Allen Ginsberg: Poet Allen Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1927. While in high school, he discovered and fell in love with the poetry of Walt Whitman. But despite his interest in poetry his father wanted him to become a lawyer. So Ginsberg studied law at Columbia University, where he met many of his life-long friends and influences. His new group of friends didn't really encourage his studies, and eventually he got suspended from Columbia for various small offenses. He hung around people like Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Lucien Carr, and Neal Cassady, who later became known as the "Beat Authors."