Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 13, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Literature) for Monday, March 13, 2023 (Season 39, Game 131):
A 2006 book was titled “The Poem That Changed America:” this “Fifty Years Later”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Karen Rittenbach, an academic tutor from Freehold, New Jersey![]() |
Roy Camara, a grocery specialist from Crawfordville, Florida![]() |
Stephen Webb, a data scientist from Longmont, Colorado (4-day total: $100,881)![]() |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Last Friday, Stephen Webb won his fourth game. Today, he goes for the very important win #5 against Roy Camara and Karen Rittenbach.
One further note from last week: You may have read articles claiming that Justin Bolsen is the youngest-ever qualifier for the Tournament of Champions. This is patently incorrect. Readers and writers are reminded that from 1987 to 2000, Jeopardy! invited its Teen Tournament winner to the Tournament of Champions. All of those champions would have been younger than Bolsen is, simply by having still been in high school.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is “Howl”?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
“Howl” is the signature work of 1950s Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, famously published in 1956 by fellow poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books in San Francisco. Immediately upon its publication, charges were laid for disseminating obscene literature; however, it was ruled not obscene in 1957.
According to “The Poem that Changed America…” fifty years later, “The trial, and the publicity it garnered, helped confirm not only the poem’s literary and social significance, it also helped to root the poem’s opening line (one of the most famous lines of poetry in world literature) in our collective consciousness.” That line: “I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, naked, hysterical…”
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: ‘Tis Shakespeare; Advertising Icons; Fill In The Blanket; Blossom; The Big Bang Theory; Call Me “Cat”)
Stephen had the best time in the Jeopardy! round, even though he failed to find the Daily Double; Karen found it, but only bet $500 on it. She wasn’t really a factor in today’s game.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Stephen 6 correct 0 incorrect
Roy 4 correct 0 incorrect
Karen 3 correct 1 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Stephen 15 correct 0 incorrect
Roy 6 correct 1 incorrect
Karen 5 correct 2 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Water On The Earth; A Stone Groove; Governors; Deep Thoughts; Dynasties Of Spain; Same Consonant Thrice)
Roy had the best time in Double Jeopardy, finding both Daily Doubles, and betting all of his money both times on it! This meant that Roy had a strong lead going into Final at $28,000, whereas Stephen had an all-Coryat $19,200 and Karen had just $1,500.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Roy 20 correct 3 incorrect
Stephen 23 correct 0 incorrect
Karen 6 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 16 (0 today).
Stephen was the only player to come up with “Howl”, so he is a champion for the fifth time! He’ll go for win #6 tomorrow after a scare! (I guess you might say people cheering for Stephen were saying “Howlelujah!” after that one!)
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, March 13, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Roy $28,000
Stephen $19,200
Karen $1,500
Tonight’s results:
Karen $1,500 – $400 = $1,100 (What is )
Stephen $19,200 + $19,200 = $38,400 (What is Howl?) (5-day total: $139,281)
Roy $28,000 – $10,401 = $17,599 (What is I know why the Caged bird sings?)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Stephen $8,000
Roy $3,800
Karen $700
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) ‘TIS SHAKESPEARE $400 (clue #8)
Karen -800 +500 (Stephen 3000 Roy 0)
2) WATER ON THE EARTH $1600 (clue #2)
Roy 4200 +4200 (Stephen 8000 Karen 700)
3) GOVERNORS $1600 (clue #20, $10400 left on board)
Roy 11200 +11200 (Stephen 15200 Karen 700)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 250
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Stephen 5 4 3 5 2 1 1
Roy
Karen 2*
DJ! Round:
Stephen 5 1 2 5 2
Roy 4* 3 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 5 2 2 4*
Karen 1
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Stephen 3.00
Roy 3.43
Karen 1.50
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 16 (0.12 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Stephen $19,200 Coryat, 23 correct, 0 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Roy $15,800 Coryat, 20 correct, 3 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Karen $1,400 Coryat, 6 correct, 2 incorrect, 12.28% in first on buzzer (7/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,400
Lach Trash: $13,400 (on 11 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,200
Stephen Webb, career statistics:
120 correct, 14 incorrect
9/9 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities)
40.35% in first on buzzer (115/285)
5/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,200)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,000
Roy Camara, career statistics:
20 correct, 4 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $15,400)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,800
Karen Rittenbach, career statistics:
6 correct, 3 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
12.28% in first on buzzer (7/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $500)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $1,400
Stephen Webb, to win:
6 games: 72.776%
7: 52.963%
8: 38.545%
9: 28.051%
10: 20.415%
Avg. streak: 7.673 games.
Today’s interviews:
Karen got to spend 8 days camping in Minnesota.
Roy auditioned the same day his son was born.
Stephen bought scarves in Kyoto from a 400-year-old store.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I found this to be a very enjoyable game for me to watch. I was cheering very loudly throughout, and it was a very satisfying viewing experience overall.
- With $28,000 going into Final, Roy has to be seen as a frontrunner for a spot in Second Chance.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Roy $28,000 Stephen $19,200 Karen $1,500)
Stephen: Limit your bet to $1,599. (Actual bet: $19,200)
Roy: Standard cover bet over Stephen is $10,401.(Actual bet: $10,401)
Karen: Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $400)
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This is a reaction to the proclaimed easiness of the HSR Tournament, isn’t it?🤨😅
So, 1956 made me think “It’s probably some ‘beat’ poet.” And then I thought of Ginsberg “hmm… he was pretty big, wasn’t he?”. And… that’s as far as I got. I couldn’t name a poem of his no matter how much time I had :p
Current FJ streak: 2L
I was way off. Probably by years and content. I guessed Why the caged bird sings.
My brain hurt from trying to decipher what the clue was even ASKING. I finally figured out what it was saying and I had no idea. I’m typically okay with the Literature questions but this one was totally out of my wheelhouse.
This is one of the most awkward phrasings Jeopardy! has ever used.
What?!
I wholeheartedly disagree. In my opinion it’s perfectly clear and well within the phrasing Jeopardy has used for nearly 40 years. If there’s any confusion, that’s on the reader/viewer.
I agree. I even thought “chances are the poem title is a single word (in order to fit into the book title VERY well) or at least VERY short”, UNLIKE ‘I know why the caged bird sings’.
[I wasn’t smart enough to think “beat poets”, much less “Ginsberg”, but if I had, like Michael I would have gotten no further than that. The poem’s opening line is not rooted in my consciousness as I could swear I have never heard it or heard of it, probably because of the very young age I was at the time and living in a small town in the Southeast. However, it makes me wonder if it could have been mentioned in a Lenny Bruce scene of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and flew right past me.]
Upon learning about this, my reaction was that I thought the Supreme Court decision in 1964 (exemplified by justice Potter Stewart noting that “I know [pornography] when I see it, and . . . this case is not that” was a more well known turning point. I did know about that even then.
HOWLing with happiness today! (Got it , )
I got this one and I am howling with excitement! Congrats stephen! Roy is going to be in the second chance tournament I am definitely certain on that. Literature is my forte!
Stephen must have felt really confident with the FJ category because assuming Roy would wager to cover, the only way Stephen wins is if Roy misses FJ, and with Stephen’s wager, he takes away his opportunity to win a double stumper with Roy. Kudos to Stephen.
i completely agree about this being a particularly enjoyable episode, and Roy’s daily double wagering gave me so much life.
is there a stat on winning true daily double twice and still losing the game??
I’m a little confused about about the ‘Same Consonant Thrice’ category tonight. Nobody buzzed in on the $2000 clue about long pooling pants. The answer was “Puddle” but it does not have 3 same consonants. What am I missing here?
It was “Puddled”, not “Puddle”.
Thank you, I just discovered that so I replied to my own post.
Just dug up the questions and answers for today and I see that the official answer was PUDDLED so I am incorrect. I guess I didn’t hear the last D when Ken read the answer. My mistake. 😄
I would have answered The Howl and probably would have lost on a super-technicality
Those of us who lived through the 1950’s had a better shot at this than the three contestants who all appear to be too young for that. Kudos to Stephen for getting this one right. That tells me he really has a broad depth of knowledge which is no surprise considering how well he has done to this point.
With his performance tonight, I’d have to say that Roy is a shoe-in for any upcoming Second Chance Tournament. Agree that this was a really enjoyable episode of Jeopardy! tonight.
Edit: “Shoe-in” should be “Shoo-in.” Sorry about that (typing too fast).
Sometimes I loose my place when typing…
The younger contestants are more likely exposed to Ginsberg poems in high school and college that those who grew up in the 50s ad 60s who read more of TS Eliot, Auden, Pound, Frost etc
You’re probably right about that, Ron. I read all of those poets you mentioned in either high school or college. Because of those classes and my life timeline, I also read Ginsberg. Nice to think that younger generations are being exposed to Ginsberg, etc. Thanks for your feedback.
I read a lot of Kerouac’s books when I was a teen in the 90’s. I think I even wrote a paper on Howl. Didn’t remember it as having changed America. Wish I had that essay though.
I presume that the titles of the categories from the right side of the game board (as we look it at from home,) where inspired by the shows Mayim was featured in, and, hoped that they’d be used in a game she hosted. But, the draw had them being used in a game hosted by Ken.
Literature, especially in a Final Jeopardy is admittedly not a strong point for me. When the clue was shown/read, I said what poem, what book? Maybe I’ll do better with the next FJ.
obviously in mentally editing my comments about titles for catgories being inspired by shows Mayim was featured in, I neglected to write in the Jeopardy round.