"A Supermarket in California" is a poem by Allen Ginsberg, one of the foremost poets of mid-20th century America. The poem's speaker—generally read as Ginsberg himself—enters the garish, brightly-lit supermarket and has a vision of Walt Whitman, a 19th-century American poet, whose work he has been reading. Whitman, for his part, acts almost like an alien placed on Earth from outer space; the supermarket environment doesn't make sense to his 19th-century perspective. The speaker imagines playfully tasting the produce and not paying for any of it, before asking more searching and philosophical questions of his poet guide. He wonders whether America has grown too preoccupied with consumerism and a money-orientated way, and in doing so if the country has lost its way and its capacity to love. The poem ends with an image of Whitman in the underworld, suggesting that Whitman's idealistic and romantic vision of America is probably already dead.

• Read the full text of “A Supermarket in California”

• “A Supermarket in California” Summary

• “A Supermarket in California” Themes

  • 

    Consumerism

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3
    • Line 3
    • Lines 4-7
    • Lines 8-12
  • 

    Literature and Imagination

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Line 3
    • Lines 4-7
    • Lines 8-9
    • Line 10
    • Line 11
    • Line 12
  • 

    Homosexuality and Conformity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Line 3
    • Lines 4-6
    • Line 10
    • Line 11

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Supermarket in California”

  • Lines 1-2

    What thoughts I ...
    ... of your enumerations!

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 3

             What peaches and ... by the watermelons?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-5

             I saw you, ...
    ... you my Angel?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-7

             I wandered in ...
    ... passing the cashier.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-9

             Where are we ...
    ... and feel absurd.)

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-11

             Will we walk ...
    ... our silent cottage?

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 12

             Ah, dear father, ... waters of Lethe?

    

    

    

    

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• “A Supermarket in California” Symbols

  • 

    The Store Detective

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “followed in my imagination by the store detective.”
  • 

    The Supermarket

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “ In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket,”
    • Line 3: “What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?”
    • Lines 4-5: “poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys. /          I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas?”
    • Lines 6-7: “  I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective. /          We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.”
    • Line 8: “The doors close in an hour.”
    • Line 9: “     (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)”
  • 

    Blue Automobiles

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 11: “   Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?”

• “A Supermarket in California” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Walt Whitman,” “walked”
    • Line 3: “What peaches,” “what penumbras,” “what were,” “doing down,” “watermelons”
    • Line 4: “Walt Whitman”
    • Line 5: “pork,” “price”
    • Line 7: “together,” “fancy,” “tasting,” “possessing,” “frozen,” “passing”
    • Line 8: “Where,” “we,” “Walt Whitman,” “doors,” “Which way,” “does”
    • Line 10: “Will we walk,” “solitary streets,” “shade,” “shade,” “lights,” “lonely”
    • Line 11: “Will we,” “dreaming,” “lost,” “love,” “driveways”
    • Line 12: “smoking,” “stood,” “watching,” “boat,” “black,” “waters”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “enumerations”
    • Line 3: “and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?”
    • Line 4: “I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.”
    • Line 9: “book,” “our odyssey”
    • Line 12: “Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?”

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Line 3
    • Lines 4-12

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!”
    • Line 10: “The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be lonely.”
    • Line 12: “dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Walt Whitman,” “walked,” “sidestreets,” “trees,” “self-conscious,” “looking,” “full”
    • Line 2: “ In my,” “hungry fatigue,” “and,” “images,” “went into,” “neon,” “fruit supermarket,” “dreaming,” “enumerations”
    • Line 3: “What peaches and what penumbras,” “Whole families,” “shopping at night,” “Aisles full,” “husbands,” “Wives,” “avocados,” “babies,” “tomatoes,” “Garcia,” “what were,” “doing down,” “watermelons”
    • Line 4: “Walt Whitman,” “childless,” “lonely old,” “grubber,” “poking,” “among,” “meats,” “refrigerator,” “grocery boys”
    • Line 5: “killed,” “pork chops,” “price bananas”
    • Line 6: “wandered in and,” “out,” “brilliant stacks,” “cans,” “following,” “followed,” “store detective”
    • Line 7: “strode down,” “open,” “corridors,” “together,” “in,” “solitary,” “fancy,” “tasting artichokes,” “possessing,” “frozen delicacy,” “and never passing,” “cashier”
    • Line 8: “Where,” “we,” “Walt Whitman,” “Which way,” “point tonight”
    • Line 9: “touch,” “dream,” “odyssey,” “supermarket,” “absurd”
    • Line 10: “Will we walk,” “solitary streets,” “trees,” “add,” “shade,” “shade,” “lights out,” “houses,” “we'll,” “both be,” “lonely”
    • Line 11: “Will we stroll,” “dreaming,” “lost,” “love,” “blue,” “automobiles,” “riveways,” “home,” “silent cottage”
    • Line 12: “lonely old,” “when Charon,” “quit,” “got,” “out,” “smoking,” “bank,” “stood,” “watching,” “the,” “boat,” “the,” “black,” “waters,” “Lethe”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “shopping for images”
    • Line 8: “Which way does your beard point tonight,” “?”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Walt Whitman”
    • Line 3: “What,” “wha,” “t,” “Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes”
    • Line 4: “Walt Whitman”
    • Line 6: “following,” “followed”
    • Line 8: “Walt Whitman”
    • Line 10: “Will we,” “shade to shade”
    • Line 11: “Will we”

  • Rhetorical Question

    

    

    

    

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    Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?”
    • Line 5: “Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?”
    • Line 8: “     Where are we going, Walt Whitman?,” “ Which way does your beard point tonight?”
    • Line 10: “Will we walk all night through solitary streets?”
    • Line 11: “Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?”
    • Line 12: “Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “sidestreets,” “trees”
    • Line 2: “fruit supermarket”
    • Line 3: “babies,” “tomatoes,” “you doing”
    • Line 4: “lonely old,” “poking”
    • Line 7: “strode,” “open,” “artichokes,” “possessing,” “frozen”
    • Line 10: “out,” “houses,” “we'll both be lonely”
    • Line 11: “stroll,” “America of love,” “automobiles,” “home”
    • Line 12: “Ah,” “father,” “lonely old”

• “A Supermarket in California” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Walt Whitman
  • Enumerations
  • Penumbra
  • Garcia Lorca
  • Grubber
  • Fancy
  • Odyssey
  • Charon/Lethe
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Walt Whitman”; Line 4: “Walt Whitman”; Line 8: “Walt Whitman”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Supermarket in California”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “A Supermarket in California” Speaker

• “A Supermarket in California” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “A Supermarket in California”

• More “A Supermarket in California” Resources

  • External Resources

    • In the Poet's Own Voice — Ginsberg reads "A Supermarket in California" and offers a short introduction. 

    • Whitman and America — Ginsberg discusses his literary hero with two fellow poets. 

    • Whitman's Life and Poetry — A valuable resource on Ginsberg's literary hero from the Poetry Foundation. 

    • Shopping in 1950s America — Color footage of supermarkets from the time of the poem's composition. 

    • Ginsberg on Rimbaud — Transcript of a lecture by Ginsberg on another key influence, the 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud (who used the prose poem form to great effect).  

    • More Poems and Bio — Further reading of poems by Ginsberg, and useful essays too. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

    • Howl

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