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By Profa. Evelin Nieto

America Poem By Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey and within a Jewish family. He was a  writer and poet. In the fifties he became a prominent figure of the Beat movement and called revival of San Francisco.

"America" is a poem written in 1956 by Allen Ginsberg in Berkeley, California, and it was included in the publication of "How and Other Poems". It was one of the first written after the instability of the War of the United States appears themes of previous wars, such as the atomic bomb or foreign policy in Asia, however, the national race riots and the struggle of communism that characterized the foreign policy positions of the Cold War the United States in the well are described second half of the 20th century.

The term "beat generation" refers to a group of American writers of the years    50 characterized by the rejection of traditional American values, use of drugs, sexual freedom and a study of Eastern philosophy.

Ginsberg's poetry was strongly influenced by modernism (English, not Spanish. Vanguard), romanticism, the beat and cadence of jazz, plus his Kagyu Buddhist practice and Jewish origin.

In this poem, "America"   The poem is full of cultural and political references, and references to incidents and events of Ginsberg's own life, and the lives of his friends.

The   first stanza of the poem is something like an introduction that sets the time and context.

America I've given you all and now I'm nothing.

America two US dollars and twenty - seven cents January 17, 1956.

I can not stand my own mind.

Allen Ginsberg's poem begins expressing exhausted and depressed mood.

In the second stanza it continues to lead the country, so personified. It begins with a tone of reconciliation, trying to find common ground between himself and his country.

Ginsberg, speaking to his country as a lost lover, says:

You make me want to be a saint

This confession shows the love, hope and optimism that he felt in his life

This is both culture and politics, showing the way to a better world.

I have not read the newspapers for months, everyday somebody goes on trial for murder.

The reason that he does not read newspapers is that talking about him, not only that reason,because the news how his country betrays him, but and it will also be informed how their own friends and coworkers become part of the cycle of violence and Rage.