Editing Allen Ginsberg (section)

==Work==
Most of Ginsberg's very early poetry was written in formal rhyme and meter like that of his father, and of his idol [[William Blake]]. His admiration for the writing of [[Jack Kerouac]] inspired him to take poetry more seriously. In 1955, upon the advice of a psychiatrist, Ginsberg dropped out of the working world to devote his entire life to poetry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Allen Ginsberg, Master Poet of Beat Generation, Dies at 70 |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/08/specials/ginsberg-obit.html?module=inline |access-date=October 23, 2022 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> Soon after, he wrote ''Howl'', the poem that brought him and his [[Beat Generation]] contemporaries to national attention and allowed him to live as a professional poet for the rest of his life. Later in life, Ginsberg entered academia, teaching poetry as Distinguished Professor of English at [[Brooklyn College]] from 1986 until his death.<ref>Lawlor, William. ''Beat culture : lifestyles, icons, and impact''. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Print.</ref>

===Inspiration from friends===
Ginsberg claimed throughout his life that his biggest inspiration was Kerouac's concept of "[[spontaneous prose]]." He believed literature should come from the soul without conscious restrictions. Ginsberg was much more prone to revise than Kerouac. For example, when Kerouac saw the first draft of ''Howl'', he disliked the fact that Ginsberg had made editorial changes in pencil (transposing "negro" and "angry" in the first line, for example). Kerouac only wrote out his concepts of spontaneous prose at Ginsberg's insistence because Ginsberg wanted to learn how to apply the technique to his poetry.<ref name="auto"/>

The inspiration for ''Howl'' was Ginsberg's friend, [[Carl Solomon]], and ''Howl'' is dedicated to him. Solomon was a [[Dada]] and [[Surrealism]] enthusiast (he introduced Ginsberg to [[Artaud]]) who had bouts of clinical depression. Solomon wanted to commit suicide, but he thought a form of suicide appropriate to dadaism would be to go to a mental institution and demand a [[lobotomy]]. The institution refused, giving him many forms of [[psychotherapy|therapy]], including [[Electroconvulsive therapy|electroshock therapy]]. Much of the final section of the first part of ''Howl'' is a description of this.

Ginsberg used Solomon as an example of all those ground down by the machine of "[[Moloch]]." Moloch, to whom the second section is addressed, is a [[Semitic gods|Levantine god]] to whom children were sacrificed. Ginsberg may have gotten the name from the [[Kenneth Rexroth]] poem "Thou Shalt Not Kill," a poem about the death of one of Ginsberg's heroes, [[Dylan Thomas]]. Moloch is mentioned a few times in the [[Torah]] and references to Ginsberg's Jewish background are frequent in his work. Ginsberg said the image of Moloch was inspired by [[peyote]] visions he had of the Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco which appeared to him as a skull; he took it as a symbol of the city (not specifically San Francisco, but all cities).<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kramer |first=Jane |date=August 10, 1968 |title=The Father of Flower Power |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1968/08/17/paterfamilias-i |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref> Ginsberg later acknowledged in various publications and interviews that behind the visions of the Francis Drake Hotel were memories of the Moloch of [[Fritz Lang]]'s film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927) and of the woodcut novels of [[Lynd Ward]].<ref name="orig"/> Moloch has subsequently been interpreted as any system of control, including the conformist society of post-World War II America, focused on material gain, which Ginsberg frequently blamed for the destruction of all those outside of societal norms.<ref name="auto"/>

He also made sure to emphasize that Moloch is a part of humanity in multiple aspects, in that the decision to ''defy'' socially created systems of control—and therefore go against Moloch—is a form of self-destruction. Many of the characters Ginsberg references in ''Howl'', such as Neal Cassady and Herbert Huncke, destroyed themselves through excessive substance abuse or a generally wild lifestyle. The personal aspects of ''Howl'' are perhaps as important as the political aspects. Carl Solomon, the prime example of a "best mind" destroyed by defying society, is associated with Ginsberg's schizophrenic mother: the line "with mother finally fucked" comes after a long section about Carl Solomon, and in Part III, Ginsberg says: "I'm with you in Rockland where you imitate the shade of my mother." Ginsberg later admitted that the drive to write ''Howl'' was fueled by sympathy for his ailing mother, an issue which he was not yet ready to deal with directly. He dealt with it directly with 1959's ''Kaddish'',<ref name="auto"/> which had its first public reading at a [[Catholic Worker Movement|Catholic Worker]] Friday Night meeting, possibly due to its associations with [[Thomas Merton]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cornell |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Cornell |title=Catholic Worker Pacifism: An Eyewitness to History |url=http://catholicworker.com/peacetc.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317165844/http://www.catholicworker.com/peacetc.htm |archive-date=March 17, 2010 |access-date=May 1, 2010 |website=Catholic Worker Homepage}}</ref>

===Inspiration from mentors and idols===
Ginsberg's poetry was strongly influenced by [[Modernism]] (most importantly the American style of Modernism pioneered by William Carlos Williams), [[Romanticism]] (specifically William Blake and [[John Keats]]), the beat and cadence of [[jazz]] (specifically that of [[Bebop|bop]] musicians such as [[Charlie Parker]]), and his [[Kagyu]] Buddhist practice and Jewish background. He considered himself to have inherited the visionary poetic mantle handed down from the English poet and artist [[William Blake]], the American poet [[Walt Whitman]] and the Spanish poet [[Federico García Lorca]]. The power of Ginsberg's verse, its searching, probing focus, its long and lilting lines, as well as its [[New World]] exuberance, all echo the continuity of inspiration that he claimed.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Deliberate" /><ref name="Spontaneous" />

He corresponded with [[William Carlos Williams]], who was then in the middle of writing his epic poem ''[[Paterson (poem)|Paterson]]'' about the industrial city near his home. After attending a reading by Williams, Ginsberg sent the older poet several of his poems and wrote an introductory letter. Most of these early poems were rhymed and metered and included archaic pronouns like "thee." Williams disliked the poems and told Ginsberg, "In this mode perfection is basic, and these poems are not perfect."<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Deliberate" /><ref name="Spontaneous" />

Though he disliked these early poems, Williams loved the exuberance in Ginsberg's letter. He included the letter in a later part of ''Paterson''. He encouraged Ginsberg not to emulate the old masters, but to speak with his own voice and the voice of the common American. From Williams, Ginsberg learned to focus on strong visual images, in line with Williams' own motto "No ideas but in things." Studying Williams' style led to a tremendous shift from the early formalist work to a loose, colloquial [[free verse]] style. Early breakthrough poems include ''Bricklayer's Lunch Hour'' and ''Dream Record''.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Spontaneous" />

Carl Solomon introduced Ginsberg to the work of [[Antonin Artaud]] (''To Have Done with the Judgement of God'' and ''Van Gogh: The Man Suicided by Society''), and [[Jean Genet]] (''[[Our Lady of the Flowers]]''). [[Philip Lamantia]] introduced him to other [[Surrealists]] and Surrealism continued to be an influence (for example, sections of "Kaddish" were inspired by [[André Breton]]'s ''Free Union''). Ginsberg claimed that the anaphoric repetition of ''Howl'' and other poems was inspired by [[Christopher Smart]] in such poems as ''Jubilate Agno''. Ginsberg also claimed other more traditional influences, such as: [[Franz Kafka]], [[Herman Melville]], [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]], and [[Emily Dickinson]].<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Deliberate" />

Ginsberg also made an intense study of [[haiku]] and the paintings of [[Paul Cézanne]], from which he adapted a concept important to his work, which he called the ''Eyeball Kick''. He noticed in viewing Cézanne's paintings that when the eye moved from one color to a contrasting color, the eye would [[Saccade|spasm]], or "kick." Likewise, he discovered that the contrast of two seeming opposites was a common feature in haiku. Ginsberg used this technique in his poetry, putting together two starkly dissimilar images: something weak with something strong, an artifact of high culture with an artifact of low culture, something holy with something unholy. The example Ginsberg most often used was "hydrogen jukebox" (which later became the title of a [[Hydrogen Jukebox|song cycle]] composed by [[Philip Glass]] with lyrics drawn from Ginsberg's poems). Another example is Ginsberg's observation on Bob Dylan during Dylan's hectic and intense 1966 electric-guitar tour, fueled by a cocktail of amphetamines,<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 30, 1999 |title=A lot of nerve |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/dec/30/artsfeatures.bobdylan |access-date=April 23, 2010}}</ref> opiates,<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 4, 2007 |title=The Ten Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews of All Time{{snd}}Vulture |url=https://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/10/the_ten_most_incomprehensible.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127162320/http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/10/the_ten_most_incomprehensible.html |archive-date=November 27, 2010 |access-date=October 31, 2010 |website=New York}}</ref> alcohol,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plotz |first=David |date=March 8, 1998 |title=Bob Dylan{{snd}}By David Plotz{{snd}}Slate Magazine |url=http://www.slate.com/id/1855/ |access-date=October 31, 2010 |website=Slate}}</ref> and psychedelics,<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Hagan |first=Sean |date=March 25, 2001 |title=Well, how does it feel? |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/mar/25/features.review7 |access-date=April 23, 2010}}</ref> as a ''[[Dexedrine]] Clown''. The phrases "eyeball kick" and "hydrogen jukebox" both show up in ''Howl'', as well as a direct quote from Cézanne: "Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus".<ref name="Deliberate" />

===Inspiration from music===
{{see also|Songs of Innocence and Experience (Allen Ginsberg album)}}
Allen Ginsberg also found inspiration in music. He frequently included music in his poetry, invariably composing his tunes on an old Indian harmonium, which he often played during his readings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=First Blues: Rags, Ballads and Harmonium Songs {{!}} Smithsonian Folkways |url=https://folkways.si.edu/allen-ginsberg/first-blues-rags-ballads-and-harmonium-songs/american-folk-poetry/album/smithsonian |access-date=March 10, 2018 |website=Smithsonian Folkways Recordings}}</ref> He wrote and recorded music to accompany [[William Blake]]'s ''[[Songs of Innocence]]'' and ''[[Songs of Experience]]''. He also recorded a handful of other albums. To create music for ''Howl'' and ''Wichita Vortex Sutra'', he worked with the minimalist composer, [[Philip Glass]].

Ginsberg worked with, drew inspiration from, and inspired artists such as [[Bob Dylan]], [[The Clash]], [[Patti Smith]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Patti |title=Just Kids |publisher=Ecco |date=2010 |isbn=978-0-06-093622-8 |location=New York |page=123}}</ref> [[Phil Ochs]], and [[The Fugs]].<ref name="Schumacher, Michael 2002" /> He worked with Dylan on various projects and maintained a friendship with him over many years.<ref>Wills, D., [http://www.beatdom.com/allen-ginsberg-and-bob-dylan/ "Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan"], ''Beatdom'' No. 1 (2007).</ref>

In 1981, Ginsberg recorded a song called "Birdbrain." He was backed by the Gluons, and the track was released as a single.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2011 |title=Birdbrain! |url=https://allenginsberg.org/2011/12/birdbrain/ |access-date=June 13, 2022 |website=The Allen Ginsberg Project}}</ref> In 1996, he recorded a song co-written with [[Paul McCartney]] and Philip Glass, "The Ballad of the Skeletons",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ballad of the Skeletons – Allen Ginsberg – Songs, Reviews, Credits |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/ballad-of-the-skeletons-mw0000081957 |website=AllMusic}}</ref> which reached number 8 on the [[Triple J Hottest 100, 1996|Triple J Hottest 100]] for that year.

===Style and technique===
From the study of his idols and mentors and the inspiration of his friends—not to mention his own experiments—Ginsberg developed an individualistic style that's easily identified as Ginsbergian.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Gorski, Hedwig |title=Interview with Robert Creeley |journal=Journal of American Studies of Turkey |date=Spring 2008 |pages=73–81 |issue=27 |url=http://www.ake.hacettepe.edu.tr/Install/JASTFiles/jast27.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328094817/http://www.ake.hacettepe.edu.tr/Install/JASTFiles/jast27.pdf |issn=1300-6606 |archive-date=March 28, 2012 |access-date=October 10, 2011}}</ref> Ginsberg stated that Whitman's long line was a dynamic technique few other poets had ventured to develop further, and Whitman is also often compared to Ginsberg because their poetry sexualized aspects of the male form.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Deliberate" /><ref name="Spontaneous" />

Many of Ginsberg's early long line experiments contain some sort of [[Anaphora (rhetoric)|anaphora]], repetition of a "fixed base" (for example "who" in ''Howl'', "America" in ''America'') and this has become a recognizable feature of Ginsberg's style.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Brian |date=2010 |title=Modernist Looking: Surreal Impressions in the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/751273038 |journal=[[Texas Studies in Literature and Language]] |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=298–323 |doi=10.1353/tsl.2010.0003 |s2cid=162063608 |id={{ProQuest|751273038}} }}</ref> He said later this was a crutch because he lacked confidence; he did not yet trust "free flight."<ref>{{Cite book |title=On the poetry of Allen Ginsberg |date=1984 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |editor=Hyde, Lewis |isbn=0-472-09353-3 |location=Ann Arbor |page=82 |oclc=10878519}}</ref> In the 1960s, after employing it in some sections of ''Kaddish'' ("caw" for example) he, for the most part, abandoned the anaphoric form. 'Latter-Day Beat' Bob Dylan is known for using anaphora, as in 'Tangled Up in Blue' where the phrase, returned to at the end of every verse, takes the place of a chorus.<ref name="Deliberate" /><ref name="Spontaneous" />

Several of his earlier experiments with methods for formatting poems as a whole became regular aspects of his style in later poems. In the original draft of ''Howl'', each line is in a "stepped triadic" format reminiscent of [[William Carlos Williams]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Van Durme |first=Debora |date=May 2014 |title=Classical myth in Allen Ginsberg's Howl |url=https://lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/162/600/RUG01-002162600_2014_0001_AC.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/162/600/RUG01-002162600_2014_0001_AC.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022}}</ref> He abandoned the "stepped triadic" when he developed his long line although the stepped lines showed up later, most significantly in the travelogues of ''The Fall of America''.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} ''Howl'' and ''Kaddish'', arguably his two most important poems, are both organized as an inverted pyramid, with larger sections leading to smaller sections. In ''America'', he also experimented with a mix of longer and shorter lines.<ref name="Deliberate" /><ref name="Spontaneous" />

Ginsberg's mature style made use of many specific, highly developed techniques, which he expressed in the "poetic slogans" he used in his Naropa teaching. Prominent among these was the inclusion of his unedited mental associations so as to reveal the mind at work ("First thought, best thought." "Mind is shapely, thought is shapely.") He preferred expression through carefully observed physical details rather than abstract statements ("Show, don't tell." "No ideas but in things.")<ref>Rabinowitz, Jacob, ''Blame it on Blake'', Amazon/Independent 2019, {{ISBN|978-1-09513-905-9}}, pp. 55–63.</ref> In these he carried on and developed traditions of modernism in writing that are also found in Kerouac and Whitman.

In ''Howl'' and in his other poetry, Ginsberg drew inspiration from the [[epic poetry|epic]], [[free verse]] style of the 19th-century American poet [[Walt Whitman]].<ref>Ginsberg, Allen ''Deliberate Prose'', pp. 285–331.</ref> Both wrote passionately about the promise (and betrayal) of American democracy, the central importance of erotic experience, and the spiritual quest for the truth of everyday existence. [[J. D. McClatchy]], editor of the ''[[Yale Review]]'', called Ginsberg "the best-known American poet of his generation, as much a social force as a literary phenomenon." McClatchy added that Ginsberg, like Whitman, "was a bard in the old manner—outsized, darkly prophetic, part exuberance, part prayer, part rant. His work is finally a history of our era's psyche, with all its contradictory urges." McClatchy's barbed eulogies define the essential difference between Ginsberg ("a beat poet whose writing was&nbsp;[...] journalism raised by combining the recycling genius with a generous mimic-empathy, to strike audience-accessible chords; always lyrical and sometimes truly poetic") and Kerouac ("a poet of singular brilliance, the brightest luminary of a 'beat generation' he came to symbolise in popular culture&nbsp;[...] [though] in reality he far surpassed his contemporaries&nbsp;[...] Kerouac is an originating genius, exploring then answering—like [[Arthur Rimbaud|Rimbaud]] a century earlier, by necessity more than by choice—the demands of authentic self-expression as applied to the evolving quicksilver mind of America's only literary virtuoso&nbsp;[...]").<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |last=Hampton, Willborn |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}}</ref>