What figurative language is used throughout A Supermarket in California?

Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects and persons that are different in nature. The speaker has used an extended metaphor of the supermarket to comment upon the changing nature of America.

What is the message of A Supermarket in California?

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

metaphoric
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.

What does the title A Supermarket in California mean?

Unlock This Study Guide Now “A Supermarket in California” is a short poem in free verse, its twelve lines divided into three stanzas. The title suggests a bland setting—not the expected source of a poem.

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

What peaches and what penumbras! But after the first few lines, the poem takes on a sadder, slower tone. The poem is overcome by questions that are never answered, and let Shmoop tell you, a bunch of questions after a bunch of exclamations is one fast way to pop a bliss balloon.

What is in a supermarket?

supermarket, large retail store operated on a self-service basis, selling groceries, fresh produce, meat, bakery and dairy products, and sometimes an assortment of nonfood goods. Convenience stores, often attached to a gasoline station, offer snack foods, dairy items, and notions.

Why does the speaker of the poem A Supermarket in California make reference to Walt Whitman?

Feeling that he doesn’t fit in with a world of shiny shopping aisles and identical houses and cars, the speaker (generally treated as Ginsberg himself) finds kinship in the figure of Walt Whitman—one of the founding figures in American poetry. Through his vision of Whitman, the speaker senses an alternative America.

When did Ginsberg write A Supermarket in California?

1955
“A Supermarket in California” was written in Berkeley, California in 1955 and was published in Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems (1956). This collection is considered to be one of the key works of the Beat Generation, an American literary movement in the post-war era that included writers like Jack Kerouac, William S.

Who is Walt Whitman and what did he do?

Walt Whitman, in full Walter Whitman, (born May 31, 1819, West Hills, Long Island, New York, U.S.—died March 26, 1892, Camden, New Jersey), American poet, journalist, and essayist whose verse collection Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, is a landmark in the history of American literature.

What is the question posed in A Supermarket in California?

He asks whether he was making the survey of the lost America of love. But the question carries the main concern of the poet. To Walt Whitman, America is the country of democracy, love, benevolence, kindness and so on.

What is a synonym for supermarket?

synonyms for supermarket

• bazaar.
• boutique.
• co-op.
• discount store.
• flea market.
• mall.
• mart.
• outlet.