America_Ginsberg 1 from our Udemy course

friends here is a very very interesting and important poem from american literature alan ginsberg's poem america you might probably know that ginsburg belonged to the beat generation the beat generation was a literary and counter-culture movement of the 1950s well counter culture was a term that came after the 50s in the 60s and 70s the beat generation was a prototypically counter culture movement initially the beats were associated with new york in the east and then they moved to san francisco in california in the west the beat generation gained popularity with the members who joined it together and met in the coffee houses and colleges of san francisco they started public reading and eventually they became associated with lawrence ferlingetti's city lights bookstore it was lawrence ferlingetti who published alan ginsburg's major book howl and other poems in which our poem america was also published the babe generation had tremendous influence in america as well as in europe and they became like cultural icons in post-war america the big generation questioned the rampant materialism and rising corporatism in america america was becoming a world power and leading the world in corporate capitalism at this time and the big generation rebelled against this consumerist culture they expressed a dissatisfaction with american culture and saw capitalism as destructive to the human spirit and antithetical to social equality the b generation were also against sexual repression they rejected the taboos in american society that existed against sexuality and they understood that these taboos are unhealthy they advocated free speech free love legalized the prostitution and legalized drug use absolute freedom of the individual they expressed their ideas through literature literature was seen as bold straightforward and expressive as you will see in this poem the language becomes expressive of their rebellion expressive of their indignation and unrest literature took on new levels of expression in the hands of the beat generation writers they were very provocative and unconventional and some critics dismissed their literature as indecent as not even literature because it was so provocative and deliberately vulgar who are the beat writers i'm sure most of you will know some of them for example alan ginsberg and jack kerouac they were the founders of the beat generation jack kerouac and alan ginsberg they were friends and they met in columbia university in the early 1940s within a decade they had become the cultural icons of post-war america it seems it was kerouac who coined the term beat generation the other members of the beat generation were lucy and carr john clelland holmes gregory corso neil cassidy neil cassidy is famous because he and jack kerouac together travels and jack kerouac on the road was the result that was the book william is burroughs he was not a main b generation writer but he was associated with them and he was like the godfather of the cultural counter-cultural movements of the 1960s punk and so on what are the characteristic features of the bead generation the bead generation is also called beatniks what characterized their literature and culture let us take a look there were from the educated middle class the be generation writers were all from the educated middle class and they turned against middle class they used their education for rebellion they were anti-establishment and anti-academy there they were against the established mainstream conventions of culture they were associated with the romantic surrealist and absolutist movements in literature they deliberately employed to express their rebellion and spiritual quest to express the alternate conditions of human life they employed romantic surrealist and absolutist tendencies the beatniks admired thorough and his walden thorough was a rebel he questioned the establishment he stood against the nation and his government and they admired thoros liberal ideas they rejected the objective and formalist modernism of t.s eliot t.s eliot was too elite for them even though t.s eliot was also spiritual in his writing even though t.s eliot also explored eastern religions and cultures and philosophies the beatniks rejected his formal modernism in favor of experimentation not only with literature not only not in the style of tears eliot in a different style in a very rebellious and uh disturbing vulgar style t.s eliot never used such vulgarity the poet publisher lawrence ferlingetti who ran the city lights bookstore in san francisco in california was their patron and city lights was their hub of activities i did not mention one thing i will mention eventually the beat generation writers experimented with psychedelic drugs because as i told you they believed in free drug use and they also experimented with homosexuality because they believed in sexual liberation alan ginsberg was definitely the most important um of the be generation writers he was a bohemian a non-conformist poet lived from 1926 to 1997. alan ginsburg was born into a jewish family in newark in new jersey ginsburg became the icon of the 1950s the 1950s was a time when jews were dominating america in literature and thought and in all walks of life there were the jewish american novelists also like saul bello who emerged in the 1950s uh ginsburg was born into a jewish family in newark near the place called paterson and he vigorously opposed militarism america after the second world war was entering more and more into a militaristic relationship with other nations eventually after this after the big generation the vietnam war would also become the most notorious and controversial political uh militaristic engagement of america so there was the cold war happening at this time after the second world war there was a threat of nuclear disaster once again and ginsburg like many others at this time vigorously opposed militarism economic materialism or capitalism and sexual repression he took part in non-violent political protests he was an activist and he took part in non-violent political protests in and around new york in 1948 in an apartment in harlem he had the blake vision the concept of vision was related to uh w b his mystic vision and vision also was related for the beats to a new era in literature and politics in america so vishen was a large term for them and he had the black vision that means for several days he heard the voice of william blake reading his own poems and ginsburg had political and literary connections in india he traveled in india that was after the publication of howl and he got involved in indian philosophy and spirituality he got acquainted with the hare krishna cult so all these were very mystic experiences that was associated with ginsburg it was uh at this time that he moved to san francisco from new york and that was where he met our raw for lawrence ferlingetti and the the b generation became very prominent at this time so and then he later on lived in paris and london and he became a practicing buddhist as i told you he also embraced krishnaism at this time and chanted hare krishna mantra in his performances because it had a very great spiritual significance for him uh it was a big surprise for the literary world when immediately after the publication of howl and its obscenity trial ginsburg abandoned san francisco uh before he settled down in paris he had uh lived first brief time in morocco and it was after this that he traveled extensively across india he met a lot of indian writers and even politicians and his friendships with indians gave him a very strong spiritual foundation so uh that was in a nutshell his spiritual conquests and after that his health failed due to hectic schedule he was traveling too much and he was performing his poetry too much and uh it was like in the 1960s that he his health began to fail in the 1970s he suffered from strokes and it affected his health very seriously and he had many stress related body disorders and it was in the 1990s in april that he finally died in manhattan by that time he had become uh you know an unparalleled celebrity in america for alan ginsberg poetry was a catalyst to visionary states of mind i'm somewhat reminded of aurobindo for ginsburg poetry is a medium to transport him to visionary experiences spiritual experiences he was committed in presenting the discontinuities of consciousness he presented that in his uh poetry in the form of themes as well as language the discontinuities of consciousness let us take a quick look at alan ginsberg's major works qadhish after howl and america came kadish in 1961 it is an account of personal grief love poem on a theme by whitman that came earlier 1956 it is about a passionate sexual encounter and the reply is an experience of drugs that he has recounted don't grow old is about the death of his father many of his important poems are also included in the collection howell and other poems that came in 1956. howell is definitely his magnum opus it's his most important poem and it was a turning point in the history of american literature the publication of hell before it was published there was a public reading in the sixth gallery in san francisco in october 1955. after the public reading the first publication happened in 1956 the publisher was lawrence ferlingetti and it was followed by a notorious obscenity the book was printed in london and it was seized at the customs itself and it was immediately put under trial which ginsburg won that was a landmark trial the poem howl like the poem america appeared in howl and other poems other important poems are sunflower sutra a supermarket in california etc all these poems are prescribed in various universities the opening line of howl is very very famous it is important that you should know it i saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness starving hysterical naked this is a breath length line you are supposed to hold your breath and the pronunciation the reading of the line should end with your breath and this line is applicable to our poem america as well in america also he presents more or less the same theme i saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness the madness of politics the madness of war the madness of repression he is retaliating against such madness in the poem america as well in howl as well as america he has used long lines based on breath as i told you it's called breath length form intended to be read aloud almost chanted many of the words and the linguistic peculiarities the silence stylistic peculiarities of the poem can be understood only when it is read aloud it's very important this denotes a return to the oral tradition in poetry which had been long neglected from the written to the oral and the poem is written without restrictions both howl and america are written without restrictions in a tumbling hallucinatory style sometimes in both these forms you wonder whether he is in his right mind and howl as well as america employ a syntactic subversion of meaning a subversion of meaning called parataxis remember all these are key words breath length form parataxis please remember to use such words when you write about alan ginsberg in both these poems you will also see a frank fearless treatment of sexuality especially homosexuality leading to an obscenity trial which ginsburg won now let me tell you an introduction to the poem america which is the poem we are discussing today it's a radical political poem depicting the poets or the speakers argument with post-second world war america the poem is written like an argument that the poet is having with america in the post-world war period and what are they arguing about they are talking about the political unrest in the nation a lot of decisions that america took at this time a lot of things that happened in america and abroad led to political unrest in the nation this unrest was only going to increase in the coming decade the 1960s well america is about that if you want to know what are the reasons for the political unrest here are a few i have left listed them out one is the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki at the end of the second world war america bombed these two cities and that is how the war ended then there was the mccarthy and communist witch hunt led by senator joseph mccarthy under the presidentship of eisenhower the dwight eisenhower was the president of america at this time he kept quiet and joseph mccarthy the senator hunted down the communists put her put them under trial and without trial also many of them were punished another mad situation was created by the cold war the cold war between the usa and the ussr and the ensuing nuclear threats both of them both these countries had hoarded nuclear weapons that would destroy the earth many times over and people lived in constant fear that another world war would result there was also the asian foreign policy that was leading to many disastrous consequences while america and the ussr were engaged in cold war many things were happening in asia especially in china and americans were worried at this time there was a corporate capitalism that was on the rise and a lot of minority groups like the african americans women the chicano americans etc started to protest there was african-american unrest there was many there were many civil rights movements but as part of the civil rights movements a lot of minorities were repressed at large there was sexual and spiritual repression against all this uh ginsburg is raging in this poem and all this caused political unrest in the nation the poem was written in 1956 on the 17th of january in berkeley california and it was included in howell and other poems it has a non-conformist beat tone i that is non-conformist i have repeated that is highly provocative yeah it has a non-conformist uh beat tone that is highly provocative it is meant to make america angry and the poem uses irregular stanzas without proper punctuation it is even difficult to find out what is the exact stanza form what where are the stanzas ending because in different websites different books it is appearing in different ways irregular stanzas the poet or the speaker is angry with the nation with the politics of the government he's disagreeing with it and he is uh trying to show us the mess that america is the poem is rich with political cultural and autobiographical references and he is raising his voice against injustices and that voice becomes the voice of the downtrodden remember your voice is part of the nation that you belong to but does it really hurt if you speak does the nation listen to it if you disagree with the government can you do anything about it that question is there in this poem see our poet the speaker wants to be heard because he realizes that he is part of the nation he has a responsibility this is something he shares with thorough uh and walt whitman to earlier writers whom he admired and why he wants his voice to be heard is because he cares about his nation and he cares about the world now we are going into the poem proper america i've given you all and now i'm nothing america 200 america dollars and 27 cents january 17 1956. i can't stand my own mind america when will we end the human war go yourself with your atom bomb i don't feel good don't bother me i don't write my poem till i'm in my right mind this is the beginning it sounds like a man who is greatly troubled and neurotic has given america everything he had and now he is he's left with nothing the day that he wrote this poem is the day that he has given america everything he says and he is frustrated he wants america to stop the human war and he's using an expletive and getting angry with america because of its use of the atom bomb let us look at this section in detail america i've given you all and now i'm nothing america two dollars and 27 cents january 17 1956. can't stand my own mind it's like a man talking to himself america is personified and obviously he's carrying on a conversation with it he must have felt intimacy with america perhaps like a lover you can't say a female lover because he never addresses america as a woman could be a man suggestion of homosexuality he must have felt intimacy with america perhaps like a lover and dead and he's very unhappy with that lover and probably that's why he gave it all and then he feels he is betrayed he's let down by his nation the mood of hopelessness and protest is evoked right at the beginning this part therefore functions like an introduction to the poem you know right away what's happening he's unhappy with america he feels betrayed by america and he's going out of his mind and he's feeling disgusted all that is conveyed here two dollars and 27 cents is a small amount of money even in 1956 but that would be that is all he has he says and that would certainly be valuable for really poor people america even though pretends to be a rich country there are lots of very poor people in america homeless people people without any money like the speaker the speaker identifies with them the speaker clearly says he's not a rich man for two dollars 27 is all that he had and he is financially as well as emotionally let down by his nation america did not let him make more money and america has taken everything and he's left emotionally drained and this day it is important for him that's why he's telling the dates as part of the poem cramming it together with the detail of the exact amount the exact amount and date all climbed together without punctuation it shows that ordinary people like him suffer at that time they remember that date on which they were betrayed because they can't afford it and these are also times of cultural poverty he is unhappy with american culture also as we'll increasingly realize in the rest of the poem he's unable to be at ease with himself in such a culturally impoverished horrible country that's why probably he says i can't stand my own mind now as well as later in the way he talks as well as later we realize that probably he's not in his right mind he's disgusted with his mind with himself as well as with the nation america when will we end the human war go yourself with your adam bomb very straightforward there is no mincing the meat here now we know why he is so dejected he doesn't like the war he asks a question point blank perhaps that question which had been bothering him most it is not a very easy question to ask and this question is probably eating his head what is that question when will we end the human war this war that america is waging seems to be like forever are you going to end it when are you going to end it he's tired of this meaningless war the second world war ended but that doesn't mean war ended it's going on america is still preparing for war and also fighting with other countries meaninglessly he's tired and perhaps he feels partly responsible for the walk because he's also an american he's part of the nation it is it is his responsibility to ask america to stop the war that's why he says when will we end the war america when will you end the war that's not what he asked when will we end the war he's not shirking his responsibility and he says human war why does he say human war to highlight the massive absurd destruction it has caused to humanity that word human is very painful many human beings have died and humanity or humaneness human values have died it points to how inhuman it is he means of course america is dropping an atom bomb on hiroshima on 6th august 1945 and three days later on nagasaki thus ending the second world war but beginning an era of even more horrendous destruction that the speaker considers the war absurd is completely sorry and completely pointless he considered the war to be absurd he considers the war to be completely pointless that he does not respect america because of its involvement in the war he doesn't feel proud that his country is leading in killing people even if it's your own country if the country seeks war that is not something to be proud of it is clear from the expression go yourself the use of the expletive adds to the disgust that he feels he's he can't speak any more politely it's affecting him even personally we know and perhaps he's justified in his indignation it's okay let the government do what they want i'm not concerned he can't think like that he is concerned he is affected it is his guilt too just before he wrote this poem uh within a year before this he was under psychiatric treatment for feelings of dejection and guilt ginsburg the repetition of the word america america america america he's calling and speaking it's anaphora repetition of an expression in subsequent uh lines in poetry is called anaphora it perhaps indicates that america is not listening to him he has to call america repeatedly america i've given you all america two dollars and 27 cents america when will we end the war you know it also shows that he's being irritating provocative and fearless he's trying to provoke america into replying he wouldn't let america be you know i don't feel good don't bother me i don't write my poem till i'm in my right mind these are the next two lines he realizes that his conversation itself is pointless this conversation is pointless he doesn't want to carry on with this conversation he wants it to end even before he has begun i don't feel good don't bother me he started the conversation and then he's asking america to stop bothering him the intensity of his trauma and the urgency of his need to end the conversation is seen in the two sentences being crammed together in one line without a punctuation i don't feel good don't bother me the conversation is truly taking the feel of two people who live together and one of them feeling bothered by the other he's trapped in that relationship he can't escape and he's fighting he seems to have no easy escape from america the memory of the insane bombing is what suddenly made him want to end this conversation that is what made the meaningful conversation impossible for him after america has done what it has done nothing can be said god has died and we have killed him you know there is no more conversation possible with this murderer and ginsburg the speaker is sensitive hurt by america's inconsiderate actions we also get the sense of a neurotic perhaps insane man from the way he talks as well as from his own suggestion that he's not in his right mind i won't write my poem till i'm in my right mind and he's not in his right mind will he ever be in his right mind will he ever write this poem we wonder because america is what has driven him mad we realize that america doesn't really care about him america doesn't care about anyone it looks like that and is probably not even listening to him that's why he has to call america repeatedly and the irony is that even though he says i won't write my poem till i'm in my right mind he goes on writing the poem many many more lines are yet to come so let me just go back and wait i didn't read that section let me read it again for you the section that we just discussed america i've given you all and now i'm nothing america two dollars and 27 cents january 17 1956 can't stand my own mind america when will we end the human war go yourself with your adam bomb i don't feel good don't bother me i won't write my poem to them in my right mind already it's depressing eh and now the next part it's not really a part it's a continuation america when will you be angelic when will you take off your clothes when will you look at yourself through the grave when will you be worthy of your million trotskyites america why are your libraries full of tears america when will you send your eggs to india i'm sick of your insane demands when can i go into the supermarket and buy what i need with my good looks he's really being irritating asking so many questions he is the one who looks like insane and he's the one who's making demands but he feels he has the right to do it because america has behaved even worse i'm sick of your insane demands he says and his in every question he is reminding america of all that america has done irrecoverably of all that america has destroyed let us take a detailed view america when will you be angelic when will you take off your clothes see he's being cheeky and provocative the speaker presumably had high hopes in his nation and wants to see america pure and angelic but america is not angelic now america when will you be angelic will you ever be angelic again that america will be angelic is of course an impossibility because there are so many million people millions of people in america how can they all together become angelic it is an impossibility and it only highlights the corruption and inhumanity of the nation see he is questioning the very concept of a state that is an anarchist stand he is questioning the very necessity of a state that is called anarchism and far from being angelic america has caused death and destruction that is what he is reminding us these lines that are scathing criticism of consumerism and capitalism in america you know the consumerist capitalist america had a very big industry hollywood where women were constantly taking off clothes at this time we had sex divas like marilyn monroe and this also suggests homosexuality throughout the poem he suggests homosexuality as well metaphorically these lines also mean that america is on the verge of ruin the speaker clearly is anxious for his nation to be great again angelic is something that human beings cannot be america is going to be destroyed probably by its own actions he's anxious that america should be great again if america will ever appear to him as pure and angelic then his desire in her or him may again be rekindled if he ever sees america as angelic he would want america he would want to live there he would have desire for him or her but america is not desirable now he kind of hates america because america is not what he wants to be wants america to be and america perhaps appears rigid and even dead as the next line will suggest when will you look at yourself through the grave when will you be worthy of your million trotsky arts the depressive mood of the speaker is turning morbid and angry is america dead in spirit that it has to look at itself through the grave or is ginsburg reminding america of its mortality or in other words that the glory it seems to have now is ephemeral america you are not going to be a glorious nation forever look at yourself you are dying you're at the point of ruin the glory that you seem to bask in is ephemeral it's not there forever there are a million communists or trotskyites in america he says more than america ever imagined america at this time is at war with them there is a mccarthy and witch hunt as i told you it is not easy to destroy one million trotskyites and they are wonderful people america when will you be worthy of them because america thinks the trotsky eyes are the enemies and they are evil but actually america does not realize that america itself is more oppressive and narrow-minded than it thinks the communists are the worst thing here is america itself not communism jinsberg suckly asserts that communism will only do america good well to speak like this provocatively was dangerous in those days he would be arrested probably punished but he's risking it as a young man ginsburg was influenced by his mother naomi naomi ginsberg was his mother she had communist leanings she was a communist activist and ginsburg wanted to help the working classes as a lawyer but he ended up as a poet so he is connected with communism he has a deep regard for the communists america why a library my serious thinking and talking to him okay interesting question oh shut up okay america let me just silence my phone yeah america why are your libraries full of tears america when will you send your eggs to india what does that mean america why are your libraries full of tears libraries stand for liberal free thinking isn't it books libraries stand for equality and objectivity the libraries are personified and they are now full of tears the libraries are lamenting the end of free thinking in the country or perhaps he means that people are not interested in knowledge and wisdom anymore there's a lot of corruption in american society people are not interested in knowledge and wisdom and libraries are crying or perhaps people go to the libraries to take refuge from the oppressive era but find no solace in contemporary thinking so the libraries are full of the tears of the readers it has many meanings anyway think thoughts thinking and the era do not match in india there was a famine at this time bengal famine in 1943 about a decade before this poem was written and it is said that three million people died of starvation while americans were living not the poor americans but the wealthy americans america was making more money from international relations and what did america do to help india you know why isn't america helping the starving and suffering people around the world that is the question that ginsburg is raising now i'm sick of your insane demands when can i go to the supermarket and buy what i need with my good looks look at what he's saying how can you go to a supermarket and buy what you need with good looks well in america good looks dominated at this time let's see how america wants its people to stand by and appreciate its injustices and insane actions that's what every nation every government would say if you criticize the government you will be branded and anti-national it happens everywhere the speaker cannot bring himself to support any of the injustices and insane actions of america he's critical of every aspect of contemporary politics and he's asserting his right to raise his voice against it he will not be quiet he's sick of america's insane demands of its citizens sarcastically he's himself making an insane demand next he wants to go to the supermarket and buy what he needs with his good looks now how is that possible that is insane isn't it the speaker means that america is a surface culture the speaker is lashing out against a hypocritical consumerist showbiz culture here the 1950s was the time of hollywood icons like marilyn monroe and elvis presley who dominated the industry by their good looks they also dominated the fashion and cosmetic industries not only the hollywood industry when people are starving in and out of post-war america within america outside america everywhere people are starving in this post-war either at that time all that mattered to many people in america is surface appearance and insane spending of wealth what can be called consumerism consumerism the word was not in use in those days yes but consumerism is what happened in those days so he's attacking consumerism he's attacking america's surface culture and now the next section of the poem america after all it's you and i who are perfect not the next world your missionary is too much for me you made me want to be a saint there must be some other way to settle this argument burroughs is in 10 years i don't think he'll come back it's sinister are you being sinister or is it some form of practical joke i'm trying to come to the point i refuse to give up my obsession america stop pushing i know what i'm doing what is he saying there's a stream of consciousness america after all it's you and i who are perfect not the next world your machinery is too much for me america always thought of itself as powerful and perfect earlier we have the american dream which of course failed america always thought that it is the paragon of freedom and prosperity it is the land of the free it is the land of prosperity that is how america projected its own image and america thought of itself as superior to all nations of the worlds and ginsburg is laughing at america's notions of perfection grandiose notions of perfection america after all it's you and i who are perfect not the next world he's saying the speaker is sarcastically saying that only america and himself are perfect well we know that he is far from perfect already because of the way he speaks of course what he means is its opposite neither of them is perfect the next world is also not perfect the next world is what comes after death in this dying culture of america the future is the next world probably the mention of the next world once again reminds us that he's that he fears his nation is on the verge of ruin he's afraid that the nation is on the verge of ruin he's warning his nation not to take the future for granted machinery probably refers to the way politics and economics work in america the speaker has serious objections to the politics of america the speaker does not think america is doing the right thing in politics he is also objecting to corporate capitalism that was gaining more and more power in those days he's against the corporatism and the politics both you may we you made me want to be a saint there must be some other way to settle this argument what does that mean america gave its citizens the dream of freedom and prosperity right america taught its citizens it is possible to be wealthy it is possible to be free money will give you freedom everyone believed it and wanted to be rich and free to live their lives the way they want the american dream turned into a nightmare all this was not true the speaker feels quite the opposite he is disgusted with the materialism and wastefulness of american culture he sees through it the materialism and wastefulness of american culture made him more spiritual and ascetic he wants to be a saint now think of the great gatsby the excesses of the american wealthy people you can see there the speaker feels that the differences that he has with his country are so deep rooted that this argument may go on and on unresolved there might be no meeting point between him and the nation so he wonders if there is some way to resolve the argument and reconcile with his country actually this is the only time he attempts to reconcile after that he starts to quarrel burroughs is intangious i don't think he'll come back it's sinister are you being sinister or is this some form of practical joke now that is an autobiographical reference william burroughs was ginsberg's friend he lived from 1914 to 1997. he was an exceptionally talented beat rider and friend of ginsburg he's called the grandfather of punk and you know what he did he controversially advocated drugs culture he advocated the use of drugs and he wrote books about it like junkie he had an anarchic stance in culture rejecting values and state and you know what he did he murdered his wife during a drunken game a william tell game what is a william tell game william tell is a legendary person who was asked to shoot an apple on his son's head shooting an apple on someone's head is called william tell game and burrows was drunk and he shot the apple and his wife died after that he lived in exile in tangier in morocco where drugs were freely available for roses and tangiers i don't think he'll come back it's sinister you know what it means ginsburg strongly advocated legalization of drugs let people use drugs if they wanted only very intelligent and genius people use drugs it is human rights this is what he thought without legalization of drugs he thought america will lose the best minds of his generation i saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness starving hysterical naked remember america has lost barrows anyway he's not going to return america will lose more and more best minds if drugs are not legalized the 1950s and 60s were the time when drugs culture existed in america because of the influence of mexico morocco etc is america being sinister by destroying its best minds or is it a kind of william tell game or practical joke like barrows destroyed his wife without wanting it is america accidentally killing off or destroying its best minds he's asking is this a practical joke or is america really being sinister i'm trying to come to the point i refuse to give up my obsession i'm trying to come to the point where america is thinking america is asking him what are they trying to say and he says i'm trying to come to the point and he says point blank straightforward i refuse to give up my obsession america stop pushing i know what i'm doing you know like a lover telling a partner this man's the speaker is rambling and deliberately evoking a drunken or drugged tone i don't know if he's really drunken he's just evoking that tone as a kind of protest or challenge to the nation and the nation on the contrary is putting on a pretense of sanity and rationality to justify its insanely atrocious actions actually the nation is insane the nation is doing atrocious actions and it is pretending sanity and rationality here the speaker is apparently insane or drunken but what he is saying is what is saying he is stating his points or what he wants to assert is this what is that he will which is that he'll never give up his obsession and what is his obsession his obsession is to reform america to change the evil mess that america has got itself into america is pushing him to stop and forcing him to change america is pushing him to give up his unconventional ideas and lifestyle america doesn't want him to be so critical but he's not going to change because he knows what he's doing america stopped pushing i know what i'm doing he's sure of himself he knows what he's doing and he will not change the two sentences crammed into one line america stopped pushing i know what i'm doing shows his impatience with america as well as his confidence in what he's doing he doesn't take time to say it he knows it and then the next part of the poem america the plum blossoms are falling i haven't read the newspaper for months everybody somebody goes on trial for murder every day somebody goes on trial for murder america i feel sentimental about the wall police america i used to be a communist when i was a kid i'm not sorry i spoke marijuana every chance i get i sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet when i go to chinatown i get drunk and never get laid my mind is made up there's going to be trouble you should have seen me reading marx let us check it out america the plum blossoms are falling i haven't read the newspapers for months every day somebody goes on trial for murder plum blossoms are an important aspect of chinese culture plum blossoms they're beautiful they symbolize hope and peace when the speaker suddenly brings in plum blossoms he's actually suggesting that the east is a better alternative for america america the plum blossoms are falling did you notice it the east is coming up the east is there we don't need you because you are atrocious look at what's happening in america every day somebody goes on trial for murder and the east is a better alternative because the east is the abode of hope and peace represented by the plum blossoms unlike the violence of america described explicitly in the next line look at the peacefulness of plum blossoms contrasted with the somebody going on trial every day for murder this indicates that america is undoubtedly in its decline the east is there you know america is in its decline for months ginsburg hasn't kept track of what is happening around him you know that he is a very political person from what he's speaking the way he's speaking you know he cares about what happens around him but he hasn't read the newspapers for months because the nation is more violent and unjust than he can bear the daily murders are an indication of the rage and deep unrest in the society it is so very comparable to many other nations of modern times i feel like this is a poem about my own nation somebody going on trial for murder every day also denotes personal trauma of ginsburg because at this time many writers of the beat generation had been arrested for murder burroughs killed his wife lucy and carr was wanted for the murder of david cameron and so on and so forth and ginsburg also held this as an unfair vendetta of the palace the police are taking revenge he doesn't read the newspapers because he does not want to know how much more his nation has betrayed him he doesn't want to know murakai feels sentimental about the wobblies america i used to be a communist when i was a kid i'm not sorry you know now he's turning to communism and trade unionism the wobblies or the industrial workers of the world was an international labor organization very very prominent at that time founded in chicago in 1905. inspired by socialism and trade unionism they had attempted to organize the unskilled workers in the nation and the wobblies became very influential on underprivileged groups the african-americans women and immigrants the government was of course intolerant of them the wobblies appear in eugene o'neill's the hairy ape in the hairy ape yank is awakened to think of his class he gets an awakening of class consciousness and he is disgusted with the upper class hypocrisy is an oppression that is meted out to the working classes and he tries to go and meet the wobblies or the iww the industrial workers of the world but there also he feels alienated that is the hairy ape a 1922 expressionist play by eugene o'neill finally yank gets killed by a gorilla coming back to ginsburg in childhood ginsburg was influenced by his mother naomi's communist views the 1940s and 50s in america witnessed anti-communist witch hunts in america and britain in the 1930s there was an upsurge of socialism and in the 1940s and 50s there were anti-communist witch-hunts called the red scare unleashed by senator joseph mccarthy under the presidentship of dwight eisenhower the house committee on american activities huac notoriously investigated many writers actors directors including charlie chaplin langston hughes orson welles and arthur miller when ginsburg says he's not sorry for having been a communist it's a highly rebellious and provocative statement that he's making that could have brought criminal charges upon him i spoke i smoke marijuana every chance i get not once or twice but every chance he gets he smokes it i sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet the speaker's cheeky confessions are beginning he says he smokes marijuana compulsively goes to chinatown reads marks all these are very provocative things that he's doing illegal in those days and when he makes these cheeky confessions the speaker is ripping off the pretensions of genteel americans america is a wonderful polite place that is a myth he's unapologetically confessing to actions that were considered immoral illegal and anti-social when ginsberg is exercising what ginsburg is exercising here is a very important demand of intellectuals and activists of the 1950s and 60s america free speech it also formed an important tenet of the counter culture movements movements of the 1960s and 70s after this poem was written the counter culture movements also demanded free speech i sit in my house for days on end means what he's idle unproductive disillusioned overcome by onui perhaps drugged because he talked about marijuana just before that but from the way he talks we realize that he is also restless and desperate at such inactivity he wants to do something about the mess around him rose is in the closet what what does that mean beauty that finds no use or relevance and is withering away the speaker is aware of beauty and goodness but is frustrated that the nation has no use for it and is stifling it so he sits in his house for days on end and stares at the roses in the closet when i go to chinatown i get drunk and never get laid my mind is made up there's gonna be trouble you should have seen me reading marx china towns in the big cities of the u.s were immigrant centers ginsburg probably goes to the nearby san francisco chinatown because he's rising in the nearby town of berkeley in chinatowns there were immigrants mostly chinese but other asian immigrants also and china towns stopped these immigrants from mingling with the rest of white america easily they were all in the chinatowns and slowly getting acculturated into american culture chinatown is the abode of poor immigrants and they were shunned by the polite society so that is where he's going to get drunk but surprisingly he never gets laid now why is that he doesn't have sex there perhaps he's so dejected and politically agitated that he doesn't find it pleasurable anymore he doesn't choose to have sex probably he's so exhausted in life and has become such a failure that he can't even hook up with a prostitute in chinatown that could also be the meaning anyway he doesn't have it and there is ambivalence in the cram the second line my mind is made up there's going to be trouble either it could mean that he's determined to make trouble or he is certain that the government will mean trouble for him on account of his illegal activities my mind is made up he's not relenting there's going to be trouble sure enough he's reading marks and provoking the authorities and the publisher of the book lawrence ferlingetti was slapped with obscenity charges later that year there was trouble this is prophetic the next section of the poem oh this is actually the first section my psychoanalyst thinks i'm perfectly all right perfectly right i won't say the lord's prayer i have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations america i still haven't told you what you did to uncle max after he came over from russia my psychoanalyst thinks i'm perfectly right i won't say the lord's prayer what does that mean i have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations well it is not that he's out of his mind if any one of you thought that the speaker is out of his mind you were wrong because the psychoanalyst thinks he's perfectly right whatever he is saying is right and he's in his right senses as he has told us before he knows what he's doing ginsburg has had taken psychological help before this time and had completely turned into poetry and art for therapeutic reasons also and he says he won't say the lord's prayer he won't say the lord's prayer the lord's prayer was a very important thing in america representing religious rituals organized religion ginsburg says he won't say the lord's prayer he won't repent because what he's saying is right he doesn't believe god will do anything about man's misdeeds what is the use of praying organized religion itself is a mistake of mankind like war capitalism and oppressive government are because religion also oppresses america had been deeply entrenched in anglicanism and puritanism in the past especially in new england the you you have seen it in the scarlet letter and the problems created by these religions the society had already suffered from and he knows it he doesn't want to turn to religion he will not pray instead he will have mystical visions now his disillusionment with religion may be due to his communist leanings as well remember marx considered religion as the opiate of the masses instead of the church and lord's prayer the speaker's spirituality takes an informal irrational form mysticism and cosmic vibrations when organized religion actually divides men the speaker would rather turn to mysticism that gives him a unity with the cosmos a cosmic sense of being that is better religion divides you drugs were explored at this time as related to mystical experience and this would later become an integral aspect of the counterculture movements of the 1960s remember that also america still haven't i haven't told you what you did to uncle max after he came over from russia max liver gent was ginsberg's maternal uncle you know he underwent hardships after emigrating from russia to the u.s lots of jews from russia have come to the us and canada max livergen was one of them and he suffered on account of his jewish background and communist views see ginsburg has confessed the horrible things that he has been doing like smoking marijuana every time he has a chance etc and now he's insinuating that america is doing equally bad things or even more horrendous and unspeakable things you know he has not even told america the worst of all the things that he has that it has done even without telling america the worst of the things america's looks evil enough from this point he turns away from his feelings of frustrations towards what america should do yeah i'm addressing you he's telling america i'm addressing you are you going to let your emotional life be run by time magazine it's like a conversation with love with with a partner again i am obsessed by time magazine oh so was he asking himself are you is this you himself because he is obsessed with time magazine and letting his emotional life be run by it perhaps i'm obsessed by time magazine i read it every week its cover stares at me every time i slink past the corner candy store i read it in the basement of the berkeley public library it's always telling me about responsibility business men are serious movie producers are serious everybody is serious about me it occurs to me that i am america i'm talking to myself again i think the laugh also was part of it i had to read it even though when ginsburg recited it he didn't laugh but i could hear a laugh here satirical love look at the detailed analysis i am addressing you are going to let your emotional life be run by time magazine so trying to draw america's attention to his speech hello listen to me i'm addressing you he turns away from the oppression of politics towards the domination of the media on common man especially the immensely popular time magazine you know at this time ginsburg himself appeared a lot in the media he seemed probably obsessed by it he used the media but he also severely criticized it these were times when media propaganda was on the rise will america let the time magazine decide the emotional life of its citizens you know the citizens are not free they are dominated by the media the media seem to be completely controlling the nation the media is perhaps not giving enough attention to the emotional protests of people like him and media just merely mind control the people to think what the authorities want them to think are you going to let the media mind control you are you going to let your emotional life be run by time magazine you know and he says i am obsessed by time magazine it's a very frank statement even as he's criticizing time he says i am obsessed by time magazine i read it every week its cover stares at me every time i slink past the corner candy store i try not to buy it but its cover stares at me like ideology possesses you you know i read it in the basement of the berkeley public library probably he doesn't buy it he gets it from the public library but then why is he reading it in the basement let us see what appeared on the cover of the time in those days even today captured the attention of the entire world the time was so popular it showed the people what to think the cover also america looked at reality through the lens of the media america did not see the reality it saw reality through the lens of the media what reality actually is often got lost in the mediated images how can you trust what is given in the magazines how can you know that it is reality you know in a self-deprecating manner the speaker says that like the nation he is also controlled by the media by time magazine and it is there in whatever he does wherever he goes he's feeling powerless and probably guilty of succumbing to media influence hence he slings past the candy store and reads it in the basement he's feeling guilty or perhaps he finds the bourgeois ideology of the magazine so vulgar that he has to read it secretly without anybody knowing that he's reading it see he is also becoming a hypocrite when it comes to getting obsessed by the media it is always telling me about responsibility businessmen are serious movie producers are serious everybody is serious but me the media propagate falls and hypocritical ideal images of the nation everything is serious ideal you know in our nation also whatever stupidity the government is doing the image that is projected is always ideal all this responsibility and seriousness is bush pretension what is reality in america is irresponsibility the mediated false image that america projects of itself had been a contested aspect of american culture before the war itself in the beginning of the 20th century the american dream or the projected image of america had become controversial in the time of the great depression when the inflated image of the american dream fell flat and turned out to be a nightmare so america don't tell me about responsibility and about seriousness i can see through it i know that it is not true it is it has perhaps little to do with the reality of common men like him people like him are not serious they just live their life the way they want he's feeling alienated from mainstream america because this america of businessmen and movie producers is not the real america at all you can apply the theoretical concept of simulation here jean bodria's simulation was deeply rooted in the simulated images of america america is a hyper reality and he is aware that what he thinks as america is not the real america he's suspicious of the concepts of responsibility seriousness and success ginsburg's questioning of american values and his rage against conformity puritanism and inhibition that marked other poems as well particularly how led later in the same year to the infamous trial for obscenity that ginsberg won and opened many doors for future poets it occurs to me that i am america i am talking to myself again i am america has many implications what is real in america is the ordinary people like him what is real in america is not the businessman or movie producers what american corporations and hollywood project as america is not true what is real in america is the ordinary people like him not the people in business and hollywood who sell an artificial image of the nation i shouldn't say not the people in business not the corporates being a part of america the speaker feels responsible for what is happening there especially since he's aware of how he has become obsessed with the media and with mediated reports of reality and then he says i'm talking to myself again these two lines suggest a neurotic mind it occurs to me that i am america you know mad people will think they are something else and mad people will also talk to themselves these lines suggest that he has a neurotic mind and if he is the same as america it would mean that america is mad talking to america is like talking to himself in his passivity and conformity he is also to blame for what is wrong with the nation this is the next section i will talk about this section in another video

Channel: Dr. Kalyani Vallath

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Length: 85min 8sec (5108 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 11 2020