From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia America (poem)
America (poem)
"America" is a poem by Allen Ginsberg, written in 1956. It you...?"). The poem’s ending is also highly optimistic, a
appears in his collection Howl and Other Poems. promise to put his "queer shoulder to the wheel," al-
The poem is in the first person and reads much like though the original draft ended on a bleaker note: "Dark
a monologue. It is presented in a somewhat rambling, America! toward whom I close my eyes for prophecy, /
stream of consciousness format. and bend my speaking heart! / Betrayed! Betrayed!"[1]
America is a largely political work, with much of the America is also an intensely personal poem, making
poem consisting of various accusations against the Unit- references to Ginsberg’s use of marijuana and his homo-
ed States, its government, and its citizens. Ginsberg uses sexuality, as well as fellow Beat writer William S. Bur-
sarcasm to accuse America of attempting to divert re- roughs. The longest line in the poem is a sentimental de-
sponsibility for the Cold War ("America you don’t want to scription of a Communist meeting his mother took him
go to war/ it’s them bad Russians / Them Russians them to when he was a child, ending abruptly with the ironic
Russians and them Chinamen. / And them Russians"), pronouncement "Everybody must have been a spy."
and makes numerous references to both leftist and an-
archist political movements and figures (including Sac-
co and Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Boys and the Wobblies).
External links
Ginsberg’s dissatisfaction, however, is tinged with opti- • Full-text of poem
mism and hope, as exemplified by phrases like "When
will you end the human war?" (as opposed to "why don’t
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=America_(poem)&oldid=403534306"
Categories:
• Poem stubs
• Poetry by Allen Ginsberg
• Beat poetry
• 1956 poems
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