The Fall of America: Poems of These States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A book of poetry by Allen Ginsberg, published by City Lights in 1973 for which Ginsberg won the National Book Award. It's characterized by a prophetic tone inspired by William Blake and Walt Whitman, as well as an objective view characterized by William Carlos Williams. The content is more overtly political than most of his previous poetry with many of the poems about Ginsberg's condemnation of America's actions in Vietnam. Current events such as the Moon Landing and the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the death of Che Guevara, and personal events such as the death of Ginsberg’s friend and former lover Neal Cassady are also topics. Many of the poems were initially composed on an Uher Tape recorder, purchased by Ginsberg with the help of Bob Dylan.
[edit] Style
The Fall of America blends poetry, travel writing, personal experience, radio news broadcasts, popular songs, newspaper headlines, and journalistic observations, to give it a multilayered and spontaneous effect. It marks Ginsberg’s movement toward a more complete spontaneous style of expression.
Some of the poems included in this collection are:
- "Beginning of a Poem of These States"
- "Elegy For Neal Cassady"
- "On Neal's Ashes"
- "Please Master”
- "Hum Bom!"
- "September on Jessore Road"
For Collected Poems Ginsberg grouped Wichita Vortex Sutra from Planet Waves and all of Iron Horse together under the heading The Fall of America. Poems included under the heading The Fall of America in Collected Poems 1947-1980:
- "First Party at Ken Kesey's with Hell's Angels"
- "Wichita Vortex Sutra"
- "Iron Horse (Poem)"
- "Wales Visitation"
- "City Midnight Junk Strains"
[edit] Notes
Schumacher, Michael. (1992) Dharma Lion. St. Martins Press, New York. ISBN 0-312-11263-7
