The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971

By Allen Ginsberg

Book Overview

Winner of the National Book Award for Poetry

Beginning with "long poem of these States," The Fall of America is the follow up book to Ginsberg's Planet News ... chronicle tape-recorded scribed by hand or sung condensed, the flux of car bus airplane dream consciousness Person during Automated Electronic War years, newspaper headline radio brain auto poesy & silent desk musings, headline flashing on road through these states of consciousness.

Includes Ginsberg's condemnation of America's actions in Vietnam, along with commentary about the moon landing, the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the death of Che Guevera, and more personal events such as the passing of Ginsberg's friend and former lover Neal Cassady. Many of the poems were initially composed on an Uher Tape recorder, purchased by Ginsberg with the help of Bob Dylan.

Poems in the collection include: "Beginning of a Poem of These States;" "Elegy For Neal Cassady;" "On Neal's Ashes," "Please Master," "Hum Bom " and "September on Jessore Road."

" Ginsberg] is never negligible, and he is often (the only true test) unforgettable."--Helen Vendler, New York Times Book Review

"Following in the footsteps of legendary photographer Robert Frank's groundbreaking The Americans and Jack Kerouac's opus On the Road, Allen Ginsberg gives us deep insight into his poems in The Fall of America ... every poem this book refers to is a prismatic hall of mirrors ... "--Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000WQF23C
• ISBN13: 9780872860636
• Release Date: June 1972
• Publisher: City Lights Books
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.9" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

whitman was alive in the vietnam era

ginsberg takes kerouac's spontaneous bop-prosody and whitman's america and makes one of the classic books of poetry of the 20th century. whitman's spirit is breathed through these poems. as whitman's poems defined the civil war era, ginsbergs poems in this volume define the vietnam era. the sad thing is though the names have changed the song remains the same.

Ginsberg's peakskill

Allen Ginsberg peaks with this volume of wonderful, meditative poetry. Although many would claim he hit his prime early, circa Howl, The Fall of America, though not as stylistically dynamic as Howl or Kaddish, is more meditative, maturely political, and tender. Many of the poems in this volume are diaphonous reflections on Ginsberg's American travels, presumably without Kerouac(don't get too excited, hipsters). His poetic stylings seem to be dream woven, with a touch of substance induced mania and distinctly Ginsbergian patriotism thrown in for good measure. The themes of his poems range widely from a picnic with Einstein at Princeton to a shadowy image of Richard Nixon peering eerily into the righteous protest of a diverse group of anti-Vietnam activists, Ginsberg, of course, included. Whereas Howl and Kaddish are more anthology worthy poems, in contrast to most of the poems in this volume, The Fall of America is a richly spirited glimpse of America from a modern Whitman, a true American, Allen Ginsberg. Aum. Aum. Aum. shanti shanti shanti...

We have entered The Fall of America

Well, you probabably knew it already. This is the first Allen Ginsberg book I have ever read. Asymetric beauty, astonishing aesthetics and original symbolism and metaphors meet personnal reflexions of the fall of the modern and capitalist America. You can really feel the beat, the music of this poetry. Allen Ginsberg sings as he travels through country landscapes and encounters, through smokestacks and cities.The vision of a sensitive man, looking at what this country is falling into and what it shows to him. A deep emotional book testifiyng a falling empire through the mind of a literary genius. A must. You'll never feel the same.

Ginsberg's soul on Paper

Allen Ginsberg brings his magic of the english word to the pages of fall of america, with his assaults of verbatim consciousness.A must read for any stream of consciousness poet.