Through Allen Ginsbergs free verse form and use of figurative language, he is able to transport the reader into his thought process and also uses strong imagery to create a dark and dismal scene. With heavy reliance on personification and using metaphors as a theme throughout his prose, Ginsberg seeks to further enlighten and engage the reader. Gisbergs unconventional style and free-verse form of writing transforms it into not only a poem but a story. A story of pollution and sadness. It is evident that he is appalled by the ruins of this city and its bleak future. The first line of this poem, “ I walked on the banks of the tincan banana dock and sat down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the box house hills and cry.” is true free-form writing. At first glance, its random style seems nonsensical yet as you read on, Ginsberg brings it together in a way that makes the reader understand what he is getting at. |
Imagery of light and darkness pervade Ginsbergs “Sunflower Sutra” and through this imagery, he leads the reader on his journey from hopelessness to hope. “Bleak and blue and sad-eyed, surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery.” conveys both the gloomy situation he is in and his perspective on it. Once Ginsberg sees the sunflower, he seems to feel a little more promise, and have a small glimmer of more positive things to come emanating from his soul. “Unholy battered old thing you were, my sunflower O my soul, I loved you then!” is a great example of the light the sunflower brings him through the darkness and is also an introduction to the metaphor that the sunflower has now become his hopeful soul.
In carrying on through the rest of the work, metaphors and personification prevail. Ginsberg uses these almost as a theme in this poem and it has an effect of making the reader ‘feel’ what the author is going through. A perfect example would be, “We’re all beautiful golden sunflowers inside”, telling us to feel the promise and removes the sense of dread that Ginsberg introduced us to in the beginning. He refers to sunflower in many human references, such as ‘mummied’, ‘standing’, ‘natural eye’, ‘skin’ and ‘skeleton’. His personification of the flower easily makes the reader see that this flower is no longer just an inanimate object, but something the author has become one with, and it makes him feel more alive again. |