Starting with line one, the speaker has given America all he has got and he gets nothing in return. Ginsberg is very clever as he uses an apostrophe, addressing the country of America and its millions of people, as an idea. He is addressing America as one single person. The speaker is extremely frustrated and feels he has worked so hard to do well for his country and gets nothing for his accomplishments. Ginsberg hints at the idea that in America, the hard workers do not get rewarded, but later Ginsberg will establish the idea that in a communist country all are rewarded equally. In line two, the speaker gets more specific on what he really feels he is worth. Ginsberg writes, “America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956”(2). The speaker feels he is worth only two dollars and twenty-seven cents. Ginsberg expresses a date and this gives the audience an idea into the time period. The year is 1956, World War II has just ended and all are happy. The speaker is the only unhappy one in America and the audience begins to see why. All the good feelings between America and Russia in World War II start to harden into the Cold War, as either side rushed to out-build the other 's nuclear …show more content…
The speaker is through with America 's demands, but seems to have his own peculiar demands too. The speaker expects America to allow him to buy anything he wants with his appearance. Line sixteen is a way for Ginsberg to add a sarcastic comment, letting the speaker say, “America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world”(16). This whole time, the speaker hates on America, but turns to compliments in this line. This is seen as a bit ironic, a prime example of free verse. The next world, or heaven, is the place that is not perfect, but the crazy place he lives in, is