Editing Allen Ginsberg (section)

==Biography==

===Early life and family===
Ginsberg was born into a Jewish<ref>Pacernick, Gary. "[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Allan+Ginsberg%3A+an+interview+by+Gary+Pacernick.-a019918392 Allen Ginsberg: An interview by Gary Pacernick]" (February 10, 1996), ''[[The American Poetry Review]]'', July/August 1997. "Yeah, I am a Jewish poet. I'm Jewish."</ref> family in [[Newark, New Jersey]], and grew up in nearby [[Paterson, New Jersey|Paterson]].<ref name="NYT" /> He was the second son of [[Louis Ginsberg]], also born in Newark, a schoolteacher and published poet, and the former Naomi Levy, born in [[Nevel (town)|Nevel]] (Russia) and a fervent [[Marxist]].<ref name="NYTObit">{{Cite news |last=Hampton |first=Wilborn |date=April 6, 1997 |title=Allen Ginsberg, Master Poet Of Beat Generation, Dies at 70 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/06/nyregion/allen-ginsberg-master-poet-of-beat-generation-dies-at-70.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 14, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311032659/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CE6D7143CF935A35757C0A961958260 |archive-date=March 11, 2008}}</ref>

As a teenager, Ginsberg began to write letters to ''[[The New York Times]]'' about political issues, such as [[World War II]] and [[workers' rights]].<ref name="BioProject" /> He published his first poems in the ''Paterson Morning Call''.<ref>David S. Wills, [https://www.beatdom.com/allen-ginsberg-first-poem/ "Allen Ginsberg's First Poem?"]</ref> While in high school, Ginsberg became interested in the works of [[Walt Whitman]], inspired by his teacher's passionate reading.<ref name="auto">{{harvnb|Miles|2001}}</ref> In 1943, Ginsberg graduated from [[Eastside High School (Paterson, New Jersey)|Eastside High School]] and briefly attended [[Montclair State University|Montclair State College]] before entering [[Columbia University]] on a scholarship from the [[Jewish Community Center|Young Men's Hebrew Association]] of Paterson. Ginsberg intended to study [[law]] at [[Columbia University|Columbia]] but later changed his major to [[literature]].<ref name="NYTObit" />

In 1945, he joined the [[Merchant navy|Merchant Marine]] to earn money to continue his education at Columbia.<ref>Ginsberg, Allen (2008) ''The Letters of Allen Ginsberg''. Philadelphia, Da Capo Press, p. 6.</ref> While at Columbia, Ginsberg contributed to the ''Columbia Review'' literary journal, the ''[[Jester of Columbia|Jester]]'' humor magazine, won the Woodberry Poetry Prize, served as president of the [[Philolexian Society]] (literary and debate group), and joined [[Boar's Head Society]] (poetry society).<ref name="auto"/><ref name="columbiareview">{{Cite web |date=May 22, 2014 |title=History |url=http://columbiareviewmag.com/history/ |access-date=March 5, 2016 |publisher=Columbia Review}}</ref>
He was a resident of [[Hartley Hall]], where other Beat Generation poets such as [[Jack Kerouac]] and [[Herbert Gold]] also lived.<ref>{{Cite web |title=My generation – Columbia Spectator |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/04/25/my-generation/ |access-date=January 20, 2022 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Krajicek |first=David J. |date=April 5, 2012 |title=Where Death Shaped the Beats |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/books/columbia-u-haunts-of-lucien-carr-and-the-beats.html |access-date=January 20, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Ginsberg has stated that he considered his required freshman seminar in Great Books, taught by [[Lionel Trilling]], to be his favorite Columbia course. In 1948, he graduated from Columbia with a B.A in English and American Literature.<ref>Charters, Ann (July 2000) "Ginsberg's Life." American National Biography Online. American Council of Learned Societies.</ref>

According to The Poetry Foundation, Ginsberg spent several months in a mental institution after he pleaded insanity during a hearing. He was allegedly being prosecuted for harboring stolen goods in his dorm room. It was noted that the stolen property was not his, but belonged to an acquaintance.<ref>Allen Ginsberg." Allen Ginsberg Biography. Poetry Foundation, 2014. Web. November 6, 2014.</ref> Ginsberg also took part in public readings at the Episcopal [[St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery]] which would later hold a memorial service for him after his death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery |url=https://www.literarymanhattan.org/place/st-marks-church-in-the-bowery/ |access-date=April 21, 2022 |website=www.literarymanhattan.org |archive-date=March 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312154310/https://www.literarymanhattan.org/place/st-marks-church-in-the-bowery/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Bill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nt1xVR4SrAC&pg=PA104 |title=Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac's City |date=November 1997 |publisher=City Lights Books |isbn=978-0-87286-325-5}}</ref>

===Relationship with his parents===
Ginsberg referred to his parents in a 1985 interview as "old-fashioned delicatessen philosophers".<ref name="NYT" /> His mother was also an active member of the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] and took Ginsberg and his brother Eugene to party meetings. Ginsberg later said that his mother "made up bedtime stories that all went something like: 'The good king rode forth from his castle, saw the suffering workers and healed them.'"<ref name="BioProject">{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Bonesy |title=Biographical Notes on Allen Ginsberg |url=http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/allen_ginsberg.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023041027/http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/allen_ginsberg.html |archive-date=October 23, 2005 |access-date=October 20, 2005 |publisher=Biography Project}}</ref> Of his father Ginsberg said: "My father would go around the house either reciting [[Emily Dickinson]] and [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]] under his breath or attacking [[T. S. Eliot]] for ruining poetry with his '[[obscurantism]].' I grew suspicious of both sides."<ref name="NYT" />

Naomi Ginsberg had [[schizophrenia]] which often manifested as [[paranoid]] [[delusions]], [[Thought disorder|disordered thinking]] and multiple [[Suicide|suicide attempts]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hadda |first=Janet |date=2008 |title=Ginsberg in Hospital |journal=American Imago |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=229–59 |issn=0065-860X |jstor=26305281}}</ref> She would claim, for example, that the president had implanted listening devices in their home and that her mother-in-law was trying to kill her.<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|2001|p=26}}</ref><ref>Hyde, Lewis and Ginsberg, Allen (1984) ''On the poetry of Allen Ginsberg''. University of Michigan Press. {{ISBN|978-0-472-06353-6}}. p. 421.</ref> Her suspicion of those around her caused Naomi to draw closer to young Allen, "her little pet," as [[Bill Morgan (archivist)|Bill Morgan]] says in his biography of Ginsberg, titled ''I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg''.<ref name="auto3">{{harvnb|Morgan|2007|p=18}}</ref> She also tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists and was soon taken to [[Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital|Greystone]], a mental hospital; she would spend much of Ginsberg's youth in mental hospitals.<ref>Dittman, Michael J. (2007), ''Masterpieces of Beat literature''. Greenwood Publishing Group. {{ISBN|0-313-33283-5}}, pp. 57–58.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Morgan|2007|p=13}}</ref> His experiences with his mother and her mental illness were a major inspiration for his two major works, "[[Howl (poem)|Howl]]" and his long autobiographical poem "[[Kaddish (poem)|Kaddish for Naomi Ginsberg (1894–1956)]]".<ref name="Breslin">Breslin, James (2003), "Allen Ginsberg: The Origins of ''Howl'' and ''Kaddish.''" in ''Poetry Criticism''. David M. Galens (ed.). Vol. 47. Detroit: Gale.</ref>

When he was in junior high school, he accompanied his mother by bus to her therapist. The trip deeply disturbed Ginsberg—he mentioned it and other moments from his childhood in "Kaddish".<ref name="Modern">{{Cite web |last=Charters |first=Ann |title=Allen Ginsberg's Life |url=http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/ginsberg/life.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511185747/http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/ginsberg/life.htm |archive-date=May 11, 2008 |access-date=October 20, 2005 |publisher=Modern American Poetry website}}</ref> His experiences with his mother's mental illness and her institutionalization are also frequently referred to in "Howl." For example, "Pilgrim State, Rockland, and Grey Stone's foetid halls" is a reference to institutions frequented by his mother and [[Carl Solomon]], ostensibly the subject of the poem: Pilgrim State Hospital and [[Rockland Psychiatric Center|Rockland State Hospital]] in New York and [[Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital]] in [[New Jersey]].<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="orig">Ginsberg, Allen (1995). ''Howl: Original Draft Facsimile, Transcript & Variant Versions, Fully Annotated by Author, with Contemporaneous Correspondence, Account of First Public Reading, Legal Skirmishes, Precursor Texts & Bibliography.'' Barry Miles (Ed.). Harper Perennial. {{ISBN|0-06-092611-2}}. pp. 131, 132, 139–140.</ref><ref>Theado, Matt (2003) ''The Beats: A Literary Reference''. Carroll & Graf Publishers. {{ISBN|0-7867-1099-3}}. p. 53.</ref> This is followed soon by the line "with mother finally ******." Ginsberg later admitted the deletion was the expletive "fucked."<ref name="orig"/> He also says of Solomon in section three, "I'm with you in Rockland where you imitate the shade of my mother," once again showing the association between Solomon and his mother.<ref>{{harvnb|Raskin|2004|pp=156–57}}</ref>

Ginsberg received a letter from his mother after her death responding to a copy of "Howl" he had sent her. It admonished Ginsberg to be good and stay away from drugs; she says, "The key is in the window, the key is in the sunlight at the window—I have the key—Get married Allen don't take drugs—the key is in the bars, in the sunlight in the window."<ref>Hyde, Lewis and Ginsberg, Allen (1984), ''On the poetry of Allen Ginsberg''. University of Michigan Press.  {{ISBN|978-0-472-06353-6}}, pp. 426–27.</ref> In a letter she wrote to Ginsberg's brother Eugene, she said, "God's informers come to my bed, and God himself I saw in the sky. The sunshine showed too, a key on the side of the window for me to get out. The yellow of the sunshine, also showed the key on the side of the window."<ref>{{harvnb|Morgan|2007|pp=219–20}}</ref> These letters and the absence of a facility to recite [[kaddish]] inspired Ginsberg to write "Kaddish", which makes references to many details from Naomi's life, Ginsberg's experiences with her, and the letter, including the lines "the key is in the light" and "the key is in the window."<ref>Ginsberg, Allen (1961), ''Kaddish and Other Poems''. Volume 2, Issue 14 of The Pocket Poets series. City Lights Books.</ref>

===New York Beats===
{{refimprovesect|date=August 2024}}
In Ginsberg's first year at Columbia he met fellow undergraduate [[Lucien Carr]], who introduced him to a number of future Beat writers, including [[Jack Kerouac]], [[William S. Burroughs]], and [[John Clellon Holmes]]. They bonded, because they saw in one another an excitement about the potential of American youth, a potential that existed outside the strict conformist confines of post–World War II, [[McCarthyism|McCarthy]]-era America.<ref name="auto1">{{harvnb|Raskin|2004}}</ref> Ginsberg and Carr talked excitedly about a "New Vision" (a phrase adapted from Yeats' "A Vision"), for literature and America. Carr also introduced Ginsberg to [[Neal Cassady]], for whom Ginsberg had a long infatuation.<ref>Barry Gifford, ed., ''As Ever: The Collected Correspondence of Allen Ginsberg & Neal Cassady''.</ref> In the first chapter of his 1957 novel ''[[On the Road]]'' Kerouac described the meeting between Ginsberg and Cassady.<ref name="Modern" /> Kerouac saw them as the dark (Ginsberg) and light (Cassady) side of their "New Vision", a perception stemming partly from Ginsberg's association with communism, of which Kerouac had become increasingly distrustful. Though Ginsberg was never a member of the Communist Party, Kerouac named him "Carlo Marx" in ''On the Road''. This was a source of strain in their relationship.<ref name="auto"/>

Also, in New York, Ginsberg met [[Gregory Corso]] in the Pony Stable Bar. Corso, recently released from prison, was supported by the Pony Stable patrons and was writing poetry there the night of their meeting. Ginsberg claims he was immediately attracted to Corso, who was straight, but understood homosexuality after three years in prison. Ginsberg was even more struck by reading Corso's poems, realizing Corso was "spiritually gifted." Ginsberg introduced Corso to the rest of his inner circle. In their first meeting at the Pony Stable, Corso showed Ginsberg a poem about a woman who lived across the street from him and sunbathed naked in the window. Amazingly, the woman happened to be Ginsberg's girlfriend that he was living with during one of his forays into heterosexuality. Ginsberg took Corso over to their apartment. There the woman proposed sex with Corso, who was still very young and fled in fear. Ginsberg introduced Corso to Kerouac and Burroughs and they began to travel together. Ginsberg and Corso remained lifelong friends and collaborators.<ref>{{harvnb|Miles|2001}}{{page needed|date=August 2024}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Shortly after this period in Ginsberg's life, he became romantically involved with [[Elise Cowen|Elise Nada Cowen]] after meeting her through Alex Greer, a philosophy professor at [[Barnard College]] whom she had dated for a while during the burgeoning Beat generation's period of development. As a Barnard student, Elise Cowen extensively read the poetry of [[Ezra Pound]] and [[T. S. Eliot]], when she met [[Joyce Johnson (author)|Joyce Johnson]] and Leo Skir, among other Beat players.{{fact|date=August 2024}} As Cowen had felt a strong attraction to darker poetry most of the time, Beat poetry seemed to provide an allure to what suggests a shadowy side of her persona. While at Barnard, Cowen earned the nickname "Beat Alice" as she had joined a small group of anti-establishment artists and visionaries known to outsiders as beatniks, and one of her first acquaintances at the college was the beat poet Joyce Johnson who later portrayed Cowen in her books, including "Minor Characters" and ''Come and Join the Dance'', which expressed the two women's experiences in the Barnard and Columbia Beat community.{{fact|date=August 2024}} Through his association with Elise Cowen, Ginsberg discovered that they shared a mutual friend, [[Carl Solomon]], to whom he later dedicated his most famous poem "Howl." This poem is considered an autobiography of Ginsberg up to 1955, and a brief history of the Beat Generation through its references to his relationship to other Beat artists of that time.{{fact|date=August 2024}}

===The "Blake vision"===
In 1948, in an apartment in [[East Harlem]], Ginsberg experienced an [[auditory hallucination]] while masturbating and reading the poetry of [[William Blake]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Bill |title=The Typewriter Is Holy: The Complete, Uncensored History of the Beat Generation |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4165-9242-6 |page=34}}</ref> which he later referred to as his "Blake vision". Ginsberg claimed to have heard the voice of God—also described as the "voice of the [[Ancient of Days]]"—or of Blake himself reading "[[Ah! Sun-flower]]", "[[The Sick Rose]]" and "[[The Little Girl Lost]]". The experience lasted several days, with him believing that he had witnessed the interconnectedness of the universe; Ginsberg recounted that after looking at latticework on the [[fire escape]] of the apartment and then at the sky, he intuited that one had been crafted by human beings, while the other had been crafted by itself.<ref name="On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg">{{Cite book |last=Ginsberg |first=Allen |title=On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg |date=1984 |publisher=The University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-09353-3 |editor-last=Hyde |editor-first=Lewis |edition=2002 |location=United States |page=[https://archive.org/details/onpoetryofalleng0000unse/page/123 123] |chapter=A Blake Experience |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/onpoetryofalleng0000unse/page/123}}</ref> He explained that this hallucination was not inspired by drug use, but said he sought to recapture the feeling of interconnectedness later with various drugs.<ref name="auto"/> Later, in 1955, he referenced his "Blake vision" in his poem "Sunflower Sutra", saying "—I rushed up enchanted—it was my first sunflower, memories of Blake—my visions—".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sunflower Sutra |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49304/sunflower-sutra |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Poetry Foundation}}</ref>

===San Francisco Renaissance===
Ginsberg moved to [[San Francisco]] during the 1950s. Before ''[[Howl and Other Poems]]'' was published in 1956 by [[City Lights Bookstore|City Lights]], he worked as a market researcher.<ref name="Schumacher, Michael 2002">Schumacher, Michael (January 27, 2002). "Allen Ginsberg Project".</ref>

In 1954, in San Francisco, Ginsberg met [[Peter Orlovsky]] (1933–2010), with whom he fell in love and who remained his lifelong partner.<ref name="auto"/> Selections from their [[Love letter|correspondence]] have been published.<ref>''Straight Hearts' Delight: Love Poems and Selected Letters'', by Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, edited by Winston Leyland. Gay Sunshine Press, 1980, {{ISBN|0-917342-65-8}}.</ref>

Also in San Francisco, Ginsberg met members of the [[San Francisco Renaissance]] (James Broughton, Robert Duncan, Madeline Gleason and Kenneth Rexroth) and other poets who would later be associated with the Beat Generation in a broader sense. Ginsberg's mentor [[William Carlos Williams]] wrote an introductory letter to San Francisco Renaissance figurehead [[Kenneth Rexroth]], who then introduced Ginsberg into the San Francisco poetry scene.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hartlaub |first=Peter |date=December 4, 2015 |orig-date=December 4, 2015 |title=How the Beats helped build San Francisco's progressive future |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/Our-SF-The-Beats-help-build-city-s-progressive-6676634.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104174446/https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/Our-SF-The-Beats-help-build-city-s-progressive-6676634.php |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |access-date=July 31, 2024 |website=The San Francisco Chronicle |language=English}}</ref> There, Ginsberg also met three budding poets and [[Zen]] enthusiasts who had become friends at [[Reed College]]: [[Gary Snyder]], [[Philip Whalen]], and [[Lew Welch]]. In 1959, along with poets John Kelly, [[Bob Kaufman]], [[A. D. Winans]], and William Margolis, Ginsberg was one of the founders of the ''[[Beatitude (magazine)|Beatitude]]'' poetry magazine.

[[Wally Hedrick]]—a painter and co-founder of the [[Six Gallery reading|Six Gallery]]—approached Ginsberg in mid-1955 and asked him to organize a poetry reading at the [[Six Gallery reading|Six Gallery]]. At first, Ginsberg refused, but once he had written a rough draft of "Howl," he changed his "fucking mind," as he put it.<ref name="auto1"/> Ginsberg advertised the event as "Six Poets at the Six Gallery." One of the most important events in Beat mythos, known simply as "The [[Six Gallery reading]]" took place on October 7, 1955.<ref name="npr">{{Cite web |last=Siegel |first=Robert |date=October 7, 2005 |title=Birth of the Beat Generation: 50 Years of 'Howl' |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4950578 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017033639/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4950578 |archive-date=October 17, 2006 |access-date=October 2, 2006 |website=All Things Considered}}</ref> The event, in essence, brought together the East and West Coast factions of the [[Beat Generation]]. Of more personal significance to Ginsberg, the reading that night included the first public presentation of "Howl," a poem that brought worldwide fame to Ginsberg and to many of the poets associated with him. An account of that night can be found in Kerouac's novel ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'', describing how change was collected from audience members to buy jugs of wine, and Ginsberg reading passionately, drunken, with arms outstretched.

[[File:Howl and Other Poems (first edition).jpg|thumb|First edition cover of Ginsberg's landmark poetry collection, ''[[Howl and Other Poems]]''{{nbsp}}(1956)]]

Ginsberg's principal work, "Howl," is well known for its opening line: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked&nbsp;[...]." "Howl" was considered scandalous at the time of its publication, because of the rawness of its language. Shortly after its 1956 publication by San Francisco's [[City Lights Bookstore]], it was banned for obscenity. The ban became a [[wikt:cause célèbre|cause célèbre]] among defenders of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]], and was later lifted, after Judge Clayton W. Horn declared the poem to possess redeeming artistic value.<ref name="auto"/> Ginsberg and [[Shig Murao]], the City Lights manager who was jailed for selling "Howl," became lifelong friends.<ref>Ball, Gordon, {{" '}}Howl' and Other Victories: A friend remembers City Lights' Shig Murao", ''San Francisco Chronicle'', November 28, 1999.</ref>

====Biographical references in "Howl"====
Ginsberg claimed at one point that all of his work was an extended biography (like Kerouac's ''[[Duluoz Legend]]''). "Howl" is not only a biography of Ginsberg's experiences before 1955, but also a history of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg also later claimed that at the core of "Howl" were his unresolved emotions about his schizophrenic mother. Though [[Kaddish (poem)|"Kaddish"]] deals more explicitly with his mother, "Howl" in many ways is driven by the same emotions. "Howl" chronicles the development of many important friendships throughout Ginsberg's life. He begins the poem with "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness", which sets the stage for Ginsberg to describe Cassady and Solomon, immortalizing them into American literature.<ref name="auto1"/> This madness was the "angry fix" that society needed to function—madness was its disease. In the poem, Ginsberg focused on "Carl Solomon! I'm with you in Rockland", and, thus, turned Solomon into an archetypal figure searching for freedom from his "straightjacket". Though references in most of his poetry reveal much about his biography, his relationship to other members of the Beat Generation, and his own political views, "Howl," his most famous poem, is still perhaps the best place to start.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

===To Paris and the "Beat Hotel", Tangier and India===
In 1957, Ginsberg surprised the literary world by abandoning San Francisco. After a spell in [[Morocco]], he and Peter Orlovsky joined Gregory Corso in Paris. Corso introduced them to a shabby lodging house above a bar at 9 [[rue Gît-le-Cœur]] that was to become known as the [[Beat Hotel]]. They were soon joined by Burroughs and others. It was a productive, creative time for all of them. There, Ginsberg began his epic poem "Kaddish", Corso composed ''Bomb'' and ''Marriage'', and Burroughs (with help from Ginsberg and Corso) put together ''[[Naked Lunch]]'' from previous writings. This period was documented by the photographer [[Harold Chapman (photographer)|Harold Chapman]], who moved in at about the same time, and took pictures constantly of the residents of the "hotel" until it closed in 1963. During 1962–1963, Ginsberg and Orlovsky travelled extensively across India, living half a year at a time in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] (now Kolkata) and [[Benares]] (Varanasi). On his road to India he stayed two months in Athens ( August 29, 1961 – October 31, 1961) where he visited various sites such as [[Delphi]], [[Mykines, Greece|Mycines]], [[Crete]], and then continued his journey to Israel, Kenya and finally India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 28, 2016 |title=Όταν ο ποιητής Άλεν Γκίνσμπεργκ επισκέφτηκε το Πέραμα. {{!}} LiFO |url=https://www.lifo.gr/now/athens/otan-o-poiitis-alen-gkinsmpergk-episkeftike-perama |access-date=July 13, 2022 |website=www.lifo.gr |language=el}}</ref> Also during this time, he formed friendships with some of the prominent young [[Bengalis|Bengali]] poets of the time including [[Shakti Chattopadhyay]] and [[Sunil Gangopadhyay]]. Ginsberg had several political connections in India; most notably [[Pupul Jayakar]] who helped him extend his stay in India when the authorities were eager to expel him.

===England and the International Poetry Incarnation===
In May 1965, Ginsberg arrived in London, and offered to read anywhere for free.<ref name="Ref-1">Nuttall, J (1968) ''Bomb Culture'' MacGibbon & Kee, {{ISBN|0-261-62617-5}}</ref> Shortly after his arrival, he gave a reading at [[Better Books]], which was described by [[Jeff Nuttall]] as "the first healing wind on a very parched collective mind."<ref name="Ref-1" /> [[Thomas McGrath (poet)|Tom McGrath]] wrote: "This could well turn out to have been a very significant moment in the history of England—or at least in the history of English Poetry."<ref name="Ref-2">Fountain, N: ''Underground: the London alternative press, 1966–1974'', p. 16. [[Taylor & Francis]], 1988 {{ISBN|0-415-00728-3}}.</ref>

Soon after the bookshop reading, plans were hatched for the [[International Poetry Incarnation]],<ref name="Ref-2" /> which was held at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in London on June 11, 1965. The event attracted an audience of 7,000, who heard readings and live and tape performances by a wide variety of figures, including Ginsberg, [[Adrian Mitchell]], [[Alexander Trocchi]], [[Harry Fainlight]], [[Anselm Hollo]], [[Christopher Logue]], [[George MacBeth]], Gregory Corso, [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]], [[Michael Horovitz]], [[Simon Vinkenoog]], [[Spike Hawkins]] and [[Thomas McGrath (poet)|Tom McGrath]]. The event was organized by Ginsberg's friend, the filmmaker [[Barbara Rubin]].<ref name="ginsbergproject">{{Cite web |last=Hale |first=Peter |date=March 31, 2014 |title=Barbara Rubin (1945–1980) |url=http://ginsbergblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/barbara-rubin-1945-1980.html |website=The Allen Ginsberg Project}}</ref><ref name="osterweil">{{Cite web |last=Osterweil |first=Ara |year=2010 |title=Queer Coupling, or The Stain of the Bearded Woman |url=http://www.araosterweil.com/download/i/mark_dl/u/4009891857/4561222908/Framework%2051-2.1%20Osterweil%20article.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020065346/http://www.araosterweil.com/download/i/mark_dl/u/4009891857/4561222908/Framework%2051-2.1%20Osterweil%20article.pdf |archive-date=October 20, 2014 |access-date=October 13, 2014 |website=araosterweil.com |publisher=Wayne State University Press}}</ref>

[[Peter Whitehead (filmmaker)|Peter Whitehead]] documented the event on film and released it as ''[[Wholly Communion]]''. A book featuring images from the film and some of the poems that were performed was also published under the same title by Lorrimer in the UK and Grove Press in US.

===Continuing literary activity===
[[File:Allen Ginsberg und Peter Orlowski ArM.jpg|thumb|250px|Ginsberg with his partner, poet [[Peter Orlovsky]]. Photo taken in 1978]]
Though the term "Beat" is most accurately applied to Ginsberg and his closest friends (Corso, Orlovsky, Kerouac, Burroughs, etc.), the term "Beat Generation" has become associated with many of the other poets Ginsberg met and became friends with in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A key feature of this term seems to be a friendship with Ginsberg. Friendship with Kerouac or Burroughs might also apply, but both writers later strove to disassociate themselves from the name "[[Beat Generation]]." Part of their dissatisfaction with the term came from the mistaken identification of Ginsberg as the leader. Ginsberg never claimed to be the leader of a movement. He claimed that many of the writers with whom he had become friends in this period shared many of the same intentions and themes. Some of these friends include: [[David Amram]], [[Bob Kaufman]]; [[Diane di Prima]]; [[Jim Cohn]]; poets associated with the [[Black Mountain College]] such as [[Charles Olson]], [[Robert Creeley]], and [[Denise Levertov]]; poets associated with the [[New York School (art)|New York School]] such as [[Frank O'Hara]] and [[Kenneth Koch]]. LeRoi Jones before he became [[Amiri Baraka]], who, after reading "Howl", wrote a letter to Ginsberg on a sheet of toilet paper. Baraka's independent publishing house Totem Press published Ginsberg's early work.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amiri Baraka papers, 1945–2015 |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_6909686/ |access-date=October 10, 2020 |website=www.columbia.edu |quote=Baraka's Totem Press: published early works by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and other Beat and Downtown experimental writers. |archive-date=March 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319042505/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_6909686/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=August 2024}} Through a party organized by Baraka, Ginsberg was introduced to [[Langston Hughes]] while [[Ornette Coleman]] played saxophone.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harrison |first=K. C. |year=2014 |title=LeRoi Jones's Radio and the Literary "Break" from Ellison to Burroughs |journal=African American Review |volume=47 |issue=2/3 |pages=357–74 |doi=10.1353/afa.2014.0042 |jstor=24589759 |s2cid=160151597}}</ref>

[[File:Ginsberg-dylan.jpg|thumb|250px|Portrait with [[Bob Dylan]], taken in 1975]]
Later in his life, Ginsberg formed a bridge between the [[Beat Generation|beat movement]] of the 1950s and the [[hippie]]s of the 1960s, befriending, among others, [[Timothy Leary]], [[Ken Kesey]], [[Hunter S. Thompson]], and [[Bob Dylan]]. Ginsberg gave his last public reading at [[Booksmith]], a bookstore in the [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood of San Francisco, a few months before his death.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140714140634/http://fora.tv/2008/10/23/Bill_Morgan_The_Letters_of_Allen_Ginsberg Bill Morgan: The Letters of Allen Ginsberg]}}. Video at fora.tv. October 23, 2008.</ref> In 1993, Ginsberg visited the [[University of Maine at Orono]] to pay homage to the 90-year-old great [[Carl Rakosi]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=PERLOFF |first=MARJORIE |year=2013 |title=Allen Ginsberg |journal=Poetry |volume=202 |issue=4 |pages=351–53 |jstor=23561794}}</ref>

===Buddhism and Krishna===
{{See also|A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada|Mantra-Rock Dance}}
In 1950, Kerouac began studying Buddhism<ref name="tyger">{{Cite web |last=Ginsberg |first=Allen |date=April 3, 2015 |title=The Vomit of a Mad Tyger |url=http://www.lionsroar.com/the-vomit-of-a-mad-tyger/ |access-date=April 3, 2015 |publisher=[[Shambhala Sun|Lion's Roar]]}}</ref> and shared what he learned from [[Zen in the United States#Dwight Goddard|Dwight Goddard's]] ''Buddhist Bible'' with Ginsberg.<ref name="tyger" /> Ginsberg first heard about the [[Four Noble Truths]] and such sutras as the [[Diamond Sutra]] at this time.<ref name="tyger" /> Ginsberg's endorsement helped establish the Krishna movement within New York's [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] culture.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Prideaux |first1=Ed |title=The true story of Hare Krishna: Sex, drugs, The Beatles and 50 years of scandal |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/hare-krishna-sex-god-beatles-hindu-guru-chant-temple-message-a9226531.html |access-date=11 August 2024 |work=The Independent |date=December 3, 2019}}</ref>

Ginsberg's spiritual journey began early on with his spontaneous visions, and continued with an early trip to India with [[Gary Snyder]].<ref name="tyger" /> Snyder had previously spent time in [[Kyoto]] to study at the First Zen Institute at [[Daitoku-ji]] Monastery.<ref name="tyger" /> At one point, Snyder chanted the [[Prajnaparamita]], which in Ginsberg's words "blew my mind."<ref name="tyger" /> His interest piqued, Ginsberg traveled to meet [[14th Dalai Lama|the Dalai Lama]] as well as the [[Karmapa]] at Rumtek Monastery.<ref name="tyger" /> Continuing on his journey, Ginsberg met [[Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje|Dudjom Rinpoche]] in [[Kalimpong]], who taught him: "If you see something horrible, don't cling to it, and if you see something beautiful, don't cling to it."<ref name="tyger" />

After returning to the United States, a chance encounter on a New York City street with [[Chögyam Trungpa]] [[Rinpoche]] (they both tried to catch the same cab),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fields |first=Rick |title=How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America |publisher=[[Shambhala Publications]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-87773-631-8 |page=311}}</ref> a [[Kagyu]] and [[Nyingma]] [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] master, led to Trungpa becoming his friend and lifelong teacher.<ref name="tyger" /> Ginsberg helped Trungpa and New York poet [[Anne Waldman]] in founding the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at [[Naropa University]] in [[Boulder, Colorado]].

Ginsberg was also involved with [[Vaishnavism|Krishnaism]]. He had started incorporating chanting the [[Hare Krishna (mantra)|Hare Krishna mantra]] into his religious practice in the mid-1960s. After learning that [[A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]], the founder of the [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness|Hare Krishna]] movement in the Western world had rented a store front in New York, he befriended him, visiting him often and suggesting publishers for his books, and a fruitful relationship began. This relationship is documented by [[Satsvarupa dasa Goswami]] in his biographical account ''Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta''. Ginsberg donated money, materials, and his reputation to help the Swami establish the first temple, and toured with him to promote his cause.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wills, D. |year=2007 |title=Buddhism and the Beats |volume=1 |pages=9–13 |work=Beatdom |publisher=Mauling Press |location=Dundee |editor-last=Wills, D. |url=http://www.beatdom.com/buddhism_and_the_beats.htm |access-date=March 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501050535/http://www.beatdom.com/buddhism_and_the_beats.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Prabhupada's arrival in San Francisco 1967.jpg|thumb|left|Allen Ginsberg greeting [[A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]] at [[San Francisco International Airport]]. January 17, 1967]]
Despite disagreeing with many of Bhaktivedanta Swami's [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness#Four regulative principles|required prohibitions]], Ginsberg often sang the Hare Krishna mantra publicly as part of his philosophy<ref name="Brooks 1992 78–9">{{Harvnb|Brooks|1992|pp=78–79}}</ref> and declared that it brought a state of ecstasy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Szatmary|1996|p=149}}</ref> He was glad that Bhaktivedanta Swami, an authentic [[swami]] from India, was now trying to spread the chanting in America. Along with other [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] ideologists like [[Timothy Leary]], [[Gary Snyder]], and [[Alan Watts]], Ginsberg hoped to incorporate Bhaktivedanta Swami and his chanting into the hippie movement, and agreed to take part in the Mantra-Rock Dance concert and to introduce the swami to the Haight-Ashbury hippie community.<ref name="Brooks 1992 78–9" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Ginsberg|Morgan|1986|p=36}}</ref><ref group="nb">(from the "Houseboat Summit" panel discussion, [[Sausalito, California|Sausalito CA]]. February 1967)({{Harvnb|Cohen|1991|p=182}}):<br />
Ginsberg: So what do you think of Swami Bhaktivedanta pleading for the acceptance of Krishna in every direction?<br />
Snyder: Why, it's a lovely positive thing to say Krishna. It's a beautiful mythology and it's a beautiful practice.<br />
Leary: Should be encouraged.<br />
Ginsberg: He feels it's the one uniting thing. He feels a monopolistic unitary thing about it.<br />
[[Alan Watts|Watts]]: I'll tell you why I think he feels it. The mantras, the images of Krishna have in this culture no foul association&nbsp;[...] [W]hen somebody comes in from the Orient with a new religion which hasn't got any of [horrible] associations in our minds, all the words are new, all the rites are new, and yet, somehow it has feeling in it, and we can get with that, you see, and we can dig that!</ref>

On January 17, 1967, Ginsberg helped plan and organize a reception for Bhaktivedanta Swami at [[San Francisco International Airport]], where fifty to a hundred hippies greeted the Swami, chanting Hare Krishna in the airport lounge with flowers in hands.<ref>{{Harvnb|Muster|1997|p=25}}</ref><ref group="nb">Addressing speculations that he was Allen Ginsberg's guru, Bhaktivedanta Swami answered a direct question in a public program, "Are you Allen Ginsberg's guru?" by saying, "I am nobody's guru. I am everybody's servant. Actually I am not even a servant; a servant of God is no ordinary thing." ({{Harvnb|Greene|2007|p=85}}; {{Harvnb|Goswami|2011|pp=196–97}})</ref> To further support and promote Bhaktivedanta Swami's message and chanting in San Francisco, Allen Ginsberg agreed to attend the [[Mantra-Rock Dance]], a musical event 1967 held at the [[Avalon Ballroom]] by the San Francisco [[ISKCON|Hare Krishna]] temple. It featured some leading rock bands of the time: [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]] with [[Janis Joplin]], the [[Grateful Dead]], and [[Moby Grape]], who performed there along with the Hare Krishna founder [[Bhaktivedanta Swami]] and donated proceeds to the Krishna temple. Ginsberg introduced Bhaktivedanta Swami to some three thousand hippies in the audience and led the chanting of the [[Hare Krishna mantra]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bromley|Shinn|1989 |p=106}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Chryssides|Wilkins|2006|p=213}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Joplin |first=Laura |title=Love, Janis |publisher=Villard Books |year=1992 |isbn=0-679-41605-6 |location=New York |page=182}}</ref>

[[File:1967 Mantra-Rock Dance Avalon poster.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The [[Mantra-Rock Dance]] promotional poster featuring Allen Ginsberg along with leading rock bands.]]
Music and chanting were both important parts of Ginsberg's live delivery during poetry readings.<ref>Chowka, Peter Barry, "[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/ginsberg/interviews.htm This is Allen Ginsberg?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408084404/http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/ginsberg/interviews.htm |date=April 8, 2019 }}" (Interview), [[New Age Journal]], April 1976. "I had known [[A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada|Swami Bhaktivedanta]] and was somewhat guided by him&nbsp;[...] spiritual friend. I practiced the Hare Krishna chant, practiced it with him, sometimes in mass auditoriums and parks in the Lower East Side of New York. Actually, I'd been chanting it since '63, after coming back from India. I began chanting it, in Vancouver at a great poetry conference, for the first time in '63, with Duncan and Olson and everybody around, and then continued. When Bhaktivedanta arrived on the Lower East Side in '66 it was reinforcement for me, like 'the reinforcements had arrived' from India."</ref> He often accompanied himself on a [[Pump organ|harmonium]], and was often accompanied by a guitarist. It is believed that the Hindi and Buddhist poet [[Nagarjun]] had introduced Ginsberg to the harmonium in Banaras. According to [[Malay Roy Choudhury]], Ginsberg refined his practice while learning from his relatives, including his cousin Savitri Banerjee.<ref>Klausner, Linda T. (April 22, 2011), "American Beat Yogi: An Exploration of the Hindu and Indian Cultural Themes in Allen Ginsberg", Masters Thesis: Literature, Culture, and Media''[http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=2152608&fileOId=2152615 Lund University]''.</ref> When Ginsberg asked if he could sing a song in praise of Lord [[Krishna]] on [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]]'s TV show ''[[Firing Line (TV series)|Firing Line]]'' on September 3, 1968, Buckley acceded and the poet chanted slowly as he played dolefully on a harmonium. According to [[Richard Brookhiser]], an associate of Buckley's, the host commented that it was "the most unharried Krishna I've ever heard."<ref>Konigsberg, Eric (February 29, 2008), "Buckley's Urbane Debating Club: ''Firing Line'' Set a Standard For Political Discourse on TV", ''[[The New York Times]]'', Metro Section, p. B1.</ref>

At the 1967 [[Human Be-In]] in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the 1970 Black Panther rally at Yale campus Allen chanted "Om" repeatedly over a sound system for hours on end.<ref>{{harvnb|Morgan|2007|p=468}}</ref>

Ginsberg further brought mantras into the world of rock and roll when he recited the [[Heart Sutra]] in the song "[[Ghetto Defendant]]". The song appears on the 1982 album ''[[Combat Rock]]'' by British first wave punk band [[The Clash]].

Ginsberg came in touch with the [[Hungry generation|Hungryalist]] poets of [[Bengal]], especially Malay Roy Choudhury, who introduced Ginsberg to the three fish with one head of Indian emperor [[Akbar the Great|Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar]]. The three fish symbolised coexistence of all thought, philosophy, and religion.<ref>Mitra, Alo (May 9, 2008), [http://www.thewastepaper.blogspot.com/ Hungryalist Influence on Allen Ginsberg ]. thewastepaper.blogspot.com.</ref>

In spite of Ginsberg's attraction to Eastern religions, the journalist [[Jane Kramer]] argues that he, like Whitman, adhered to an "American brand of mysticism" that was "rooted in humanism and in a romantic and visionary ideal of harmony among men."<ref>Kramer, Jane (1968), ''Allen Ginsberg in America''. New York: Random House, p. xvii.</ref>

The Allen Ginsberg Estate and Jewel Heart International partnered to present "Transforming Minds: Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche and Friends", a gallery and online exhibition of images of [[Gelek Rimpoche]] by Allen Ginsberg, a student with whom he had an "indissoluble bond," in 2021 at [[Tibet House US]] in New York City.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Transforming Minds: Kyabje Gelek Rimnpohce and Friends |url=https://www.jewelheart.org/events/transforming-minds-kyabje-gelek-rimpoche-and-friends-photographs-by-allen-ginsberg/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=jewelheart.org |publisher=Jewel Heart}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Spiegel |first=Alison |date=September 29, 2021 |title=Inside the New Allen Ginsberg Photography Exhibit at Tibet House US |publisher=Tricycle Magazine |url=https://tricycle.org/article/allen-ginsberg-exhibit/ |access-date=November 3, 2022}}</ref> Fifty negatives from Ginsberg's Stanford University photo archive celebrated "the unique relationship between Allen and Rimpoche." The selection of never-before presented images, featuring great Tibetan masters including the Dalai Lama, Tibetologists, and students were "guided by Allen's extensive notes on the contact sheets and images he'd circled with the intention to print."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paljor Chatag |first=Ben |date=2022 |title=Curatorial Reflections on 'Transforming Minds: Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche and Friends, Photographs by Allen Ginsberg 1989–1997' |url=https://yeshe.org/curatorial-reflections-on-transforming-minds-kyabje-gelek-rimpoche-and-friends-photographs-by-allen-ginsberg-1989-1997/ |journal=Yeshe, A Journal of Tibetan Literature, Arts and Humanities |volume=2 |issue=1 |access-date=November 3, 2022}}</ref>

===Illness and death===
In 1960, he was treated for a [[tropical disease]], and it is speculated that he contracted [[hepatitis]] from an unsterilized needle administered by a doctor, which played a role in his death 37 years later.<ref>{{harvnb|Morgan|2007|p=312}}</ref>

Ginsberg was a lifelong smoker, and though he tried to quit for health and religious reasons, his busy schedule in later life made it difficult, and he always returned to smoking.

In the 1970s, Ginsberg had two minor strokes which were first diagnosed as [[Bell's palsy]], which gave him significant paralysis and stroke-like drooping of the muscles in one side of his face. Later in life, he also had constant minor ailments such as [[Hypertension|high blood pressure]]. Many of these symptoms were related to stress, but he never slowed down his schedule.<ref>{{harvnb|Morgan|2007}}</ref>

[[File:Allen ginsberg 675.jpg|thumb|Allen Ginsberg, 1979]]

Ginsberg won a 1974 [[National Book Award]] for ''[[The Fall of America: Poems of These States|The Fall of America]]'' (split with [[Adrienne Rich]], ''[[Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971–1972|Diving into the Wreck]]'').<ref name="nba1974">In 1993, Ginsberg visited the University of Maine at Orono for a conference, to pay homage to the 90-year-old great [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/carl-rakosi Carl Rakosi] and to read poems as well. [https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1974 "National Book Awards{{snd}}1974"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved April 7, 2012 (with acceptance speech by Ginsberg and essay by John Murillo from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog).</ref>

In 1986, Ginsberg was awarded the Golden Wreath by the [[Struga Poetry Evenings]] International Festival in Macedonia, the second American poet to be so awarded since [[W. H. Auden]]. At Struga, Ginsberg met with the other Golden Wreath winners, [[Bulat Okudzhava]] and [[Andrei Voznesensky]].

In 1989, Ginsberg appeared in [[Rosa von Praunheim]]'s award-winning film ''[[Silence = Death (film)|Silence = Death]]'' about the fight of gay artists in New York City for AIDS-education and the rights of HIV infected people.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Silence = Death |url=https://teddyaward.tv/en/archive?a-z=1&select=S&id_film=405 |publisher=Teddy Award}}</ref>

In 1993, the French Minister of Culture appointed Ginsberg a [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres]].

Ginsberg continued to help his friends as much as he could: he gave money to [[Herbert Huncke]] out of his own pocket, regularly supplied neighbor [[Arthur Russell (musician)|Arthur Russell]] with an extension cord to power his home recording setup,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rhoades |first=Lindsey |date=March 8, 2017 |title=Echo in Eternity: The Indelible Mark of Arthur Russell |url=https://www.stereogum.com/1928507/echo-in-eternity-the-indelible-mark-of-arthur-russell/franchises/sounding-board/ |website=Stereogum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 13, 2010 |title=Arthur Russell / Allen Ginsberg Track Discovered |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/news/arthur-russell-allen-ginsberg-track-discovered}}</ref> and housed a broke, drug-addicted [[Harry Everett Smith|Harry Smith]].

With the exception of a special guest appearance at the [[NYU]] Poetry [[Poetry slam|Slam]] on February 20, 1997, Ginsberg gave what is thought to be his last reading at The [[Booksmith]] in San Francisco on December 16, 1996.

After returning home from the hospital for the last time, where he had been unsuccessfully treated for [[congestive heart failure]], Ginsberg continued making phone calls to say goodbye to nearly everyone in his address book. Some of the phone calls were sad and interrupted by crying, and others were joyous and optimistic.<ref>{{harvnb|Morgan|2007|p=649}}</ref> Ginsberg continued to write through his final illness, with his last poem, "Things I'll Not Do (Nostalgias)", written on March 30.<ref>Ginsberg, Allen ''Collected Poems 1947–1997'', pp. 1160–61.</ref>

He died on April 5, 1997, surrounded by family and friends in his [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] loft in Manhattan, succumbing to [[liver cancer]] via complications of [[hepatitis]] at the age of 70.<ref name="NYTObit" /> [[Gregory Corso]], [[Roy Lichtenstein]], [[Patti Smith]] and others came by to pay their respects.<ref>{{harvnb|Morgan|2007|p=651}}</ref> He was cremated, and his ashes were buried in his family plot in Gomel Chesed Cemetery in Newark.<ref name="nyt1">{{Cite news |last=Strauss |first=Robert |date=March 28, 2004 |title=Sometimes the Grave Is a Fine and Public Place. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/28/nyregion/sometimes-the-grave-is-a-fine-and-public-place.html |access-date=August 21, 2007}}</ref> He was survived by Orlovsky.

In 1998, various writers, including [[Catfish McDaris]], read at a gathering at Ginsberg's farm to honor Allen and the Beats.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Michalis Limnios |date=March 1, 2013 |title=Poet and author Catfish McDaris says stories from his experiences from the poetry and music world |url=http://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/poet-and-author-catfish-mcdaris-says-stories-from-his-experiences |website=Blues.gr}}</ref>

''[[Good Will Hunting]]'' (released in December 1997) was dedicated to Ginsberg, as well as Burroughs, who died four months later.<ref name="ES-19980303">{{Cite web |last=Clarke |first=Roger |date=March 3, 1998 |title=Roger Clarke {{!}} Gus Van Sant |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/film/roger-clarke-6331844.html |access-date=May 18, 2019 |website=[[London Evening Standard]]}}</ref>