Allen Ginsberg, born in Newark, N.J., June 3, 1926, is an American poet and leading apostle of the beat generation. His first published work, Howl and Other Poems (1956), sparked the San Francisco Renaissance and defined the generation of the '50s with an authority and vision that had not occurred in the United States since T. S. Eliot captured the anxiety of the 1920s in The Waste Land. Ginsberg's bardic rage against material values, however, was in a voice very different from Eliot's scholarly mourning for the loss of the spirit. In his second major work, Kaddish (1961), a poem on the anniversary of his mother's death, Ginsberg described their anguished relationship. In the 1960s, while vigorously participating in the anti-Vietnam War movement, he published several poetic works, including Reality Sandwiches (1963) and Planet News (1969). The Fall of America received the National Book Award for 1974. Collected Poems, 1947-85 (1995) contains all of his important work; White Shroud (1987) includes poems from the 1980s. Ginsberg sees himself as a part of the prophetic tradition in poetry begun by William Blake and continued by Walt Whitman. He names his contemporary influences as William Carlos Williams and his friend Jack Kerouac.
Howl and Other Poems With introduction by William Carlos Williams. City Lights, 1956. Siesta in Xbalba and Return to the States Privately printed, 1956. Kaddish and Other Poems, 1958-1960 City Lights, 1961. Empty Mirror: Early Poems Corinth Books, 1961. A Strange New Cottage in Berkeley Grabhorn Press, 1963. Reality Sandwiches: 1953-1960 City Lights, 1963. The Change Writer's Forum, 1963. Kral Majales (King of May) Oyez, 1965. Wichita Vortex Sutra Housmans, 1966. TV Baby Poems Cape Golliard Press, 1967. Airplane Dreams: Compositions From Journals House of Anansi, 1968. Scrap Leaves, Hasty Scribbles Poet's Press, 1968. Wales - A Visitation, July 29, 1967 Cape Golliard Press, 1968. The Heart is a Clock Gallery Upstairs Press, 1968. Message II Gallery Upstairs Press, 1968. Planet News City Lights, 1968. For the Soul of the Planet is Wakening . . . Desert Review Press, 1970. The Moments Return: A Poem Grabhorn-Hoyem, 1970. New Year Blues Phoenix Book Shop, 1972. Open Head Sun Books, 1972. Bixby Canyon Ocean Path Word Breeze Gotham Book Mart, 1972. Iron Horse Coach House Press, 1972. The Fall of America: Poems of These States, 1965-1971 City Lights, 1973. The Gates of Wrath: Rhymed Poems 1948-1952 Grey Fox, 1973. Sad Dust Glories: Poems during Work Summer in Woods Workingman's Press, 1974. First Blues: Rags, Ballads and Harmonium Songs, 1971-1974 Full Court Press, 1975. Mind Breaths: Poems, 1972-1977 City Lights, 1978. Poems All Over the Place: Mostly Seventies Cherry Valley, 1978. Mostly Sitting Haiku From Here Press, 1978. Careless Love: Two Rhymes Red Ozier Press, 1978. Plutonian Ode and Other Poems, 1977-1980 City Lights, 1982. Many Loves Pequod Press, 1984. Old Love Story Lospecchio Press, 1986.
Collected Poems, 1947-1980. Three decades of poems including previously unpublished works as well as rare pamphlets and his more well-known works, including 'Howl' and 'Kaddish.' Harper, 1984. White Shroud: Poems, 1980-1985. The poem 'White Shroud' is a postscript to 'Kaddish'. Harper, 1986. Cosmopolitan Greetings: Poems, 1986-1992. HarperCollins, 1994. Howl: original draft facsimile, transcript and variant versions, fully annotated by author, with contemporaneous correspondence, account of first public reading, legal skirmishes, precursor texts and bibliography. Harper, 1986.
The Marijuana Papers Contributor Bobbs-Merrill, 1966 Prose Contribution to Cuban Revolution Artists Workshop Press, 1966 Background Papers on Student Drug Abuse Contributor U.S. National Student Association, 1967 Pardon Me, Sir, But is My Eye Hurting Your Elbow Contributor Geis, 1968 Angkor Wat With Alexandra Lawrence Fulcrum Press, 1968. Ginsberg's Improvised Poetics Edited by Mark Robison Anonym Books, 1971. Take Care of My Ghost, Ghost With Jack Kerouac Ghost Press, 1977 Composed on the Tongue: Literary Conversations, 1967-1977 Edited by Donald Allen Grey Fox Press, 1980 Nuke Chronicles, Contributor Contact Two, 1980 Allen Ginsberg and Robert Frank Galerie Watari, 1985. Karel Appel: Street Art, Ceramics, Sculpture, Wood Reliefs, Tapestries, Murals, Villa El Salvador Text by Pierre Restany and Allen Ginsberg Abbeville Press, 1985
Notes after an Evening with William Carlos Williams Portents Press, 1970. Declaration of Independence for Dr. Timothy Leary Hermes Free Press, 1971. The Fall of America Wins a Prize Gotham Book Mart, 1974. The Visions of the Great Rememberer Mulch Press, 1974. Chicago Trial Testimony City Lights, 1975. The Dream of Tibet City Moon, 1976. Your Reason and Blake's System Hanuman Books, 1989.
The Yage Letters With William Burroughs City Lights, 1963 To Eberhart from Ginsberg: A Letter about Howl, 1956 Pena Press, 1976. As Ever: The Collected Correspondence of Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady Creative Arts, 1977 Straight Hearts' Delight: Love Poems and Selected Letters with Peter Orlovsky, edited by Winston Leyland Gay Sunshine Press, 1980
Indian Journals: March 1962 - May 1963; Notebooks, Diary, Blank Pages, Writings City Lights, 1970 Journals: Early Fifties, Early Sixties Edited by Gordon Ball Grove, 1977.
Gay Sunshine Interview: Allen Ginsberg with Allen Young Grey Fox, 1974.
Allen Verbatim: Lectures on Poetry, Politics and Consciousness Edited by Gordon Ball McGraw, 1975.
Kaddish (play) 1972.
Howl and Other Poems Fantasy-Galaxy Records, 1959. Kaddish Atlantic, 1966. William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience Tuned by Allen Ginsberg MGM/Verve, 1970. First Blues: Rags, Ballads and Harmonium Songs Folkways, 1981. First Blues John Hammond Records, 1982 The Lion for Real Great Jones/Island Records, 1989.
Scenes Along the Road With Ann Charters Portents/Gotham Book Mart, 1970. Allen Ginsberg, Fotografier, 1947-87 Forlaget Klim, 1987. Allen Ginsberg Photographs Twelvetrees Press, 1990. Snapshot Poetics Chronicle Press, 1993.
Ginsberg's sound recording of Jack Kerouac's 'The Dharma Bums' Audio Literature, 1991.
U.S.A. Poetry: Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti 1966