Comparing Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass To Ginsberg
Walt Whitman is most certainly the forefather of contemporary American prose and poetry. Whitman’s most celebrated work; Leaves of Grass has left a mark not only on American society but also on the work of Allen Ginsberg who is vastly reminiscent of Walt Whitman. I will begin this essay by paralleling the Leaves of Grass to Ginsberg’s Howl while incorporating the work and ideas of other contemporary Amesrican poets. To take one Allen Ginsberg poem as an example, we will be able to draw a corollary between Howl and the poetic style developed by Whitman: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked…” Whitman released himself from rhyme and measure and focused more fervently on identifying and naming
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The fractured nature of Flynn’s writing became the pressing subject and goal of the book as he begins to decipher the voices of the media, military and government. We live in a world so enveloped with technology that it is difficult to establish a sense of security and trust between another human. There once was a time where a handshake sealed the deal, that hand is no longer valid unless it is “googled” or sent to a laboratory to ensure its security. Ginsberg wrote during the height of American conformity, the 1950’s, a time when there was still much societal improvement to be made, especially concerning civil rights. There was indeed a necessity to break barriers and restructure the way America viewed its ideal society. Now, as I think Flynn asserts, we have reached a position of heightened equality but our many options have confused the world as a whole and left it standing further disconnected. Ginsberg and Whitman’s theories on society were pragmatic while today the movement is driven much more out of emotion. Many of the contemporary American poets we have read struggle with either a parent, usually their father or a spouse. Nick Flynn himself lost his mother to suicide and met his father for the first time at the age of 27 while working at a homeless shelter. This may shine a brighter light on why he may be so driven towards gaining a greater connection with society. Terrance Hayes another contemporary writes from s similar place in his collection of poems entitled
The fractured nature of Flynn’s writing became the pressing subject and goal of the book as he begins to decipher the voices of the media, military and government. We live in a world so enveloped with technology that it is difficult to establish a sense of security and trust between another human. There once was a time where a handshake sealed the deal, that hand is no longer valid unless it is “googled” or sent to a laboratory to ensure its security. Ginsberg wrote during the height of American conformity, the 1950’s, a time when there was still much societal improvement to be made, especially concerning civil rights. There was indeed a necessity to break barriers and restructure the way America viewed its ideal society. Now, as I think Flynn asserts, we have reached a position of heightened equality but our many options have confused the world as a whole and left it standing further disconnected. Ginsberg and Whitman’s theories on society were pragmatic while today the movement is driven much more out of emotion. Many of the contemporary American poets we have read struggle with either a parent, usually their father or a spouse. Nick Flynn himself lost his mother to suicide and met his father for the first time at the age of 27 while working at a homeless shelter. This may shine a brighter light on why he may be so driven towards gaining a greater connection with society. Terrance Hayes another contemporary writes from s similar place in his collection of poems entitled