To Aunt Rose

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1959

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Literary Context: Beat Poetry

The Beat Generation consisted of a group of friends who came together in the 1950s in New England and then migrated west through Colorado and ultimately to California. Though the Beats were not a formal artistic group, and the definition of what a Beat is can be broad, essentially the Beats were artistic misfits who mainstream society often saw as degenerates.

The Beats believed in a number of things, but their chief principles consisted of individual liberation, a rejection of mainstream values, a deep appreciation for and exploration of human consciousness, a belief in the individual’s connection to the universe, a rejection of militarism and materialism, a reverence for drug use, and artistic and individual honesty. Many Beat writers were political radicals, psychiatric patients, homosexuals, and criminals. They rejected the Eisenhower 1950s that was typified by the nuclear family, suburban life, a pursuit of capital, and Protestant values. Instead, they found inspiration in the taboo, the disowned and ostracized, and in the insane.

In art, the Beats believed in spontaneous creativity and utilized techniques like stream of consciousness and first thought/best thought. They rejected the traditional revision process and preferred a raw, emotional, honest, confessional approach to poetry and fiction. The most famous works of this period were Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (1957) and Ginsberg’s “Howl” (1956).

The Beats left a lasting legacy in American culture, ultimately becoming an inspiration for the counterculture movement in the 1960s. Many of the Beats’ preoccupations became symbolic of the hippies a decade later, including free love, individual liberation, a rejection of traditional values, and drug use. While the Beats eventually earned their place in American history, most critics mocked them during their time, and some Beat stereotypes have now become common, most notably being the beatnik who wears a beret, grows a beard or goatee, wears all black, and recites poetry to an audience that snaps in response. These stereotypes weaken the deep philosophical and artistic work of the Beat writers.

Literary Context: The Silent Generation

“To Aunt Rose” engages significantly with the upbringing of the Silent Generation, people born between 1928-1945. Demographically smaller than the two generations bookending it, Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers, this generation came of age during the Great Depression and World War II, and entered into adulthood during the postwar era.

The contrast between the poverty of their youth and the wealth of their young adulthood cannot be understated, nor can the impact of their influence on the next generation, the Baby Boomers, who would ultimately create the counterculture revolution in the 1960s, often in defiance of their more traditional Greatest Generation and Silent Generation parents.

Ginsberg and the other Beats seem on the surface to have been outliers of their generation; or, more likely, they provided an honest voice for their generation that represented those on the margins of society and those whom society suppressed. Ginsberg, in particular, had many social aspects working against him: he was gay during a time when homosexuality was broadly considered, at best, immoral, and, at worst, illegal; he was the son of a mother who was institutionalized, and he himself suffered from depression and other psychological issues at a time when mental health issues were treated with little to no empathy; and he was virtually born a Leftist Communist at a time when Communism was becoming a dirty word in America, as his mother indoctrinated him into her political beliefs from the time he was a young boy. These influences led Ginsberg to reject the path most of his generation took after WWII and to embrace what would ultimately become rallying cries for many Baby Boomers in the 1960s.