well, for love causes the action of caring, for ourselves and for others. Perhaps our purpose in life is to care- and at essential times, to love. I'll be thinking about that as the quarter progresses. "Song" is below.

SONG

The weight of the world
is love.
Under the burden
of solitude,
under the burden
of dissatisfaction

the weight,
the weight we carry
is love.

Who can deny?
In dreams
it touches
the body,
in thought
constructs
a miracle,
in imagination
anguishes
till born
in human--
looks out of the heart
burning with purity--
for the burden of life
is love,

but we carry the weight
wearily,
and so must rest
in the arms of love
at last,
must rest in the arms
of love.

No rest
without love,
no sleep
without dreams
of love--
be mad or chill
obsessed with angels
or machines,
the final wish
is love
--cannot be bitter,
cannot deny,
cannot withhold
if denied:

the weight is too heavy

--must give
for no return
as thought
is given
in solitude
in all the excellence
of its excess.

The warm bodies
shine together
in the darkness,
the hand moves
to the center
of the flesh,
the skin trembles
in happiness
and the soul comes
joyful to the eye--

yes, yes,
that's what
I wanted,
I always wanted,
I always wanted,
to return
to the body
where I was born.

60th Anniversary of Ginsberg's 'Howl'

NPR story here:
http://www.npr.org/2015/04/12/399159190/i-saw-the-all-stars-of-our-generation-honor-allen-ginsbergs-howl

Jonah Raskin, author of American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation, says the poem was about many things, including sex, drugs, youth, alienation, defiance and transcendence.

"People, even if they don't get the whole poem or even if they're a little confused at times, they get the rhythm, and they get the feeling of it," he says. "It's like a quintessential expression of the Beat perspective and philosophy, where you're down in the gutter but you're also beatific. You're spiritually uplifted."