Louis Ginsberg

For the rabbi, see Louis Ginzberg.
Louis Ginsberg
Born (1895-10-01)October 1, 1895
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Died July 6, 1976(1976-07-06) (aged 80)
Occupation English teacher, Poet
Nationality American
Alma mater Rutgers University
Children Eugene Brooks Ginsberg Allen Ginsberg

Louis Ginsberg (1895–1976)[1][2] was an American poet and father of poet Allen Ginsberg.

Personal life

Louis Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey on October 1, 1895, to Pincus Ginsberg and Rebecca Schectman Ginsberg.[3] His siblings included, Abraham (Abe), Rose, Clara, and Hannah (Honey). Louis was stimulated to write poetry by Margaret Coult, a high school teacher who had him read Milton's L'Allegro or Il Penseroso, and write a poem like it. Louis published his first poem in the Barringer High School yearbook. Louis attended Rutgers University from 1914-1918, being excused from military service on physical grounds. Louis married Naomi Levy, his classmate from Barringer High School in 1919. Naomi taught at a Newark grammar school and Louis taught literature and composition in the English Department at Central High School. He retired from Central High School in 1961, although he began to teach grammar and composition at the Paterson, New Jersey extension of Rutgers University until 1976. Louis Ginsberg and his first wife Naomi[4] had two sons, Eugene Brooks Ginsberg[5][6][7][8] in 1921 and Allen Ginsberg in 1926, both of whom became poets.[9] The marriage of Louis and Naomi ended in divorce due to her institutionalization for mental illness. Naomi's mental illness was the focal point for Allen's poem Kaddish, in which he wrote: "and Louis needing a poor divorce, he wants to get married soon".[10] Louis married Edith Ginsberg[11][12] in 1950 with whom he spent the rest of his life. Louis died on July 6, 1976,[13][14][15] and his son Allen, who learned to rhyme from his father,[16] wrote the rhyming poem, Father Death Blues for him on July 8, 1976 over Lake Michigan. The last stanza of this poem appears on Allen Ginsberg's gravestone,[17] which is between the gravestones for Louis and Edith.[18]

Portraits of the Ginsberg family were taken by photographer Richard Avedon and exhibited at the Gagosian Gallery[19][20] and the Israel Museum.[21]

Poetry

Louis' poems appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times, Munsey's Magazine, The Forum, Rutgers' Alumni Quarterly, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Contemporary Verse, The Masses, the New York Evening Post, Argosy, the Newark Evening News and other periodicals, as well as in Modern American Poetry: A Critical Anthology, Third Revised Edition (1925) and Modern British Poetry, both edited by Louis Untermeyer. Louis first book of poetry, The Attic of the Past and other Lyrics,[22] was privately published. He subsidized the publishing of The Everlasting Minute in 1937. In 1970, William Morrow and Company published Morning in Spring, his third book and the first book that he did not have to subsidize. Allen Ginsberg wrote the introduction to this book. Louis' last book, Our Times was never published on its own. Michael Fournier collected and edited his poems, including those that would have been in Our Times.[23]

Microscope by Louis Ginsberg

A lost poem, entitled, Microscope written by Louis Ginsberg was found in a copy of the seventeenth edition of Simon Henry Gage's book, The Microscope in the Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University.[24][25]

Puns

Louis Ginsberg published puns in the Newark Star Ledger under the heading, Keep an O'Pun Mind. He often asked and answered, "Is life worth living? It depends on the liver." His collection of puns was never published but they can be found in Box 2, Folder 9 in the Louis Ginsberg Papers at Stanford University.[26] Louis Ginsberg, who died of liver and spleen cancer, told his son Allen Ginsberg, "I never thought my pun would come back to bite me."

Letters

The letters written between Louis Ginsberg and his son Allen Ginsberg were edited by Michael Schumacher and published as, Family Business: Selected Letters Between a Father and Son.[27]

References

  1. ↑ Morgan, Bill (2006). I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg. New York: Penguin Books. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-14-311249-5. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  2. ↑ Harris, Neil (2013). Great Writers: Allen Ginsberg. New York: Chelsea House. ISBN 978-1-4381-4836-6. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  3. ↑ Brooks, Eugene (1992). Paterson's Principal Poet in Louis Ginsberg: Collected Poems. Orono, ME: Northern Lights. pp. 23–35.
  4. ↑ Brooks, Lyle. "Naomi Ginsberg". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Eugene Brooks, 80, a Lawyer and Poet". New York Times. July 18, 2001. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ Brooks, Lyle. "Eugene Brooks". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Eugene Brooks, Brother of Poet Allen Ginsberg". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  8. ↑ Spencer, Ashley (May 17, 2012). "Author's nephew visits PC's Senior English Class". Paladin Press Newspaper Blog. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  9. ↑ Brooks, Eugene (1973). Rites of Pasaage. Introductions by Allen Ginsberg and Louis Ginsberg. Plainville, NY: Eugene Brooks.
  10. ↑ Ginsberg, Allen. "Kaddish: For Naomi Ginsberg, 1894—1956". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  11. ↑ George, James (May 4, 1997). "Stepmother, Wife, Muse". New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  12. ↑ George, James (October 30, 2000). "Edith Ginsberg, an Anchor For Poet Stepson, Dies at 94". New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Louis Ginsberg, 80" (Section 4, page 11). New York Times. July 9, 1976.
  14. ↑ "Louis Ginsberg Dies" (page 36). Village Voice. July 19, 1976.
  15. ↑ Kramer, Sylvia (July 29, 1976). "Poet's inspiration: A tribute to Louis Ginsberg" (page 9). Jewish News.
  16. ↑ "Howl (2015)". IMDb. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Allen Ginsberg". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  18. ↑ Brieba, Lorenzo. "Allen Ginsberg". FInd a Grave. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Inside the counter-culture: An intimate look at Warhol, Ginsberg and friends through the radical lens of legendary photographer Richard Avedon". The Daily Mail. May 18, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Richard Avedon Murals & Portraits May 4 - July 27, 2012 at the Gagosian Gallery". Gargosian.com. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  21. ↑ Sotheby's. "Avedon's Eye: An interview with James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum". Sotheby's. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  22. ↑ Ginsberg, Louis (1920). The Attic of the Past and other Lyrics. Boston: Small, Maynard, and Company.
  23. ↑ Fournier, ed., Michael (1992). Louis Ginsberg: Collected Poems. Orono, ME: Northern Lights.
  24. ↑ CALS Notes 10/27/2013. "Focusing in on a Forgotten Poem". Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  25. ↑ Wayne, Randy (2013). ""Microscope" A Lost Poem by Louis Ginsberg" (PDF). The Microscope. 61 (2): 85–87.
  26. ↑ "Guide to the Louis Ginsberg Papers, 1920-1976". Online Archive of California. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  27. ↑ Ginsberg, Allen and Louis (2001). Selected Letters Between a Father and Son. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781582341071. Retrieved August 28, 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.