Question

Read this stanza from Allen Ginsberg’s "A Supermarket in California."

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

Why does the author most likely use free verse for this stanza?
The long-line structure serves as an introduction to the narrative.
The long-line structure provides background for the allusion.
The long-line structure imitates stream-of-conscious thought.
The long-line structure allows for predictable rhyme schemes.

Answer 1

The long-line structure imitates stream-of-conscious thought.

Explanation: Ginsberg’s free-verse long lines reproduce a flowing, conversational rhythm and unbroken train of thought (echoing Whitman), rather than a formal rhyme or fixed structure.