Allen Ginsberg's the visionary poet and founding father of the Beat generation who inspired the American counterculture of the second half of the 20th century with groundbreaking poems such as "Howl" and "Kaddish, " was born on this day in Newark, New Jersey on June 3, 1926.
As a boy he was a close witness to his mother’s mental illness, as
she lived both in and out of institutions. His father, Louis Ginsberg
was a well-known traditional poet. After graduating from high school,
Ginsberg attended Columbia University, where he planned to study law.
There he became friends with Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.
Together the three would change the face of American writing forever.
With an interest in the street life of the city, Kerouac, Ginsberg
and Burroughs found inspiration in jazz music and the culture that
surrounded it. They encouraged a break from traditional values,
supporting drug-use as a means of enlightenment. To many, their shabby
dress and “hip” language seemed irresponsible, but in their actions
could be found the seeds of a revolution that was meant to cast off the
shackles of the calm and boring social life of the post-war era. While a
nation tried desperately to keep from rocking the boat, Allen Ginsberg
and the Beats saw the need for a more vibrant and daring society.
One of the primary first works of the Beats was Ginsberg’s long poem
“Howl.” In an age plagued by intolerance, “Howl” (1956) was both a
desperate plea for humanity and a song of liberation from that
intolerant society. Ginsberg’s use of a gritty vernacular and an
improvisational rhythmical style created a poetry which seemed haphazard
and amateur to many of the traditional poets of the time. In “Howl” and
his other poems, however, one could hear a true voice of the time,
unencumbered by what the Beats saw as outdated forms and meaningless
grammatical rules.
For its frank embrace of such taboo topics as homosexuality and drug
use, “Howl” drew a great deal of criticism. Published by City Lights,
the San Francisco based publisher of many of the Beats, the book was the
subject of an obscenity trial. Eventually acquitted of the charges,
City Lights came out with Ginsberg’s second book in 1961. “Kaddish, And
Other Poems,” often considered Ginsberg’s greatest work, dealt again
with a deep despair and addressed Ginsberg’s closeness with his mother
while she was hospitalized and fighting insanity. The raw nature of the
subject matter and Ginsberg’s desperate emotions found a perfect home in
his poem “Kaddish.” Of “Kaddish,” Ginsberg wrote “I saw my self my own
mother and my very nation trapped desolate…and receiving decades of life
while chanting Kaddish the names of Death in many mind-worlds the self
seeking key to life found at last our self.”
Throughout the 1960s, Ginsberg experimented with a number of
different drugs, believing that under the influence he could create a
new kind of poetry. Using LSD, peyote, marijuana and other drugs he
attempted to expand his consciousness and wrote a number of books under
the influence including the “Yage Letters” with William Burroughs. For
much of the youth of the day, Ginsberg’s embrace of illegal drugs and
unrestrained sexuality made him a central figure in the rebelling
movements of the time. More than any other American poet of the 20th
century, Ginsberg used his popularity for social change. Coining the
phrase “flower power,” Ginsberg encouraged protesters of the 1960s to
embrace a non-violent rebellion.
On May 1st 1965 he was crowned 'King of May'( which is Kral Majales in the Cechoslovakian tongue) by an enthusiastic crowd in Prague town square (Vystaviste) in Communist Czechoslovakia. Soon underdover police halted the festivities nd un-crowned him. A few days later they seized his journals and summarily deported him. He wrote the following poem about tht experience because he wrote poems about all his experiences. (It wasn't an experience until it was a poem).
Kral Majales (King of May)- Allen Ginberg
By the 1970s, his fame had grown
enormously, and though he cast aside drug use for an interest in
Buddhism and yogic practices, he remained important to newly-formed
youth movements.
By the 1980s, Ginsberg was the most famous living American poet. As a
writer he continued to publish challenging and personal verse and as a
celebrity he maintained an international presence as a spokesperson for
peace and tolerance—working often as a teacher and lecturer . In the
last decade of his life, Ginsberg wrote and performed at the prolific
rate of his youth In 1982 he featured on the Clash song Ghetto Defendant. originally a poem called Capital Air..For his lyrics he researched punk rock culture and included phrases like ' do the worm' and 'n slam dance' as well as reciting the Bhuddist Heart Sutra. According to Ginsberg's biography, several sessions and collaborations were recorded but this was the only song ever released. .
Allen Ginsberg /The Clash - Capital Air
Allen Ginsberg died on April 5, 1997 at the
age of seventy. At the time of his death, “Howl” had been reprinted
more than fifty times, and the words of William Carlos Williams’
introduction still rang true—”This poet sees through and all around the
horrors he partakes of in the very intimate details of his poem. He
avoids nothing but experiences it to the hilt. He contains it. Claims it
as his own—and, we believe, laughs at it and has the time and
affrontery to love a fellow of his choice and record that love in a
well-made poem.”
7 th October, 1958, Allen Ginsberg's first reading of Howl.
To Struga Festival Golden Wreath Laureates & International Bards 1986
Stand up against governments, against God.
Stay irresponsible.
Say what we know & imagine.
Absolutes are coercian.
Change is absolute.
Ordinary mind includes eternal perceptions.
Observe what's vivid.
Notice what you notice.
Catch yourself thinking.
Vividness is self-selecting.
If we don't show anyone, we're free to write anything.
Remember the future.
Advise only yourself.
Don't drink yourself to death.
Two molecules clanking against each other require an observer to become
scientific data.
The measuring instrument determines the appearance of the phenomenal world
after Einstein.
The universe is subjective.
Walt Whitman celebrated Person.
We are observer, measuring instrument, eye, subject, Person.
Universe is Person.
Inside Skull vast outside skull.
Mind is outer space.
"Each on his bed spoke to himself alone, making no sound."
"First thought, best thought."
Mind is shapely, Art is shapely.
Maximum infomation, minimum number of syllables.
Syntax condensed, sound is solid.
Intense fragments of spoken idiom, best.
Consonants around vowels, appreciate consonants.
Subject is known by what she sees.
Others can measure their vision by what we see.
Candor ends paranoia.
Kral Majales June 25, 1986 Boulder Colorado
Fifth Internationale - Allen Ginsberg
To Billy MacKeever
Arise ye prisoners of your mind-set
Arise neurotics of the Earth
For Insight thunders Liberation
A sacred world's in birth
No more attachment's chains shall bind us
Mind's Aggression no more rules
The Earth shall rise on new foundations
We have been jerks we shall be Fools
'Tis the Path of Accumulation
Let each sit on his place
The International Crazy Wisdom School
Could save the Human Race
Reprinted from Cosmopolitan Greetings 1992.
In this collection, Ginsberg proved his vitality, his mind still full of humanity and hopefulness and play, his unobstructured breath still dancing with Spiritus. I'm still listening, still learning . His subversiveness still echoing with reason.Thiis Queen of May whose poetry still burns bright. Happy birthday, Allen ! All aroud the world ,people will be raising a glass in celebration of the life and work of this great man, me included, will not be toasting another Queen that is being celebrated today.
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