What does the supermarket symbolize in A Supermarket in California?

“A Supermarket in California” As Representative of Sorrow: The speaker remembers Walt Whitman as he is walking back streets, on a full moon day. The poet is clearly alluding to his inspiration, Walt Whitman. While speaking directly to his imagined hero, the speaker enters a supermarket to satisfy his hunger.

What is the theme of A Supermarket in California?

Themes. ‘A Supermarket in California’ by Allen Ginsberg explores the themes of imagination, illusion, and reality. In the last stanza, the poet uses the theme of cultural consciousness. Allen Ginsberg uses his poetic imagination to invoke the spirits of Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca in the poem.

What happens in Allen Ginsberg’s poem A Supermarket in California?

In the poem, the narrator visits a supermarket in California and imagines finding Federico García Lorca and Walt Whitman shopping. Whitman, who is also discussed in “Howl”, is a character common in Ginsberg’s poems, and is often referred to as Ginsberg’s poetic model.

What does Walt Whitman symbolize in A Supermarket in California?

Whitman, for his part, acts almost like an alien placed on Earth from outer space; the supermarket environment doesn’t make sense to his 19th-century perspective. The speaker imagines playfully tasting the produce and not paying for any of it, before asking more searching and philosophical questions of his poet guide.

What kind of vision does Ginsberg see for modern society in A Supermarket in California?

As in most of Ginsberg’s poems, the speaker is Ginsberg himself (rather than a poetic persona), and he uses the supermarket as a metaphoric setting for dreaming about the possibilities that America offers and lamenting the country it has instead become.

Why is the poem named A Supermarket in California?

But with “A Supermarket in California,” Ginsberg insists in his title that location is important, and it seems to us that there’s nothing more American than a neon supermarket in California, filled with mothers, babies, and canned soup. This is not just a poem about Walt Whitman, Ginsberg, or even a supermarket.

What is the tone in the poem A Supermarket in California?

The tone of the poem is set in a theme of the twentieth century America which has stood on its promise of opportunity, freedom, and liberty. The poem is an ironic counterpoint to “a song of myself” “written by Walt Whitman. The poet conveys the view and imagery of the American street of those times.

What is the tone in A Supermarket in California?

Tone of A Supermarket in California- The tone of the poem is set in a theme of the twentieth century America which has stood on its promise of opportunity, freedom, and liberty. The poem is an ironic counterpoint to “a song of myself” “written by Walt Whitman.

What are the literary devices used by Allen Ginsberg poetry?

Literary and Poetic Devices Used Ginsberg uses a number of literary poetic devices in the poem ‘America’. The prominent ones include Apostrophe, Anaphora, Personification, Rhetorical Questions, etc.

What is the setting of the poem A Supermarket in California?

By Allen Ginsberg While the poem may be called “A Supermarket in California,” only about half of the action in the poem takes place in the “neon” food store, where there are families, old ghostly poets, and lots of fruit and vegetables filling the scene. The poem actually begins and ends outside on the street.