Drugs as Creation and Destruction to Ginsberg: Focusing on His Poetry and Life

Abstract

Drugs both heal and destroy the human body and mind. Illegal drugs such as heroin, LSD, cocaine and marijuana were often celebrated as means to literary insight. In the 1960s drugs were used by the Beat writers, notably Allen Ginsberg, who referred to them in his poetry as a means to both political and spiritual insight. However, drugs also proved to be a dangerous and destructive addiction. This paper traces the awareness of the power of drugs in Ginsberg’s poetry creation, political stance and spiritual transcendence as well as the introspection of drugs in his late years.