To Aunt Rose

Typical for Ginsberg, “To Aunt Rose” focuses on the power of memory. Ginsberg uses vivid descriptions for his memories of childhood and family, creating imagery that brings his characters alive and sets the scene in a tangible place.

But the point of memory in this poem is not just to create imagery; Ginsberg is actively trying to connect with a past he feels is forgotten. This becomes clear in the penultimate stanza when the figures of the past all now exist in states of loss and forgetfulness. The books are out of print, the publisher is shut down, and people have sold their belongings, given up their passions, and now live in homes for the old. Where there had once been life, now there is death, old age, and loss.

Because of the loss that comes with the passage of time, Ginsberg feels a deep desire to try and immortalize those memories. This comes through in some of the words he uses to describe bodies, including “pedestal” (Line 28) and “monument” (Line 47), suggesting the memories live on in his mind like objects in his fictionalized “Museum of Newark” (Line 29).

It is also worth noting that every image of the past is filled with activity.