Introduction to Allen Ginsberg

Unlike most writers of poetry, Allen Ginsberg wasn’t just a poet; he was the founder of a whole new generation of writers. Born in 1926, Ginsberg grew up in New Jersey and lived a normal life until he went to college in New York at Columbia. While at college Ginsberg hooked up with a group of young writers who would become a whole new twist on poetry, stories and writing in general, this group became The Beatniks. Among this group were a number of the best writers of the Twentieth-Century. Henery Hunkle, William S. Bouroughs, and Jack Kerouac were just a few and goddamn were they good. They didn’t write like anyone before them, with talk of sex drugs and Jazz, bringing up many topics that we are able to talk about today that if not for this revolutionaries we might not have that right or ability. They were the people who weren’t afraid to speak their minds in a time when Leave it To Beaver was edgy! William S. Bouroughs even had his book, Naked Lunch, not just burned like the U.S. was Nazi-Germany, but put in front of the United States Supreme Court! Ginsberg stuck to poetry producing a great number of works from “Howl” to “A Supermarket in California”. Ginsberg was also an activist standing up for such causes as Free-Speech, Gay Rights, Civil Rights, and The Vietnam War, Frequently he would give speeches at giant events such as Woodstock. It can even be argued that Ginsberg helped create the first music video for The Velvet Underground’s song “Heroin” where Andy Whorhol filmed Allen dancing around a stereo, throwing flowers while the song played. Punk Band Fugazi even takes their name from a line in “Howl”. Ginsberg was an innovator and there aren’t many people in the world with his creative power. Ginsberg’s and The Beatniks legacy will live on for many years to come and it’s easy to see why.