Ginsberg!

For starters, Ginsberg has free form, lengthy lines, no rhyme, little structure, similar to Whitman. Hearing Ginsberg read Howl, it seemed he was taking on a preachy style. The same in which Whitman was interested in: not so much the content but the breath and rhythm of the poem.

With themes and imagery, in Howl, there is the juxtaposition of the great minded youth paired with the corrupt institution tearing them down. Whitman wasn't as explicit as Ginsberg, maybe that's just the difference in language over time, but he clearly was against the institution as well. Speaking against the scholar, the typical poet etc. In A Supermarket in California, Ginsberg definitely takes on the voice of the lost American youth, "Where are we going, Walt Whitman?" that Whitman addresses as well "I contradict myself." This piece specifically remins me of section 20 of Whitman's Calamus poems. The one where he is speaking of the tree he saw in Louisiana that stands alone. Whitman looks to it for answers, or at the very least admires it for what it stands for. I feel that in Supermarket, Ginsberg is taking on the role of Whitman the speaker in section 20, and Whitman becomes the tree, the one with the answers.

'the man' vs. 'the poet' : I think who 'the man' is defines who 'the poet' is. I see a correlation between Whitman and Ginsberg in the sense of them representing, or attempting to, an identity, an American identity. But they do so through the medium of a more specific identity, Whitman the average American worker and Ginsberg, American, disenfranchised youth. When I listened to the reading of Howl, after this line "who vanished into nowhere Zen New Jersey leaving a trail of ambiguous picture postcards of Atlantic City Hall," people laughed. I didn't get it.  This seemed to be because maybe it was very colloquial and particular to New Yorkians, have to experience it to understand. This is similar to Whitman. A New York man. They're trying to speak to a whole but can't help but speak to particular part as well. In thinking of Song of Myself, many images specific to the times and the place of Whitman, but it is still able to stand the test of time and relate. The same happens with Ginsberg. I think maybe a little more obscure and particular, but same idea. There will always be these types of people and it will call to a certain youth of every generation. SO in relation to the man... it is where they come from, their specific experience, that pathes the way for the poet. The poet borrows from the man to inspire and create the work of art. By getting specific, can be universal.