Allen Ginsberg completes Plutonian Ode

Allen Ginsberg completes "Plutonian Ode," blocks trainload of fissile material headed for Rockwell's nuclear bomb trigger factory, Colorado on July 14, 1978.

Allen Ginsberg was an American poet who vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression.

In the 1950s, Ginsberg was a leading figure of the Beat Generation. Allen Ginsberg's epic poem "Howl", in which he celebrates his fellow "angel-headed hipsters" and harshly denounces what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States, is one of the classic poems of the Beat Generation.

In "Howl" and in his other poetry, Allen Ginsberg drew inspiration from the epic, free verse style of the 19th century American poet Walt Whitman. Both wrote passionately about the promise (and betrayal) of American democracy, the central importance of erotic experience, and the spiritual quest for the truth of everyday existence. J. D. McClatchy, editor of the Yale Review called Ginsberg "the best-known American poet of his generation, as much a social force as a literary phenomenon." McClatchy added that Ginsberg, like Whitman, "was a bard in the old manner – outsized, darkly prophetic, part exuberance, part prayer, part rant. His work is finally a history of our era's psyche, with all its contradictory urges."

Allen Ginsberg was a practicing Buddhist who studied Eastern religious disciplines extensively. One of his most influential teachers was the Tibetan Buddhist, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa, founder of the Naropa Institute, now Naropa University at Boulder, Colorado. At Trungpa's urging, Ginsberg and poet Ann Waldman started a poetry school there in 1974 which they called the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics". In spite of his attraction to Eastern religions, the journalist Jane Kramer argues that Ginsberg, like Whitman, adhered to an "American brand of mysticism" that was, in her words, "rooted in humanism and in a romantic and visionary ideal of harmony among men." Allen Ginsberg's political activism was consistent with his religious beliefs. He took part in decades of non-violent political protest against everything from the Vietnam War to the War on Drugs. The literary critic, Helen Vendler, described Ginsberg as "tirelessly persistent in protesting censorship, imperial politics, and persecution of the powerless." His achievements as a writer as well as his notoriety as an activist gained him honors from established institutions. Ginsberg's book of poems, The Fall of America, won the National Book Award for poetry in 1974. Other honors included the National Arts Club gold medal and his induction into the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, both in 1979. Ginsberg was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1995 for his book, Cosmopolitan Greetings: Poems 1986–1992.

Plutonian Ode is a poem written by American Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in 1978 against the arms race and nuclear armament of the superpowers.

It is heavily inspired by Gnosticism which Ginsberg came to know after reading Hans Jonas's book on the subject. Philip Glass' Symphony No. 6 is based on and includes parts of this poem.

Retro History for July 14 The 50s 60s 70s 80s

Retro History For The Decade 1980

1989 16th James Bond movies "License to Kill" premieres
1988 200,000 demonstrate in Soviet Armenia for incorp of Nagorno-Karabak
1988 Mike Schmidt passes Mickey Mantle with his 537th home run into 7th place
1988 WYHY radio offers $1M to anyone who can prove Elvis is still alive
1987 58th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 2-0 in 13 at Oakland-Alameda Stad
1987 All star MVP: Tim Raines (Montreal Expos)
1987 Greyhound Bus buys Trailways Bus for $80 million
1987 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North concludes 6 days of Congressional testimony
1987 Rookie of the Year Award is renamed to honor Jackie Robinson
1987 Steve Miller's star is unveiled on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
1987 Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law
1986 10 killed and 60 injured at ETA-bomb attack in Madrid
1986 2nd government of Lubbers sworn in
1986 41st U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship won by Jane Geddes
1986 Motley Crue's Vince Neil begins 30 day sentence for vehicular homicide
1986 NASA's plan to implement recommendations of Rogers commission
1986 Paul McCartney releases "Press"
1986 Richard W. Miller became 1st FBI agent convicted of espionage
1986 Shalamar's Howard Hewett acquitted in Miami of drug charges
1985 40th U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship won by Kathy Baker
1985 Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center via Offutt AFB, Neb
1985 Last USFL game-Baltimore Stars defeats Oakland Invaders, 28-24
1984 STS-41-D vehicle moves to Vandenberg AFB for remanifest of payloads
1984 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear Test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1981 Kevin Wade's "Key Exchange," premieres in London

Retro History For The Decade 1970

1979 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear Test
1978 Anatoly Scharansky convicted of anti-Soviet agitation
1978 Ump Doug Harvey ejects Don Sutton after discovering 3 scuffed balls
1978 Allen Ginsberg completes "Plutonian Ode," blocks trainload of fissile material headed for Rockwell's nuclear bomb trigger factory, Colorado
1977 North Korea shoots down U.S. helicopter, killing 3
1977 U.S. House establishes permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
1976 Jimmy Carter wins Democratic President nomination in New York City
1976 U.S.S.R. banishes dissident Andrei Amalrik to Netherlands
1975 Disney EPCOT Center, Florida, plans announced
1974 Billy Martin is 1st AL manager ejected by ump from 2 games in 1 day
1974 Sharon Miller wins LPGA Borden Golf Classic
1973 102nd British Golf Open: Tom Weiskopf shoots a 276 at Royal Troon
1973 Phil Everly storms off stage declaring an end to Everly Brothers
1972 Jean Westwood is 1st woman chosen to head Democratic National Committee
1972 U.S.S.R. performs underground nuclear Test
1972 Plate ump and catcher in a game are brothers. Bill Haller is ump and Tom Haller is Tigers catcher, Kansas City Royals win 1-0
1970 41st All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 5-4 at Riverfront Stadium, Cin
1970 All star MVP: Carl Yastremski (Boston Red Sox)

Retro History For The Decade 1960

1969 "Futbol War" between El Salvador and Honduras begins
1969 Soccer war - Salvador-Honduras (1000 dead)
1969 WMUL (now WPBY) TV channel 33 in Huntington, WV (PBS) 1st broadcast
1968 Brave Hank Aaron hits his 500th home run off San Francisco Giant Mike McCormick
1968 Carol Mann wins LPGA Pabst Ladies' Golf Classic
1968 Houston Astro Don Wilson strikes-out 18, beats Reds 6-1
1968 WSWO TV channel 26 in Springfield, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
1967 Astro Eddie Matthews hits his 500th home run off San Francisco Giant Juan Marichal
1967 Surveyor 4 launched to Moon; explodes just before landing
1967 The Who, opening for Herman's Hermits begin a U.S. tour
1965 Australian Ronald Clarke runs world record 10k (27:39.4)
1965 Israeli/Jordanian border fights
1965 U.S. Mariner IV, 1st Mars probe, passes at 6,100 miles (9,800 km)
1964 Jacques Anquetil wins his 5th Tour de France
1964 Oriole Bob Johnson's 6th straight hit as a pinch hitter
1963 Marlene Hagge wins LPGA Sight Golf Open
1962 Borehole for Mont Blanc-tunnel finished
1962 U.S. performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1961 Astro's Eddie Matthews hits home run #500
1961 Finland's Miettunen government forms
1961 Pope John XXIII publishes encyclical Mater et magistrate
1960 Barbara Romack wins LPGA Leesburg Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1960 Fire raging through a Guatemala City, Guatemala insane asylum kills 225, severly injuring 300

Retro History For The Decade 1950

1959 1st atomic powered cruiser, Long Beach, Quincy Massachusetts
1958 General Abdul K Kassem forms a military government in Iraq
1958 Pope Pius XII publishes his 39th and last encyclical Meminisse juvat
1958 Saddam Hussein and Iraqi army overthrows the monarchy
1957 Soviet steamer "Eshghbad" sinks in Caspian Sea, drowning 270
1956 Boston Red Sox Mel Parnell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 4-0
1955 2 killed, many dazed when lightning strikes Ascott racetrack, England
1954 117 degrees F (47 degrees C), East St. Louis, Illinois (state record)
1954 118 degrees F (48 degrees C), Warsaw and Union, Missouri (state record)
1953 20th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 5-1 at Crosley Field, Cincinnati
1953 Communist offensive in Korea
1952 SS United States crosses Atlantic in 84:12 (record westward)
1951 "Courtin' Time" closes at National Theater New York City after 37 performances
1951 "Make a Wish" closes at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 102 performances
1951 1st color telecast of a sporting event (CBS-horse race)
1951 Citation becomes 1st horse to win $1,000,000 in races
1951 George Washington Carver monument unveiled
1950 RE Wayne awarded 1st Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea

Have a groovy vintage retro day!


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Vintage Retro Music & Retro Pop Culture is our passion and what we LOVE. We keep it going everyday for the love of producing it for you to enjoy. Thanks for viewing. Much Peace! Allen Ginsberg wrote Plutonian Ode in 1978.