Allen Ginsberg uses intertextuality in his poem “A Supermarket in California” to reference other authors such as Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca. Ginsberg mainly uses intertextuality in this piece for comparison, as he compares himself to these other poets. Part of his poem reads, “What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.” Ginsberg is ultimately comparing how he and these other poets all challenged societal norms and exposed people to outside of the box thinking, revealing new ways of looking at the world and societal issues. All three of them were criticized for their views and ultimately put down by critics for going against the norms of their times. By comparing himself to these other…show more content… It was frowned upon and ultimately left them feeling isolated and alone, which Ginsberg refers to using repetition of the word, “solitary” and other words like, “lonely,” “childless,” and “self-conscious.” All of these words are used to explain how, by challenging the norms, they were left feeling alone in the world and eventually began to feel self-conscious about how others viewed them. Ginsberg went on to say, “The trees add shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.” Mentioning the trees and shade, Ginsberg is referencing the critics and all of the criticism they receive and how that criticism causes the lights to go out in the houses, or causes the people to ignore them as to not be criticized by simply association. By agreeing with their unpopular stances, people were essentially labeling themselves as outsiders, so, even if they did agree with these unpopular stances, they would only openly support the norms as to not be shunned as an outsider. This ultimately left those such as Ginsberg, Whitman, and Lorca feeling alone in the world as little people openly agreed with their
