Allen Ginsberg-Supermarket In Clalifornia Analysis
The supermarket is supposed to be the literary world. Everyone there is looking for something new, something that will make them original. those people whoa re the fruits and the produce are merely the rest of the world, and those who are there for shopping are there to use them for inspiration. "Aisles full of husbands! WIves in avocados, babies in the tomatoes" Ginsberg is painting us a picture of people being merely tne produce of writers and poets. Walt whitman is there to represent the old ways, the old styles of writing and poetry. He is the ragged old man in the supermarket who is picky, and, frankly, crazy. "Where are we going Walt Whitman? The doors are closed in an hour. Which way does your beard point" Ginsberg is trying to draw inspiration from Whitman, but at the same time is showing us that he is down and out. he has nothing to offer but his past. García Lorca, a latin american poet is also mentioned.
"We strode down the open corridors in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, posessing every frozen delicacy and never passing a cashier". This part ofthe supermarket is an imaginery place where we do not have to pay. It can be called the Garden of Eden. In the last line it means "What America did you have when you died?{referring to Walt WHitman". Charon is the old man that carries people across the river of forgetfulness. "Supermarket in California" looks like a walt Whitman poem due to its long lines. Ginsberg picks a supermarket because its a common American instition invented by the Americans themselves. In this peom Ginsbrg is trying to say that the world id merely used up by poets and writers. And by the introduction of whitman, he is trying to say that the old ways are no longer working....
hope that helped ya!:) love allen ginsberg's work...somehow reminds me of jim morrison's poetry!? hehe
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