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COMMENTARY OF "A SUPERMARKET IN CALIFORNIA"

The poem "A Supermarket in California" was written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955.

In his strange layout and in his simple and trivial title lay a strong criticism toward

American society of the Fifty's. Along with the title the setting of this poem is a

supermarket crowd of whole families; in this place the poet, who is the narrator, roams

halfway between reality and imagination.

This text is full of meaningful images and some metaphors which entwine themselves and

give the reader the complete and deep sense of the poem.

Already in the beginning it is present a tight connection between Allen Ginsberg and the

poet Walt Whitman, regarded as an idol and as the father of American poetry; in fact

he is the main addresser of this poem ( vv.1, vv.5 "..dreaming of yours enumerations..",

vv. 9 ..)

The most important themes developed in this composition are:

the sense of displacement and the loss of the role of the modern poet

contemporary family break up

supermarket artificiality in opposition to natural things

loss of genuine values in a materialistic society

the new religion of consumerism against the old "American dream" celebrated by W. Whitman

the journey (an odyssey in a supermarket)

the final pessimism of the poet towards American's society future

In lines 1-4 Ginsberg examines modern poet mood characterized by an

"hungry fatigue" that is a kind of desperation of the poet caused by the lack of poetic

inspiration, in fact he is "shopping for images" . He continues this analysis in lines 19-20

"..I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd..", by

this sentence Ginsberg wants to underline displacement sense and poet's disharmony

condition: in a society dominated by possession of things he feels lost.

The criticism toward society continues in vv. 6-7 and it regards family structure:

"..Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados,

babies in the tomatoes.." . This quotation reflects in this institution break up: wives,

husbands and children are not together but in different places of the supermarket.

In line 3 and in line 4 is present contrast between artificial and natural world:

In fact supermarket's neon light is juxtaposed to moonlight as the stacks of cans to

trees. As W. Whitman celebrates Nature Ginsberg wants to underline the genuineness

of a naturalistic landscape instead of artificial ones.

The enumerations of the goods reflect the new religion of consumerism; the supermarket

Is the most important place, the temple of this religion as the poet said in line 17: "..where

are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour . "

The "religion" idea is conveyed also by terms as "penumbras" and "aisles", which are

proper of a church.

This concept is connected with the "American dream" celebrated by W. Whitman. In fact

It embodies the idea that

U.S.A.

is a place where everybody has power to get

Rich and successful, a country where there are equal opportunity, an happy democracy.

This old dream of equality and happiness is replaced by the new American dream exactly

the unrestrained consumerism.

Poet experience in the supermarket is like a journey or an odyssey , but

Odyssey is written without the capital letter and it means that it is a trivial fact, since there

could not be an odyssey in a place such that.

In the last three lines there is a meaningful images taken from mythology concerning with

semantic area of death.

This kind of death is the old American values death succumbing under the

uncontrollable consumerism's strength.

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