The ____ close in an,Where are we going, Walt Whitman? Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of “A Supermarket in California” by Allen Ginsberg. In the first paragraph [I rather speak of a paragraph than of a stanza, because it’s free verse here] we learn that the speaker adresses Walt Whitman, recalling the past when he was walking down an alley, looking at the moon, dreaming and thinking. The speaker tells Whitman that he thought of him while walking under the full moon, and the speaker wanders into a supermarket, hungry and tired. In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations! He doesn’t seem to belong to those families, since he (after a dash – caesura) is asked by the lyrical I: “and.In the third part of the poem the lyrical I again adresses Walt Whitman [‘introducer’ of free verse into American poetry] whom Ginsberg adored very much, so that it is not surprising that he even worships him with this poem. Related Questions and Answers for Themes in A Supermarket in California. Then, presented as a metatext ( text in parenthesis) we get a statement maintaining the special relation between the lyrical I and Whitman: “I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.” The term “absurd” here shows us roughly the speaker’s attitude towards the issue discussed (“odyssey in the supermarket”) that itself is closely related to modern life. The rhythm of these first lines is characterized on the one hand by different sound patterns and choice of words (e.g. Regarding the bizarre juxtapositions in the fruit department of a surreal supermarket we feel at least as absurd as the lyrical I itself: Each member of those “whole families shopping” is associated to a different kind of fruit. Fueling the deterioration of meaningful contact between people. Furthermore he varies the sound patterns, e.g. "A Supermarket in California" doesn't have too much sex in it, but there is some innuendo. The doors close in an,Will we walk all night through solitary streets? In addition to that the famous Spanish writer Federico Garcìa Lorca on his shopping tour is associated to the juciest and biggest of these fruits, the watermelon. "A Supermarket in California" is a poem by Allen Ginsberg, one of the foremost poets of mid-20th century America. So they are ‘two of a kind’. In some of these poems it seems to answer your demand for a relatively absolute line with a fixed base, whatever it is (I am writing this in a hurry finally to get it off, have delayed for too long) -- all held within the elastic of the breath, though of varying lengths. One has to face the fact, for it is a fact, that there is no arm to cling to, but that we go alone, and that our relation is to the world of reality of walking home, past blue automobiles in driveways to a silent cul de sac.Everything2 ™ is brought to you by Everything2 Media, LLC. assonances based on o-vowels or ee-vowels such as in “sidestreets” and “trees”), on the other hand by their syntax whose sound resembles a treadmill )so that we get the feeling of walking on and on). In the following I would like to take a look at Allen Ginsberg’s poem “A Supermarket in California” analyzing its “variable movements” in order to get an idea of the “choreography” it is based on.Starting off with the headline, we can gather that the following lines will be dealing with(in) an American supermarket. The poem's speaker—generally read as Ginsberg himself—enters the garish, brightly-lit supermarket and has a vision of Walt Whitman, a 19th-century American poet, whose work he … The release of emotion is one with rhythmical buildup of long line. What price bananas? Whole families,What peaches and what penumbras! A Supermarket in California - What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. Uninspiring and charmless clusters, supermarkets tend to offer the same; shopping as sport. Whole families.I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber.I heard you asking questions of each: ___________? The trees,Will we stroll )))))) of the __________ of love past blue,Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue,Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what. A Supermarket in California Summary. It was originally included as one of the “other poems” in Ginsberg’s 1956 publication of “Howl and Other Poems” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Books. Then the lyrical I recalls the “odyssey in the supermarket” which they both seem to have experienced. talk as frankly as you would with yourself or your friends".I enclose finally some of my recent work.Am reading Whitman through, note enclosed poem on same, saw your essay a few days ago, you do not go far enough, look what I have done with the long line. A Supermarket in California Analysis. In the Beat generation, the journey is important i.e the motion of going from place to place and that is exactly what this poem is. Thus, the lyrical I describes Whitman asking the grocery boys banal absurd questions (e.g. "A Supermarket in California" is a poem by Allen Ginsberg, one of the foremost poets of mid-20th century America. “Who killed the pork chops?”) while flirting with them. I'll send that on if you're interested -- also I have a whole book building up since 1951 when you last saw my work. All content copyright © original author unless stated otherwise.http://www.honors.umd.edu/HONR269J/exam.html,http://www.drexel.edu/doj/archives/2001/poetry/onpoetry2.asp,http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/244.html,Jesus undoubtedly said this or something very like it,Behind the scenes at a supermarket produce department,Trucker, a Portrait of the Last American Cowboy,Ascensus Casusque Sigii Sidorum et Aranearum Martis,The Russian Revolution: Fictional diary entries from a loyalist factory worker,The case for open borders, stated plainly. "When you approach the Muse, The days of casual, yet personal relationships between the shopper and their local storekeepers have come and gone. Thus, a strong feeling of alienation is expressed within these lines. Written in the American poetic tradition, with Walt Whitman and,Ginsberg had written "Supermarket in California" in a grocery store on College Avenue in Berkeley, after reading.