This movement evolved in the 1940s on both the east and the west coast. However, the heart of this style of poetry became San Francisco in the 1950s. The battle against social conformity and literary tradition the theme of the Beats. Many people who created these poems used hallucinogenic drugs, meditation, and practiced Buddhism to achieve higher consciousness
Analysis
This poem is about how the author wants to cleanse the world for it's pollutions and sins. The lines, "If I were doing my Laundry I'd wash my dirty Iran" is what tells me the poet wants to purify the wrongs done to an area. The fact that he said dirty means he thinks Iran has been tainted due to it's war and violence. Not only is he talking about the violence that people have been involved in but natural disasters and animal populations that have diminished due to people tearing down natural habitats.
Homework -Allen Ginsberg
If I were doing my Laundry I'd wash my dirty Iran I'd throw in my United States, and pour on the Ivory Soap, scrub up Africa, put all the birds and elephants back in the jungle, I'd wash the Amazon river and clean the oily Carib & Gulf of Mexico, Rub that smog off the North Pole, wipe up all the pipelines in Alaska, Rub a dub dub for Rocky Flats and Los Alamos, Flush that sparkly Cesium out of Love Canal Rinse down the Acid Rain over the Parthenon & Sphinx, Drain the Sludge out of the Mediterranean basin & make it azure again, Put some blueing back into the sky over the Rhine, bleach the little Clouds so snow return white as snow, Cleanse the Hudson Thames & Neckar, Drain the Suds out of Lake Erie Then I'd throw big Asia in one giant Load & wash out the blood & Agent Orange, Dump the whole mess of Russia and China in the wringer, squeeze out the tattletail Gray of U.S. Central American police state, & put the planet in the drier & let it sit 20 minutes or an Aeon till it came out clean
Literary Devices
A device used in this poem is a cliche. The line "Rub a dub dub" has been used in multiple stories, novels, and other written works. This poem also uses metaphors because the poet compares locations in the world to dirty laundry. There are also motifs used in this poem such as rub, throw, dump, and rinse.