What was the name of Allen Ginsberg’s mother, the subject of his poem “Kaddish”?

Naomi Ginsberg was the mother of Allen Ginsberg and the subject of his poem “Kaddish.”

Ginsberg’s long poem “Kaddish” mourns Naomi, who died in 1956 after years of severe mental illness. The poem takes its title from the Jewish mourning prayer, but Ginsberg’s version is an intensely personal work combining family history, religious language, psychiatric trauma, and grief.

“Kaddish” was written largely in 1959 and published in book form in 1961 as Kaddish and Other Poems. It became one of Ginsberg’s major achievements after “Howl,” but the two poems have different emotional centers: “Howl” addresses a generation and its social suffering, while “Kaddish” focuses on his mother and family.

Readers sometimes confuse Naomi Ginsberg with Ginsberg’s father, Louis, who was also a poet. Naomi’s influence appears throughout Ginsberg’s writing, especially in his attention to madness, politics, and the pressures of modern society.