America

“America” is, essentially, a protest poem. Ginsberg lays his soul out on the page, criticizing everything from capitalism to laws against marijuana. Ginsberg does this in his typical spontaneous style, where specific images, ideas, and critiques supersede any sort of narrative structure. This poem is particularly fragmented as almost every line is end-stopped and contains one complete thought. Additionally, the poem is unique for its shifts in perspective and the way Ginsberg synthesizes his own and America’s points of view.

Ginsberg establishes the tone of the poem early, claiming right away that he feels unwell as a result of the world he must exist in. America has left him poor and not feeling good. It has stifled his ability to write and to think, and instead of spending his time working on his art, he is too busy obsessing over the faults of his country while simultaneously finding himself sucked into the traps of America’s culture and values. He’s both “sick of [America’s] insane demands” (Line 14) and “obsessed by Time Magazine” (Line 40), and this leads to his realization that he is America (Line 45). His admission suggests America as a country, a culture, and a concept is just too big and powerful to fully ignore. But Ginsberg, despite his constant feelings of exasperation, is inspired to try and do something to change what he sees as this overwhelming monstrosity. He almost views himself as a sacrifice in this regard, saying, America “made me want to be a saint” (Line 18) and then defiantly declaring at the end of the poem that “I’d better get right down to the job” (Line 76) and “I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel” (Line 78). Ginsberg sees himself as an activist who must fight for the soul of the country. He must fight against capitalism, the military-industrial complex, racism, nationalism, and consumerism.

Ginsberg centers his fight in leftist politics, particularly in a blend of socialist activism and mystical enlightenment. While America’s “machinery is too much for [him]” (Line 17), Ginsberg claims he has “mystical visions and cosmic vibrations” (Line 36). Whereas America has Henry Ford’s never ending assembly line of identical cars, Ginsberg crafts “strophes […] as individual as his automobiles more so they’re all different sexes” (Line 56). This sentiment is typical Ginsberg. In all of his poetry, philosophy, and activism, Ginsberg believed the poet had a particularly unique role in society, seeing poetry as a method for seeing into the soul of the universe. Not only that, but as a social outsider—being a gay socialist who used drugs, and what most people considered a “degenerate”—Ginsberg believed he contained a more authentic perspective than the average white-picket fence bourgeoise 1950s American. He took his social status as a badge of honor, and the last line of the poem—declaring that he is putting his queer shoulder to the wheel—is a strong affirmation of that status. In that line, queer does not refer to sexual orientation or gender identity; instead, it is an affectionate descriptor of all those who are considered outsiders or those who don’t fit the norm. He identifies this earlier in the poem, comparing himself to most people considered normal by society: “Businessmen are serious. Movie producers are serious. Everybody’s serious but me” (Line 44). This queerness is exemplified by the strange poetic voice and style Ginsberg uses, often juxtaposing images, lines, and thoughts without standard punctuation, which was actually standard in all of his poetry. Ginsberg makes all of this clear in the penultimate line of the poem: “I’m nearsighted and psychopathic anyway” (Line 77).

In addition to Ginsberg’s discussion of his own identity, he also spends considerable amount of time in the poem discussing America’s engagement in the Cold War and its effect on people. This is a pretty consistent theme throughout the entire poem, but Ginsberg is at his most effective in the last section when he shifts perspectives and utilizes a heavily sarcastic tone and style. This works especially well because of how Ginsberg builds his argument against America, starting first with pointed rhetorical questions addressing America’s hypocrisies and atrocities:

When will you look at yourself through the grave?

When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites?

America why are your libraries full of tears?

America when will you send your eggs to India (Lines 10-13)?

From there, Ginsberg moves to direct mockery, shifting from poetic lines structured as rhetorical questions to grammatically incorrect lines designed to mimic the speech and views of those Americans he wishes to mock:

The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia’s power mad. She wants to take our cars from our garages.

Her wants to grab Chicago. Her needs a Red Reader’s Digest. Her wants our auto plants in Siberia. Him big bureaucracy running our

fillingstations.

That no good. Ugh (Lines 69-72).

This section adopts the views of Americans who are possessed by Cold War paranoia, and Ginsberg exaggerates their grammatically incorrect speech to make them appear uneducated. It’s direct mockery. And he follows this mockery up with sarcasm: “America this is quite serious. / America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set. / America is this correct?” (Lines 73-75). This dramatized situation leads him to declare that he must work to fix all of this, but of course, as someone who self-identifies as nearsighted and psychopathic, it is ironic that he must be the one to save the day.

Ultimately, Ginsberg has one goal in this poem: to expose the absurdity of what is considered normal (America) while normalizing what is considered abnormal (Ginsberg).