Iron Horse (Poem)
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Iron Horse is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg. It is an important part of his The Fall of America: Poems of These States sequence of poems written in the mid to late sixties. Iron Horse was published as a booklet in 1974 by City Lights.
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The first part of Iron Horse was composed July 22, 1966 as Ginsberg road a train from the West Coast to Chicago. It was initially dictated to tape and later transcribed. The second part of the poem takes place on a Greyhound bus.
The poem is typified by its fluctuating observations, and uses many of the same devises and expressions found other poems in The Fall of America.
Some of the topics Ginsberg touches upon in the poem include: a group of soldiers riding the train some of them probably on their way to Vietnam and their mentality; a nostalgic feeling for his past and youth, ruminations on his own public persona, entertaining the thought of retiring to some solitary life; current events, headlines, conversations (overheard or imaginary) taking place on the train, and sights; both on and off the train.
[edit] Notes
Schumacher, Michael. (1992) Dharma Lion. St. Martins Press, New York. ISBN 0-312-11263-7
