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Product Description
Product Description
Beat movement icon and visionary poet, Allen Ginsberg broke boundaries with his fearless, pyrotechnic verse. This new collection brings together the famous poems that made his name as a defining figure of the counterculture. They include the apocalyptic 'Howl', which became the subject of an obscenity trial when it was first published in 1956; the moving lament for his dead mother, 'Kaddish'; the searing indictment of his homeland, 'America'; and the confessional 'Mescaline'. Dark, ecstatic and rhapsodic, they show why Ginsberg was one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century.
About the Author
Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet, best known for the poem Howl (1956), celebrating his friends of the Beat Generation and attacking what he saw as the destructive forces of materialism and conformity in the United States at the time. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, won the National Book Award for The Fall of America, and was a co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute, the first accredited Buddhist college in the Western world.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Allen Ginsberg, an icon of the Beat Generation is here represented with the poems that helped to make him so iconic. In this selection we have poems from 1952-1960, containing probably his most famous works.
Whether Ginsberg is writing about drugs, the state of the world or his mother his poems talk to something deep down in our psyche. Howl is an absolute masterpiece, displaying something primal that we can all feel and understand. Indeed this poem had to fight obscenity laws but of course won when it was deemed by the judge to be a work of art and not vulgar. Kadish, his poem to his dead mother is very moving and is quite lengthy. This collection shows how Ginsberg can move through different emotions with consumate ease. Also we have Mescaline in this book, in which we hear about the author's use of drugs.
Whatever Ginsberg has written about in this collection he manages to reach deep down inside of us all, and it is easy to see why he has had such a great influence on so many people. When the Beat started up it was to answer the feelings of uncertainty and angst left by the end of the Second World War that was still being felt. With the recent problems with the financial markets people are starting to feel the same now, showing that he is still as relevant to us now as when he first wrote.
Whether Ginsberg is writing about drugs, the state of the world or his mother his poems talk to something deep down in our psyche. Howl is an absolute masterpiece, displaying something primal that we can all feel and understand. Indeed this poem had to fight obscenity laws but of course won when it was deemed by the judge to be a work of art and not vulgar. Kadish, his poem to his dead mother is very moving and is quite lengthy. This collection shows how Ginsberg can move through different emotions with consumate ease. Also we have Mescaline in this book, in which we hear about the author's use of drugs.
Whatever Ginsberg has written about in this collection he manages to reach deep down inside of us all, and it is easy to see why he has had such a great influence on so many people. When the Beat started up it was to answer the feelings of uncertainty and angst left by the end of the Second World War that was still being felt. With the recent problems with the financial markets people are starting to feel the same now, showing that he is still as relevant to us now as when he first wrote.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With Ginsberg having been such a brilliant spoken poet, Howl is much more powerful to read at the same time as listening to a live recording of his reading it. With his intonation and tone behind it, the poem is even more moving and vivid than it is as written. A word of caution on this (the penguin classics 2009) edition though. Once I'd found an early enough recording to find Ginsberg completely unedited, I was surprised to come across the occasional small omission when comparing with this edition, usually a word here or there left out of this copy. However I was mostly infuriated by the deliberate starring out of one expletive in this Penguin edition. Ironically, the very same expletive is printed in an earlier stanza/breath of the poem without being starred, and then inexplicably its censored later on.
Given the poem's unique history when it comes to notions of obscenity and censorship, it seems sad that Penguin have felt the need to star out an expletive. While it is certainly not much of a mark on reading the poem, it does seem to undermine the spirit of reading the poem as raw and effectively as it was originally written, spoken and intended.
Given the poem's unique history when it comes to notions of obscenity and censorship, it seems sad that Penguin have felt the need to star out an expletive. While it is certainly not much of a mark on reading the poem, it does seem to undermine the spirit of reading the poem as raw and effectively as it was originally written, spoken and intended.
Format:Paperback
Before buying this book i was intrigued by Ginsberg as a figure and curious about his poetry. In buying this book i hoped for an introductory compilation so that i could familiarise myself with his work and decide if i actually like it or not. I think there are some good, funny and clever poems in this book and would advise anyone who, like me, wants to breifly check out his work to go ahead and buy it. If you're not a firt-time Ginsberg reader then a larger collection would better suit your needs, but to the firt-timer this is a nice way in.
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