A Supermarket In California By Allen Ginsberg: The Concept Of Change And Its Effect On A Person
Change is a concept that practically everyone and everything goes through in life. This also includes how poetry is written, ranging from the rhyme schemes invoked to the meters in play. Change can do all sorts of wonder, whether if it’s for your own well-being or for others. On the other hand, change isn’t necessarily for the better or welcoming in some people’s eyes. It is, however, understandable to why the concept can receive such poor reception as there are legitimate reasons to why change can be a negative thing.
Allen Ginsberg’s poem “A Supermarket in California” speaks this concept and the effects of such on himself and his surroundings. Using vivid, contrast imagery along with a well-used meter, Ginsberg was able to create a poem that demonstrates an interesting point-of-view on the subject of change. On the subject of imagery, “A Supermarket in California” uses a broad spectrum for the reader to imagine, something that is expected of a poem. The beginning of the poem mentions a “neon supermarket…Whole families shopping”. The reader can easily imagine this and it’s something that the reader can figure out that the phrases refer to modern society. The reader can also visualize the outside with lines such as “looking at the full moon”.
Another piece of imagery the poem can visualize is Ginsberg and Walt Whitman “walking down the solitary streets”. All of the lines are referring to the loneliness of the outside world. Ginsberg juxtaposed the artificial and natural, creating a noticeable contrast between the two environments. The supermarket gives out the feelings of being packed, busy, and energetic. On the other hand, walking through the streets and watching the full creates a contrast with the first image with its emptiness and lack of familiarity.
Another visual is the character Walt Whitman, Ginsberg’s implied imaginary friend. Ginsberg admired Whitman and the poem makes note of how they’re similar to one other. They started by roaming the store in search of answers and ending with them feeling no satisfaction, an unfortunate end for their time together.
Although that such imagery would give an optimistic perspective on the concept of change, there was enough to leave a pessimistic one as well. Both sides are able to show how change can affect people on a realistic level, especially the negative side of the concept. The poet, being the author himself, demonstrates how despite the change may be disagreeing to people, we will eventually have to accept it in our lives. For example, the author walks down a solitary street while staring at the moon. A reader can interpret the line as the Ginsberg himself being lost, confused, or even wanting to find the answer he’s been looking for. Another instance of this is the neon supermarket being full of families, shopping for fruit. The previous statement comes after the transition from the natural world that is the outside to the bustling and busy interiors, stepping into the artificial world of the supermarket. Though he eventually walked out through the doors, which can be seen as the end, along with his imaginary friend, Walt Whitman, he was left unsatisfied as he couldn’t find the answers he longed to find from others or his observation. Walt Whitman, to the reader, can be seen as the only other person that can understand Ginsberg, but he’s only in the latter’s imagination, having the reader feel pity for him. They continue to walk onto the streets once more with the silent cottage in their view, with the implications of disappointment and bitterness.
The use of imagery isn’t the only thing Ginsberg used to create an effective poem. His use of the meter helps pull in the reader into his world. Most of the lines he wrote tend to have some sort of strength underneath it to give a reader an experience of what Ginsberg is thinking. The first few lines of the poem describes Ginsberg with a trochee meter by placing emphasis on words like “headache” and “hungry” from the lines “…under the trees with a headache/In my hungry fatigue…”. The poem continues to invoke this up to the end with terms containing negative connotations like “dreaming” and “lonely” from “…we’ll both be lonely. Will we stroll dreaming?”. The middle section combines this with an iambic meter, stressing words such as “solitary” and “frozen” from “…possessing every frozen delicacy/through solitary streets”. Both create some sort of resonance within, giving the poem a better sense of rhythm and emphasizing once again, imagery. These simplistic uses of the meter are able to help the reader convey the language and emotions without having to always rely on some sort of picture to understand it.
Now, the reader can at least understand why Ginsberg isn’t exactly fond of how America has changed and begrudgingly accepts it. The meters of the poem placed emphasis on words that have more of a negative feeling, as stated in the ones above. Of course, Ginsberg doesn’t intend to have every single reader agree with his stance of modern society. Many words of the poem have syllables that are emphasized, part of them being words that create a sense of negativity, but another part does have some positive connotations in them. The line “Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America…” puts weight on the word “dreaming”, a word that describes the good and bad of change. Ginsberg wanted things to be familiar to him and not feel isolated from the rest of the world, but the poem depicted as that: a dream. He also wanted to appeal to the reader’s sense of nostalgia in some sort of fashion, as we can agree that there are some things that just can’t be changed. Ginsberg executes a connection between him and the reader by using the meter to put stress on words that appeal to our emotion. The meter overall helps give an internal rhythm and melody to how the poem is being perused by the reader, as “A Supermarket in California” can be read similarly to a chain of thoughts of the author.
Allen Ginsberg’s poem does a wonderful job at giving his perspective on society without explicitly telling the reader. A poem containing three stanzas with long lines describing this concept managed to create a powerful impression that anyone wanted to have. The reader can understand why the author isn’t so keen on the concept of change and can sympathize with him. However, that isn’t the case. The poem is not about Ginsberg lamenting about the past being long gone and the present is here and now. What this incredible piece of literature is trying to reach out to the reader is that change isn’t an easy thing for every person agree on, but we can learn to live alongside them without causing conflicts between ourselves and others.
