Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997), was an American poet. He became known as a leader of the beat literary movement of the 1950’s and also of the cultural and political protests of the 1960’s. Critics praised him as a prophetic poet in the tradition of William Blake of England and Walt Whitman of the United States.
Ginsberg’s writing combines the spiritual and rhythmic qualities of certain Eastern and Western religious texts with the language, imagery, and subject matter of modern life. Many critics see him as representing a struggle for spiritual survival in a dehumanized, repressive society. Ginsberg’s long poem “Howl” (1956) attacks the forces of conformity and mechanization that he believed destroyed the best minds of his generation.
Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926, in Newark, New Jersey. The death of his mother in 1956 inspired his famous elegy “Kaddish” (1961). His other works include Reality Sandwiches (1963), The Fall of America: Poems of These States (1972), and Mind Breaths (1978). Ginsberg died on April 5, 1997. His Collected Poems 1947-1997 was published in 2006. Wait Till I’m Dead: Uncollected Poems was published in 2016.
