Allen Ginsberg Net Worth

What is Allen Ginsberg's Net Worth?

Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and writer who had a net worth of $1 million at the time of his death. One of the defining figures of the Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg was known for his landmark poem "Howl," his extensive political activism, and his promotion of Buddhist teachings. In 1979, he earned the National Arts Club gold medal and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Early Life and Education

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey to Jewish parents Naomi and Louis. His father was a schoolteacher and poet. Ginsberg grew up in Paterson, New Jersey with his older brother Eugene. He published his first poems in the Paterson Morning Call paper, and graduated from Eastside High School in 1943. Ginsberg was introduced to Marxist politics growing up by his mother, who was an active member of the Communist Party and took her sons to party meetings. However, his mother also suffered from schizophrenia and was often in mental hospitals.

For his higher education, Ginsberg briefly attended Montclair State College before transferring to Columbia University, where he studied literature. He funded his education by joining the Merchant Marine. Ginsberg had a highly accomplished career at Columbia, contributing to the Columbia Review literary journal, presiding over the Philolexian Society, and winning the Woodberry Poetry Prize. He also befriended Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, who would also become central to the Beat Generation. Ginsberg graduated from Columbia in 1948.

Beat Generation

During his time at Columbia, Ginsberg met a number of people who would become core writers of the Beat Generation, including Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Lucien Carr. This group shared a disdain for the social conformity of postwar America and sought to create a youth movement outside its limits. In the 1950s, Ginsberg moved to San Francisco, California, where he met members of the San Francisco Renaissance and other poets who would also become part of the Beat Generation. One of the most significant events in the Beat mythos took place in 1955, when the so-called 'Six Gallery reading' at an art gallery on Fillmore Street in San Francisco brought together the East Coast and West Coast factions of the Beat Generation. It was at this event Ginsberg first read his seminal poem "Howl." With its famous opening line, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked," the poem brought Ginsberg serious notoriety. In addition to condemning capitalism in the US, "Howl" gained attention for its descriptions of gay sex, which was outlawed at the time.

In 1957, Ginsberg abruptly left San Francisco and moved to Paris, France with his boyfriend Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso. They moved into a rundown lodging house that would become dubbed the Beat Hotel, and were soon joined by Burroughs and others. In the early 1960s, Ginsberg traveled throughout India with Orlovsky and spent two months in Athens, Greece. The pair also traveled through Israel and Kenya, among other places. In 1965, Ginsberg went to London, England and performed a reading at Better Books. The following month, he was among many noted figures to perform readings at the International Poetry Incarnation at Royal Albert Hall. In 1968, Ginsberg published his poetry collection "Planet News," featuring many poems he wrote during his world travels. Around this time and into the 1970s, Ginsberg helped foster a bridge between the Beat Generation and the hippie counterculture by befriending such figures as Bob Dylan, Timothy Leary, and Hunter S. Thompson.

John Minihan/Evening Standard/Getty Images

Spirituality

Inspired by Kerouac, who began studying Buddhist teachings in 1950, Ginsberg took up Buddhist spirituality himself. He went on to help establish the Krishna movement within the bohemian culture of New York City. Ginsberg's spiritual journey with Buddhism took him around the world and involved visits with the Dalai Lama and Dudjom Rinpoche. Back in New York City, he met Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyam Trungpa, who became a lifelong friend and mentor. Encouraged by Trungpa, Ginsberg co-founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics with fellow poet Anne Waldman in 1974.

Political Activism

Ginsberg was prolific in political activism for many decades. He spoke out in favor of freedom of speech, gay rights, and recreational drug use, and among other issues. Ginsberg was also a prominent Vietnam War protester, and signed the anti-war manifesto "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" and the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge. In other global concerns, he called attention to the plight of East Bengali refugees from the 1971 Bangladesh genocide with his poem "September on Jessore Road."

Honors and Awards

In 1974, Ginsberg won a National Book Award for Poetry for his collection "The Fall of America." At the end of the decade, he won the National Arts Club gold medal and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Later in his life, in 1993, Ginsberg was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France. In 1995, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his poetry collection "Cosmopolitan Greetings."

Personal Life and Death

During his early Beat years, Ginsberg was romantically involved with poet Elise Nada Cowen. However, Ginsberg identified as gay, and in 1954 he began dating poet Peter Orlovsky. The pair remained together until Ginsberg's passing.

A chronic smoker, Ginsberg dealt with some health issues during his life, including some minor strokes. In 1997, he was unsuccessfully treated for congestive heart failure, and on April 5 that year, he passed away from liver cancer in his Manhattan apartment. Ginsberg's body was cremated and the ashes were buried in his family plot in Newark's Gomel Chesed Cemetery.

Who's Richer?

Allen
Ginsberg

Compare!

Bob
Dylan