History Creator / AllenGinsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet known as one of the central figures of Creator/TheBeatGeneration in the Fifties. His poetry was incendiary, attracting both praise and legal challenges, obscenity bans and censorship. His best known work is ''Literature/Howl1955''. Unlike most of his contemporaries of the Beat Generation, he remained a public figure well beyond the Fifties. In the Sixties, he was associating with many of [[NewAgeRetroHippie the most notable hippies]] - his most famous appearance during this period was during [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_the_Pentagon the March on the Pentagon]], where he led the crowd in Tibetan chants while Abbie Hoffman attempted to levitate the Pentagon. As late as 1982, he was opening for Music/TheClash, and guest-stars on their album ''Combat Rock''.

* ReferencedBy:
** ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'':
*** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=228 "Hipsters Ruin Everything, Part 1"]] has some of the Creator/TheBeatGeneration watching some Beatniks create a pop culture that caricatures the poets in bemusement. At least Allen thinks they're amusing.
*** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=358 "Car Games"]] depicts Allen having an unconventional take on playing I Spy.
** ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': Jess and Rory find a CommonalityConnection in ''Howl''. He subverts his bad boy image by stealing it off her bookshelf and returning it with his thoughts in the margins, revealing he's read it "about 40 times."

* ReferencedBy: ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'':
** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=228 "Hipsters Ruin Everything, Part 1"]] has some of the Creator/TheBeatGeneration watching some Beatniks create a pop culture that caricatures the poets in bemusement. At least Allen thinks they're amusing.
** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=358 "Car Games"]] depicts Allen having an unconventional take on playing I Spy.

Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet known as one of the central figures of Creator/TheBeatGeneration in the Fifties. His poetry was incendiary, attracting both praise and legal challenges, obscenity bans and censorship. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}''. Unlike most of his contemporaries of the Beat Generation, he remained a public figure well beyond the Fifties. In the Sixties, he was associating with many of [[NewAgeRetroHippie the most notable hippies]] - his most famous appearance during this period was during [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_the_Pentagon the March on the Pentagon]], where he led the crowd in Tibetan chants while Abbie Hoffman attempted to levitate the Pentagon. As late as 1982, he was opening for Music/TheClash, and guest-stars on their album ''Combat Rock''.

Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet known as one of the central figures of Creator/TheBeatGeneration in the Fifties. His poetry was incendiary, attracting both praise and legal challenges, obscenity bans and censorship. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}''. Unlike most of his contemporaries of the Beat Generation, he remained a public figure into the Sixties, associating with many of [[NewAgeRetroHippie the most notable hippies]]. His most famous appearance during this period was during [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_the_Pentagon the March on the Pentagon]], where he led the crowd in Tibetan chants while Abbie Hoffman attempted to levitate the Pentagon.

Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet known for his [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration political views in the Fifties]] and his incendiary poetry. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}'', as one of the central figures of Creator/TheBeatGeneration, but (unlike his comrades) he is as well known for the company he kept [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippies]] later in TheSixties).

[[caption-width-right:237: Allen Ginsberg on the right, Music/BobDylan on the left.]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ginseyforreals_1935.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250: Allen Ginsberg on the right, Music/BobDylan on the left.]]

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet known for his [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration political views in the Fifties]] and his incendiary poetry. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}'', as one of the central figures of Creator/TheBeatGeneration, but (unlike his comrades) he is as well known for the company he kept [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippies]] later in TheSixties).

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet known for his [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration political views in the Fifties]] and his incendiary poetry. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}'', as one of the central figures of TheBeatGeneration, but (unlike his comrades) he is as well known for the company he kept [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippies]] later in TheSixties).

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet known for his [[Creator/TheBeatGeneration political views in the Fifties]] and his incendiary poetry. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}'', but he is as well known for the company he kept [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippies]] in TheSixties).

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet known for his political views, influence on Creator/TheBeatGeneration, and incendiary poetry. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}'', but he is almost as well known for the company he kept (the beats in TheFifties, [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippies]] in TheSixties).

* BannedInChina: Most know about the infamous obscenity trial upon the publication of "Howl". His work is still banned from many school libraries today.
* ShoutOut:
** The dedication of "Howl" includes shout outs to Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and the other Beat gang.
** Creator/WaltWhitman gets a Shout Out in "A Supermarket in California". "Howl" also is inspired by the free-form approach of Whitman's ''Literature/LeavesOfGrass''.

* Creator/TheBeatGeneration: Along with Creator/JackKerouac and Creator/WilliamSBurroughs a formative member of the movement.

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet known for his political views, influence on TheBeatGeneration, and incendiary poetry. His best known work is ''Literature/{{Howl}}'', but he is almost as well known for the company he kept (the beats in TheFifties, [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippies]] in TheSixties).

* TheBeatGeneration: Along with Creator/JackKerouac and Creator/WilliamSBurroughs a formative member of the movement.

** WaltWhitman gets a Shout Out in "A Supermarket in California". "Howl" also is inspired by the free-form approach of Whitman's ''Literature/LeavesOfGrass''.

[[caption-width-right:250: Allen Ginsberg on the right, Bob Dylan on the left.]]

AllenGinsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet known for his political views, influence on TheBeatGeneration, and incendiary poetry. His best known work is {{Howl}}, but he is almost as well known for the company he kept (the beats in TheFifties, [[NewAgeRetroHippie the hippies]] in TheSixties).

!!Tropes in His Works Include:
* BadassBookworm: Despite his (deserved) reputation as a maverick and a bohemian, Ginsberg was an excellent, serious student (nicknamed "the Professor" as an undergrad).

* TheBeatGeneration: UrExample, along with JackKerouac and WilliamSBurroughs. His poetry was a big influence on the Beat Generation, and he was one of the leaders of the movement.
* CreatorBreakdown: Spent time in Bellueve Psychiatric Hospital as a young man for treatment for severe anxiety. This was where he met Carl Solomon, and got the inspiration for "Howl."
* [[CrowningMomentofAwesome Crowning Poetry of Awesome]]: The opening lines of "Howl":
** ''I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,\\
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,\\
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night . . .''
**** The entirety of that poem is one brilliant middle-finger salute to conventionality and glorification of all things transcendent, human, and capable of making life worth living in the face of insufferable chaos. "America" and "Kaddish for Naomi Ginsberg" are other great ones.
*** "America, I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel."
* CrowningMomentofHeartwarming: "I'm with you in Rockland."
* CrowningMomentofFunny: The time Bob Dylan introduced him to the Beatles.
* IncompatibleOrientation: Was deeply infatuated with Neal Cassady (oh yes, that Neal Cassady, the one Kerouac based [[OnTheRoad Dean Moriarty]] off of) when he was younger. (well to be fair, he did have homosexual relations with Neal Cassady at various points. Cassady was bisexual)
* GranolaGirl: A male version
* TheMentor: WilliamCarlosWilliams took Ginsberg under his wing when he was a young poet.
** He also wrote the intro to the published ''{{Howl}}''
-->Hold back the edges of your gowns, Ladies, we are going through hell.
* RefugeInAudacity:
* ShoutOut: the dedication of "Howl" includes shout outs to Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and the other Beat gang.
* StraightGay
* {{Walt Whitman}}: Ginsberg's most famous work, "Howl" is inspired by the free-form approach Whitman took to "Leaves of Grass"
** Whitman influenced other poems as well, and gets a ShoutOut in "A Supermarket in California."
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Jack Kerouac. They were never enemies or even VitriolicBestBuds...despite their differences...but there was a decided cooling in the relationship in later years.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Jack Kerouac. They were never enemies or even VitriolicBestBuds...despite their differences...but there was a decided cooling in the relationship in later years.
** Jack Kerouac, despite what is thought, wrote ''On the Road'' as ''criticism'' of TheBeatGeneration (he named it that, and did not intend it to be a compliment, but they used it anyway) and he was a conservative Catholic, whereas Ginsberg...wasn't.