"Homework" Allen Ginsberg

“Homework”

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 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.

Title:

Well, I’m going to be honest, the only real  analyzation I can get out of a first glance of this title is negative. Since its just one word, homework, I can guess that this poem is going to be about homework or something school related.

Paraphrase:

The speaker is explaining how he would clean the world. He would wash the United States and Iran to stop their unresting relationship. He would “scrub up Africa” to help with the the impoverished country. The speaker would rise down areas that have been environmentally burdened. He would take out the political unrest on China and Russia. He is aware of how long it will take, but his wish is to try.

Connotation:

Form: Different from the lengthy lines of Ginsberg, this poem still possesses free verse. There is no specific rhyme scheme.

Diction: Blue text. Illustrates the extended metaphor.

Imagery: Red text. Creates the illusion of a soiled world.

Point of View: First person, the speaker is a concerned humanitarian, looking for help to clean the world. There is a lot of historical background strewn throughout this poem, therefore the speaker is knowledgeable and up to date on the problems in the world.

Symbolism: Each piece of laundry symbolizes each country in need of cleaning. This specifically means that these countries possess unnatural or horrible circumstances that need to be changed.

Figurative Language: Metaphor: there is obviously an extended metaphor that symbolizes the dirty world we lived in. It is “stained” and corrupted politically, economically and culturally. Repetition occurs throughout this poem to intensify the extended metaphor by using the word “wash.” Allusion is used to show the international relationships between countries, while also depicting the horrors of the world. Line 4, “I’d was the Amazon river and clean the oily Carib and Gulf of Mexico,” indicates the pollution and environmental distrust in the world. Another source of allusion is the Russia/China example because it illustrates the effects of the Cold War, while also adhering to the communist issue. Onimonopia is used in sentence 6 “rub a dub dub” indicating the sounds of scrubbing vigorously to get the stains out of the world. The last line indicates hyperbole, “Aeon till it came out clean,” to evoke the sense of longevity and excruciating work that must be done to fully clean up the earth.

Attitude/tone/shifts:

When I first read the poem, I expected there to be more anger and frustration. But as I read through the poem I realized that I was not reading anger, but instead I was reading idealistic dreams. “If I were doing my Laundry” (1) depicts this perfectly, for nothing is actually happening, but helping the world would be the first thing to do on the speakers list. The poem is talking about cleaning the world until the last line, “let it sit 20 minutes or an Aeon til it came out clean,” where there is the more realistic sense of the process of cleaning the world. It would not happen overnight, but instead, over a long period of time.

Theme:

Although we want to clean the world and rid it of its stains, it will take time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL7gUL0pw_0