Why is Allen Ginsberg remembered even today?

 

            ‘Howl’, was Allen Ginsberg’s masterpiece. ‘Howl’ was a poetic outburst against the violence and exploitation of society. This work of verse appears in ‘Howl and Other Poems’ published in 1956. A long lined poem, in the style popularized by Walt Whitman, ‘Howl’, made Ginsberg famous.

               Ginsberg was born in 1926 in New Jersey, US and grew up in Paterson. Ginsberg graduated from Columbia University. His mother, who was Russian by birth, suffered several nervous breakdowns. In ‘Kaddish’, his great confessional poem, Ginsberg re-creates the gloom caused by his mother’s illness and his relationship with her.

               ‘Empty Mirror’ and ‘Reality Sandwiches’ are important collections of his poetry. ‘The Fall of America: Poems of These States’, won him the National Book Award. ‘Collected Poems’ is an omnibus of Ginsberg’s published poetry. Ginsberg was a Buddhist who participated in non-violent protests. Ginsberg passed away in 1997.