A Supermarket in California

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1956

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

A Poetic Vision of America

A major theme in Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California” is the United States of America. Walt Whitman (the subject of Ginsberg’s poem) is one of the most well-known and influential poets in American history. Ginsberg grew up reading the poetry of Whitman, all of which was written around the mid-to-late 1800s. Much like Ginsberg later would, Whitman wrote poetry that was political in nature yet embodied with a free-spirited ruggedness that continues to define entire schools of American poetry. Ginsberg’s choice of Whitman alone suggests that the poem is thematically interested in America, or at the very least in inviting readers to make that association.

The title of the poem itself includes mention of one of the 50 states: California. While the word America isn’t mentioned overtly until the last two lines of “A Supermarket in California,” when it is mentioned, it is almost totally without abstraction. When Ginsberg’s speaker says “dreaming of the lost America” (Line 11) and “what America did you have” (Line 12), he is looking back, almost nostalgically, lamenting a less materialistic past and using Whitman as a guidepost to define that past. During Whitman’s lifetime, the Industrial Revolution saw massive changes throughout the Western world. By the time Ginsberg wrote “A Supermarket in California,” these changes had warped into a postwar boom that saw American suburbia and consumerism flourish. The concluding questions posed to Whitman then help to further clarify earlier lines, making it clear that the supermarket is, indeed, being used by Ginsberg as a metaphor to represent America. The America in Ginsberg’s poem is a lonely one of pavement, neon, and automobiles. He shares this version of America with the imagined Whitman, then turning around to ask, “[W]hat America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?” (Line 12), as if to say, what was this place like when you left it? Such comparison is important to Ginsberg’s speaker, who feels lonely mired in this described world of consumerism and isolating infrastructure, such as the streets, the grocery aisles, and the houses.

Queer Poetics and Literary Influence

Ginsberg and Whitman are widely-known as queer poets; being gay and navigating the world through this orientation appears as a common theme throughout their respective bodies of work. There are many references to their sexual orientation throughout “A Supermarket in California.” Whenever it is noted, Ginsberg almost always uses it as a device to connect his speaker with the subject of the poem. For instance, “Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher” (Line 12) suggests a deep closeness the speaker feels to Whitman, so much so as to casually call him “father.” The phrase “lonely old courage-teacher” is somewhat more complex, however, suggesting that Whitman has given courage to the speaker in terms of poetry or, perhaps, even in feeling confident with the speaker’s own sexual orientation.

Additional references to orientation include mention of the traditional family structure. Line 3—”Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?”—suggests a traditional family structure while naming the poet Federico Garcia Lorca, also a notable queer poet, in the same breath. Lorca stands alone alongside the husbands and wives and babies that are all, by association, together as part of the traditional family structure. The juxtaposition highlights Lorca and those of his sexual orientation, all of whom exist outside of the implied structure.

The Job of the Poet

In his poem, Ginsberg shows a clear interest in writing about poetry and the job of being a poet. Moments such as “shopping for images” (Line 2), “I touch your book and dream” (Line 9), and general references to the poets Walt Whitman and Federico Garcia Lorca all show us a speaker interested in poetry. Even the references to Greek mythology and loneliness tie into a greater literary sense, allowing readers to understand that the speaker is not only a writer but is also interested in the history and hardships of writing. That the speaker aligns themselves with poets is significant: This understanding provides readers with valuable context for understanding the tone, mood, and stakes of the poem.