In the 1960's, centralized in Greenwich Village, a group of individuals known as "Beatniks" rose amongst the masses of the 1950's conformed society, harshly critiquing American living standards. Of the most prominent, was Allen Ginsberg.
""Back on Times Square, Dreaming of Times Square"" is quite obviously set amongst one of the most bustling commercial and social epicenters of America-Times Square. It is a place of flashing lights, sounds, and information. This particular poem is set here, in New York, July 1958. Also, it is set at an exact time; 5 am-dawn. Ginsberg attempts in this poem to create a distinct setting, and throughout the rest of the poem it is made clear that this imagery is something that he definitely wishes readers would glean. The repetition and context of "Times Square" in the title is very ironic: he is physically standing on Times Square, yet dreaming, and having ethereal thoughts of the same location in his mind-the Times Square of a different era. Moreover, he is dreaming of an idea and concept-what Times Square represents to him-more than the stones in the middle of the road.
The obvious theme of this particular poem is lethargy; it is an almost mournful tone, a feeling derived from the attitude that he creates. Diction such as "sad trumpeter," "memorial," "invisible," "vanished," "gone," and phrases such as "I was lonely" more than illustrate the exact tone he wishes readers to feel-a doleful, gloomy emotion. This poem, written in the first person point of view, is one of bias of this city; it is bias by his personal memories. One of the most stark in these verses is that of a man named Garver, and nights of drugs ("bloody cottons.") There is the description of Blake, wherein though laying and shooting up with Garver, he sat and loved another. Truly, this touches upon human condition, and its thirst for love. It touches upon the stain love can leave on many by its advances, and though it may not have happened in this exact nature, Ginsberg leaves the door open for readers to relate.
