Selected Poems: 1947-1995

"Ginsberg's 'force field of language' still exerts a powerful imaginative pressure." ―The New Yorker

Assembled by Allen Ginsberg, Selected Poems 1947-1995, is a magnificent collection of work from one of the most influential and revolutionary poets of the twentieth century.

Famous for catalyzing the Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg wrote poetry for more than fifty years--works that changed the course of American poetry with the creation of open, vocal, spontaneous, and energetic postmodern verse in the tradition of Whitman, Apollinaire, Hart, Crane, Pound, and Williams. Ginsberg's innovative verse, iconoclastic attitude, and emphasis on spiritual, political, and sexual liberation inspired countless poets, musicians, and visual and performance artists worldwide, throughout his life and beyond.

Selected Poems 1947-1995 commemorates his brilliant career as one of America's most distinguished poets. Here are well-known masterpieces such as the lyric "Howl" and the narrative "Kaddish" -- classic works of American literature -- as well as later gems, including the long dream poem "White Shroud," the visionary "After Lalon," and the political rock lyric "The Ballad of the Skeletons," a song he recorded in 1996 with a stellar band that included Philip Glass, Lenny Kaye, and Paul McCartney.

Now, as we mark a century since his birth, the freedom of thought and word Ginsberg championed is increasingly coming under attack, making his ideas and poetry more essential than ever for both longtime admirers and new generations waiting to discover him.