"America" is a poem by Allen Ginsberg, written in 1956. It appears in his collection Howl and Other Poems. Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books This article is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg. ...

The poem is in the first person and reads much like a monologue. It is presented in a somewhat rambling, stream of consciousness format, consisting mostly of long lines, with little interior punctuation, separated into four nonuniform stanzas. A monologue, pronounced monolog, is a speech made by one person speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing a reader, audience, or character. ... In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a literary technique which seeks to portray an individuals point of view by giving the written equivalent of the characters thought processes. ...

America is a largely political work, with much of the poem consisting of various accusations against the United States, its government, and its citizens. Ginsberg uses sarcasm to accuse America of attempting to divert responsibility for the Cold War ("America you don't want to go to war/ it's them bad Russians / Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. / And them Russians"), and makes numerous references to both leftist and anarchist political movements and figures (including Sacco and Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Boys and the Wobblies). Ginsberg's dissatisfaction, however, is tinged with optimism and hope, as exemplified by phrases like "When will you end the human war?" (as opposed to "why don't you...?"). The poem's ending is also highly optimistic, a promise to put his "queer shoulder to the wheel," although the original draft ended on a bleaker note: "Dark America! toward whom I close my eyes for prophecy, / and bend my speaking heart! / Betrayed! Betrayed!"[1] Politics is the process by which decisions are made within groups. ... This article describes the government of the United States. ... The word citizen may refer to: A person with a citizenship Citizen Watch Co. ... Sarcasm from Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmos), mockery, sarcasm is sneering, jesting, or mocking at a person, situation or thing. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Bartolomeo Vanzetti (left) and Nicola Sacco in handcuffs Nicola Sacco (April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were two Italian-born American anarchists, who were arrested, tried, and executed via electrocution in Massachusetts for the charge of murder and theft. ... The case of the Scottsboro Boys arose in Scottsboro, Alabama during the 1930s, when nine black youths, ranging in age from thirteen to nineteen, were accused of raping two white women, one of whom would later recant. ... The IWW Label A Wobbly membership card The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, having much in common with anarcho-syndicalist unions, but also many differences. ...

America is also an intensely personal poem, making references to Ginsberg's use of marijuana and his homosexuality, as well as fellow Beat writer William S. Burroughs. The longest line in the poem is a sentimental description of a Communist meeting his mother took him to when he was a child, ending abruptly with the ironic pronouncement "Everybody must have been a spy." A Cannabis sativa plant The drug cannabis, also called marijuana, is produced from parts of the cannabis plant, primarily the cured flowers and gathered trichomes of the female plant. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... “Beats” redirects here. ... William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914) - August 2, 1997), more commonly known as William S. Burroughs (pronounced ), was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. ...

External links

• full text of the poem