"Howl" Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg is one the most respected beat writers and acclaimed American poets of his generation.  Unlike many poets Ginsberg explored with drugs and robbery and pleaded insanity, he focuses most of his poems on poverty, sex, drugs, society, and America as a whole.  “Howl” was a very controversial poem that many argued was fascinating and extraordinary or volatile and inappropriate for readers. In reading in detail “Howl”, this poem is about poverty, drugs, the abuse of the body, and the abuse of society on others of less importance to them. 

Rae Armantrout

Rae Armontrout is a very interesting poet, her poems leave the reader to interpret it how they see fit but then mislead the reader when you read deeper into her poems, having the reader question if their interpretation was incorrect, right, or neither. Armantrout’s poems was said to be simple by the eye, but when looked into and analyzed there’s a deeper meaning to what she is saying, her lyrical voice and her commitment was to the interior and the domestic.  “Soft Money” when I read into and interpreted it to what I saw fit was based on the interior motive, meaning it is about individuals who battle within themselves trying to figure who and what they are and fighting between who they are and who they ought or want to be. There’s no correct theme behind Rae’s poems and she states herself “you can hold the various elements of my poem in your mind at one time, but those elements may be hissing and spitting at one another”, which basically states you can have a set idea or theory of what her work is and what she is trying to write or say but then again you can have another thought that disagrees having a big dispute on which theory is right.  With that said when I first read this poem I thought it was about females, strippers, and prostitutes degrading themselves, but when I looked deeper into the poem I saw that it wasn’t what I once thought but was more significant and more realistic to the individuals having conflicting feelings within themselves.

sharon olds

Sharon Olds by far has been the best I have read.  She’s not so literal, but you understand the point of the poem. She’s a poet who focuses on family life, sex life, government, and imagery. Olds is detailed and gives exquisite imagery to not only read the poem but also picture it and relate to it.  “My son the Man” is a prime example of Sharon Olds imagery, and understanding of the body, emotional and physical impact of your son becoming a man. Sharon Olds is considered one of contemporary poetry’s leading voices. Olds is known for writing intensely personal, emotionally scathing poetry which graphically depicts family life as well as global political events.  Sharon Olds not only focuses her poems on topics mentioned, but also focuses it on the body and the imagery of the body in every situation.