America of Allen Ginsberg Poem Analysis

An Analysis of the Poem “America” of Allen Ginsberg. Structure: Ginsberg's poetry is known for its uneven meter and construction, which is exemplified in the poem "America." The poem's verses are uneven and unstructured as well. The first stanza is sixteen lines long, the second and third are twelve lines long, and the fourth and fifth stanzas are each ten lines long. The format, like those of other Ginsberg poetry, is designed to be listened rather than studied, as it is colloquial in character. He compares the poem to music, claiming that the key to comprehending the poem's form is in the jazz choruses. The poem's concluding stanza is a mash-up of rhythms and stream-of-consciousness composition. Furthermore, the phrases frequently continue without punctuation. We get many, complete sentences that are crushed into each other in "America." The periods have been removed to retain the lines' sped-up appearance as they may appear to our ears. In addition, the poem leaps from topic to topic with very little connection. Ginsberg sought to elicit natural human response and emotion with this method. The reader's feelings would be stirred and built as they read through each stanza. The author portrays America as a betrayed lover, beginning with its creation and progressing to criticize the nation and its personified being for its heritage. Language and techniques: The language used by the writer is colloquial and informal. The readers can easily understand what the writer is trying to convey. In the poem "America," Ginsberg employs a variety of literary poetic techniques. Apostrophe, Anaphora, Personification, and Rhetorical Questions are some of the most common. The literary method of approaching someone or something in a poem as if it might hear and answer is known as "apostrophe." In this poetry, the speaker refers to the country, America, as if it could hear and answer to him. The poet has also used the method of "personification" in the poem. The speaker appears to be disputing with the United States of America. He also takes on the personalities of Time Magazine and Russia mentioning whenever he walks past the corner store, he claims that "its cover stares at [him]" “Anaphora” is a rhetorical device in which a series of words is repeated at the start of surrounding sentences to emphasize the poet's viewpoint or standpoint. The writer has cynically utilized it here: "Russia wants to eat us alive." “The Russia's power mad.” (Ginsberg, 75) to underline the naivety of the American people, who just accused Russia for all of the post-World War II difficulties. The term America appears several times at the start of the lines to show how the poet is adamant about receiving a message from America. The term "rhetorical question" does not imply that the speaker expects a direct response; rather, it is frequently used to convey the speaker's point of view. In his poem "America," the writer employs rhetorical questions to communicate his view of the country and to condemn the style of living that predominate. The device's objective shifts depend on the poet's mood, from a general question about the nation to a comprehensive overview of his standpoint on the nation. Affect: Elements of this poem reveal the author's real mood, such as his displeasure with America's democratic structure and aggressive power management. A few lines help to paint a more complete picture of his resentment, “…America when will you be angelic? When will you take off your clothes? When will you look at yourself through the grave?” (Ginsberg, 8-10) The poem creates a frustration and disappointment in the readers mind, basically, it puts the reader into the same mood as the author; frustration towards the nation’s propaganda. Reading this poem made me question the nature of the country, also it made me realize that the writer is speaking the truth about the period after the WWII. The writer then goes on to critique America's brazen display of its economic hegemony, wondering when the representative democracy would cease promoting ego driven fundamentalism. During WWI and WWII, America's insatiable economic progress was predicated on the production of armaments. Meaning: Many significant subjects are addressed in the poem, including prior wars of the decade, nuclear weapons, Asian foreign policy, interracial turmoil in the United States, and anti-communist opposition. The subjects are well-explained, with sociopolitical parallels as well as allusions to episodes and situations in Ginsberg's personal life and the lives of his friends and fellow Beat poets. The poem is set in America, specifically in the 1950s, as the name implies. The poet recalls the time after the World Wars, when America was experiencing a catastrophic economic boom. "America" by Ginsberg is a response to a completely different place. We may begin to see why the speaker adds, "I don't feel good, don't bother me," (Ginsberg, 6) given the pressures of conformity and consumerism, the prospect of nuclear war, and the societal discrimination of minority groups. The name America is only one word, but it conveys a great deal. That word encompasses histories, politics, and the lives of millions of people who have come before and will come after the speaker. For him, it is both a concept of liberty, equality, and the right to pursue happiness, as well as a less-than-ideal reality that is war-torn, inconvenient, and far from heavenly. Objective analysis: "America" is a political theory-based poetry that expresses animosity toward democratic governance and has strong feelings about some segments of society. The writer's defiant temperament, together with his Russian ancestry, contribute to the formation of a viewpoint on a socialist society in the United States modeled on Russia's communism. The writer's questions to America as a whole demonstrate his steadfastness in his beliefs, establishing him as an extremist in that agreement. The world was mired in a Cold War at the time, which helped show the actual dispositions of the nations’ participating. “America when will we end the human war? Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb” (Ginsberg, 4-5). The writer's frustration of nuclear strikes and America's horrific bombing of Hiroshima exposes his more liberal perspective on peace in the aftermath of conflict. The reader's emotions are touched by the sincerity in this statement. The statement alludes to America's long history of affluence, particularly as the country reaped the benefits of military production. Subjective analysis: In my point of view, the poem is about the speaker's life in the United States, and how he feels overburdened by it. The speaker, in particular, is unsatisfied with the country's level of capitalism, which makes him appreciate his communist background. The narrator calls America personally at the start of the poem. Things are gloomy and depressing, and the speaker is disappointed. He's broke both financially and personally, and he's sick of the country's conflicts. The speaker believes that America is on the point of collapse, and he is eager to learn when the nation will recover its prosperity. The speaker makes it easier for readers to understand that he is aware of his actions. He also considers the elderly communists and labor activists who are still fighting for their goals. He is now devoid of facts and spends his time attempting to go against the flow. When his efforts at shacking up fail, he glances at the flowers inside the closet, smokes marijuana, and becomes drunk. This grueling habit represents dissatisfaction and inactivity's despair. The speaker believes that speaking to America is similar to speaking to himself in some respects. The speaker then makes a sarcastic demand for lyrical uniqueness, followed by an emotional appeal for the release of the union's jailed activists. The appeal is also directed at other oppressed people. He had visited many fantastic communist gatherings as a child, but that age is lost forever. In this poem, the uneducated and insecure people who accuse Russia for every catastrophe are also mocked. To conclude my analysis of the poem, I think the poem claims that this condition of futility cannot last indefinitely. If someone wants things to change, they must act. The poem's conclusion expresses an optimistic speaker's willingness to help solve all of these difficulties on his own initiative. However, I also think that contemporary American society is a completely different state than 1950s America because this is not an era of great conflict apart from the pandemic situation. The United States' increasing wealth in the 1950s contributed to a broad sense of stability, satisfaction, and unanimity which made today’s America. People of our generation live happy lives with peace and satisfaction unlike in the 1950s. Men and women are not disappointed by the government’s propaganda and everyone is treated equally and justifiably. In conclusion, I think present America is a great place to live, pursue happiness and succession of humans.