Each organ and cell of the human body works together to keep the body alive like the intricate parts of a poem work together to keep the poem's message strong and alive. Each part is a clue to the poem's message. Form is important- it is the skeleton of a poem. Poetic form is the core and mirror image of a poem's central idea and this is clearly seen in the poem “America,” by Allen Ginsberg.
To begin with, this poem uses a rich combination of repetition and bad grammar to relay its message. The speaker is very direct by constantly addressing America by strongly repeating the word America. The content of the poem is consistently criticizing American's conformity of beliefs and the expectations placed on those living in the American society at the time of the 1950's. The strong repetition represents mockery of America and this leaves a bitter tone towards America. This repetition is shown through the majority of the poem, “America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die/ America I am the Scottsboro boys.” (70-71). Repetition is also seen in lines 84-85, “Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen.”
This places strong emphasis on the bad grammar used when referring to “them Russians”. This style indicates that it is the ignorant and uneducated people who blame America's problems on the Russians, Chinese, and communists. Again, we see the repetition of bad grammar, “…Him make Indians learn read. Him need big…” (91). This demonstrates how the speaker criticizes stereotyping by imitating the stereotypes of Indians and African Americans being uneducated. He does this by exaggerating their stereotyped speech. Ironically, it is unintelligent of those who believe such false stereotypes.
Additionally, Ginsberg's poem uses unique stanzas and a varying line formation. The stanzas are extremely long and made up of one-line sentences, questions, sentence fragments, or small groups of run-on sentences. This variety can be linked with the variety of topics and ways to write poetry, ironic when compared to the constant referred conformity of American society which lacks room for variety. The one line sentences are very blunt. The speaker is very open with challenging the moral expectations placed on Americans, as every citizen should be. “I smoke marijuana every chance I get,” is an example of one of the speaker's open challenges; marijuana was not accepted in society's morals (30). This also gives the poem a conversational tone as the speaker writes in a stream of consciousness format. Questions are prominent in the beginning of the poem. These questions are very dramatic, asking the reader questions that are unanswerable. “American when will you be angelic?| American when will you take off your clothes?” (8-9). The reader, unable to answer these questions, is further lured into the poem. The groups of run-on sentences drastically grab the reader's attention too. The speaker uses run-ons to mirror his message, such as to build energy and show an example of the paranoia felt during the red scare: “America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell/ meetings they sold us garbanzos a handful per/ ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were…” (72-74). The tension is release at the end with the only complete sentence; “Everybody must have been a spy,” an example of the red scare which was another forced belief that Americans conformed to and exaggerated.
While practicing poetic form in a more unusual way, Allen Ginsberg does use more traditional methods too. Alliteration can be seen; “I haven't got a chinaman's chance,” (51). The repetition of the "ch" sound places emphasis on the point that stereotypes are so bad they prevent groups of people, especially the Chinese at this time, from succeeding in America. The poem does not contain any specific pattern or rhyme scheme, although there are some scattered rhymes: “America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set.” (95-96). This line contains a very simple rhyme possible suggesting how easily the minds of Americans are manipulated and pleased. The rhyming in this poem defies any poetic patterns to show that the poem again defies the typical restrictions placed on poetry. Ginsberg also uses traditional capitalization. The beginning of every full sentence is traditionally capitalized. This could be an example of the restrictions of grammar and spelling in writing, and he breaks away from this with the use of run-on sentences and poor punctuation. “I used to be a communist when I was a kid I'm not sorry.” (29). This line shows the beginning of following proper grammar and ends in a change to improper grammar, suggesting a need for a change in the restrictions placed on poetry and society.
Poetic form is very important because it can strengthen the poem's meaning in a subtle and poetic way. A mixture of unique line formation, bad grammar, repetition, and few traditional techniques stir a healthy variety into this poem. The speaker of this poem is presented as a homosexual, a Marxist, a poet, and a drug user, an image drastically different then what was expected of every American citizen of the 1950's. Ginsberg's poetic form defies poetic restrictions to parallel the meaning of the poem- which is the need to break stereotypes and the moral restrictions placed on all in American society and re-enforce tolerance and respect towards others.
