Quick Facts
- NAME: Allen Ginsberg
- OCCUPATION: Activist, Poet
- BIRTH DATE: June 03, 1926
- DEATH DATE: April 05, 1997
- EDUCATION: Columbia University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Newark, New Jersey
- PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York
- Full Name: Irwin Allen Ginsberg
- AKA: Allen Ginsberg
Best Known For
Allen Ginsberg is one of the 20th century's most influential poets, regarded as a founding father of the Beat Movement and known for works like "Howl."
Quiz
Think you know about Biography?
Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.
Play NowAllen Ginsberg. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 12:13, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994.
Allen Ginsberg. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Allen Ginsberg." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 12:13 http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994.
"Allen Ginsberg," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Allen Ginsberg," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Allen Ginsberg [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994.
Allen Ginsberg, http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Allen Ginsberg. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/allen-ginsberg-9311994. Accessed May 19, 2013.
Ginsberg also came up with the phrase "flower power," which he used to describe the peace movements that fueled much of the anti-war demonstrations he took part in, including his protests against the Vietnam War.
Ginsberg was an advocate of drug use,
though he would generally walk away from this position after he studied yoga and meditation during a 1962 voyage to India. Ginsberg later converted to Buddhism and founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics of the Naropa Institute, which focused on Buddhist teachings. He was also a world traveler, remaining for extended periods of time in Latin America and Europe.
Ginsberg won the 1974 National Book Award for his work The Fall of America: Poems of these States 1965-1971, and over the ensuing years, became increasingly renowned for the importance and influence of his work, receiving accolades like the 1986 Robert Frost Medal. In the 1980s and '90s, he continued to write and worked with musical artists like Philip Glass, Bono, Sonic Youth and the Clash.
Death
Ginsberg died from liver cancer on April 5, 1997, in the East Village in Manhattan, New York. He was 70 years old. A massive collection of his work can be found with the book Collected Poems 1947-1997.
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
profile name: Allen Ginsberg profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
Famous Geminis 529 people in this group
-
Columbia University Alumni 101 people in this group
-
Famous Activists
View groupBrowse notable activists such as Pink, Quincy Jones, and Robert Kennedy.
Famous Activists 478 people in this group

June Carter Cash
Famous Fiction Authors
Angelina Jolie
My Ghost Story
I Survived
Babe Ruth
Johnny Cash
Georgia O'Keefe
I Survived


