Ginsberg poetry

Response to Allen Ginsberg 's A Supermarket in California

In some sense , Allen Ginsberg 's poem , A Supermarket in California is reminiscent of poetry by Walt Whitman . This similarity is obviously not accidental , as Ginsberg invokes Whitman several times throughout the poem . This invocation even includes a reference to Garcia Lorca , a poet who wrote an ode to Whitman . The use of long lines and frequent use of exclamation points create a stylistic self-awareness that is almost uncomfortable to the reader , as if Ginsberg is attempting to be Whitman somehow . This possibility

is also suggested by Ginsberg 's statement that the narrator is shopping for images (line 3 , as if unsatisfied with he ordinarily sees . This line , followed by a series of lines written in Whitman 's style might indicate that the imitation is more than flattery on the part of the narrator

And yet , the imitation of Whitman is incomplete . While Whitman wrote largely of nature and of metaphysical things in a realistic fashion Ginsberg 's poem is entirely fantastic . The poet 's imagination places Whitman in the supermarket with him in solitary fancy , tasting artichokes , possessing every frozen delicacy (Ginsberg line 7 Perhaps Whitman has even passed somewhat into myth for Ginsberg , given that he places Whitman in the mythological place of the dead . Even in this final line , however , the reader is made to feel uncomfortable Ginsberg has apparently mislabeled the river upon which Charon rides which almost seems an embarrassment in an otherwise well-crafted poem The shift between the modern and the classical images is too abrupt however , making for a third aspect of discomfort in the reader

In writing A Supermarket in California ' Ginsberg has written an interesting poem . It is not , in my opinion , one of his best poems . It is too self-conscious stylistically and too mixed in its fantastic imagery to be considered such a poem . While interesting , it is not a particularly readable or enjoyable poem , at least not for this reader...