Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg, born June 1926 and died April 1997, is one of the 20th century’s most influential poets and a founder of the Beat Movement, His best known work is his long poem, ‘Howl’. He promoted gay rights at a time when homoseuxality was regarded with revulsion by many of the population of America, who saw it as contrary to God’s law.
Ginsberg was an important leader of the protest movement against the Vietnam War. He invented the term ‘Flower Power’ to describe the influence of symbols of peace. Despite his ‘countercultural’ background, he has become recognized as an important American writer and social commentator.
Ginsberg grew up New Jersey, the son of Jewish parents who fled pograms in Russia. His father, also a poet, supported the family through teaching. Allan attended Columbia University, where he met others who subsequently became known as the ‘Beat Generation’, including Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.