Analysis of Ginsberg's Howl Essay

Ginsberg describes Beatniks who ate, wept, coughed, plunged, cut, balled, hiccupped, howled, broke, burned, cowered, and sank, yacketyyakking, screaming, vomiting, whispering. These endless verbs range from ecstatic to violent and give the poem an almost frantic tone that reflects the lives of the oppressed. Ginsberg even titles his poem “howl,” a cry of emotion and sorrow. To howl is to wail in self-pity, to be helpless and alone. Hearing a howl is both frightening and piercingly sad. A howl is a perfect representation of the collective cry of the Beats; a people trapped like helpless animals with nothing to do but howl in despair.

The standards of obscenity and what is and is not protected by the First Amendment has evolved as the fields of literature and art have expanded. In 1956, the headlines were filled with mentions of Howl being fought about in court. Howl, a poem written by Ginsberg, is focused on the “outcast” groups of American society such as the mentally ill, members of the LGBT community, and drug users. Originally, he did not intend for the poem to get out to the public due to the references from his own life with past loves, friends, and experiences. But Ferlinghetti, overhearing the poem read for the first time publically, offered to publish the poem. Soon afterwards, the poem was taken to court. The personal bits and certain details of the poem got the poem sent to court where it was put through the newer standards and reading practices to determine obscenity. At the end of the trial, the judge determined that Howl was not be obscene and was protected by the First Amendment.

Ginsberg’s use of anaphora forces us to question the historical origins of both social afflictions and collective resistance in Howl, this blurring of the poet’s central objects of identification implies that his lamentation for the madness of his own generation is also a lamentation for the blighted hopes and wasted intellects of their precursors (384).

Allen Ginsberg’s collection Howl and Other Poems is a collection of poems that exudes rebellion. Every word and every stanza that Ginsberg writes throughout every single one of the poems is fueled with intentionality, and is used very purposefully to achieve a greater meaning. The entire collection is an allegory, Ginsberg publishes it in 1956, a time period

In William Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell, he declares that "the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom…Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained." These beliefs are reiterated and expanded upon in both Toni Morrison’s novel Sula and Allen Ginsberg’s epic poem Howl. Both authors challenge the conception of socially imposed boundaries, which suppress the absolute freedom of thought and action, by venerating the human characteristic of excess. Instead of abiding by the social norms of the general cultural animosity towards excess, Morrison and Ginsberg use this vilified "attribute" as a means to transcend the aforementioned

Allen Ginsberg was one of the greatest admired Beat Generation poets, who particularly used free flowing, aggressive and occasionally a discourteous style of language to show that the rule and social structure over heterosexuality can be filled with opposition, so he decided to release queerness. Ginsberg strongly disputed capitalism and conformity that notably consisted of sexual repression, so he incorporated in the development of counterculture and challenged the heteronormative, procreation-driven society and was done with living at society’s limits. The idea of beat literature has a capricious form, although, also considers the customary narration techniques, and indeed masculinist and heterosexist prospects. The Beat generation indicates an individual that has been put down, or has been oppressed around with deviated norms. Therefore, this impression of queerness is a representation of him being an activist in society and used to take action to encourage his differences, which contributes to strange and prohibited behaviours. In this essay, being central to vicious and pleased queer performative spaces in the city and embodying sexuality, it will examine Allen’s, ‘Howl’ and ‘Sunflower Sutra’, interpreting queer theory, and that it is essential to ideas of gender and sexuality that are necessary for radical solidarity, Allen being a gay activist his principles of his character seem unreasonable or destructive in contemporary political circumstances in America’s sexual

In Allen Ginsberg’s poem, Howl, we are exposed American culture and society in the 1940s-50s through the narrator’s eyes. According to the narrator, the society looks down upon those who don’t conform to its rules and culture. This materialistic and militaristic culture had destroyed and drove them with “madness” and starved with “hysterical naked” looking for “an angry fix”. Just like the title suggest, this poem is a loud cry for the generation oppressed by the conformed American society that didn’t value artistic creativity. He openly describes and discusses his experiences in drug uses and involvement in various of unusual incidents and how they could be associated with the search of spiritual/ religious madness. Right away, we get a religious sense from this poem through the words like “angel headed hipsters”, “heavenly connection” and “Mohammedan angels”. Ginsberg uses different religious/spiritual imagery and implication to portray the oppression his generation face. He calls for change in the current political and social system of his time.

Good art never dies, but rather lingers on in the minds of the society. Allan Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” has relevance many years after it was written. “Howl” is a poem, and a story about the history of the beat generation, and the philosophies of the beat poets. At the time that Howl was written America was in the middle of the cold war, and conservatism was the norm. The shocking nature and vulgar language of “Howl” makes the poem unique during a time when having your hair long, or even having a beard was risqué. Allan Ginsberg makes the reader think about their freedom and expression during the time when even the society is against them. By using his obscene, even by today’s standards, words he startles the read and gives them the branch to

The form of Ginsberg’s poem challenges the American culture by resistance from “best minds”. Howl is separated to three sections that include long lines, which look like paragraphs. Resisting

Century apart, Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman share similar cultural, political and moral values, which they express in their literary work. Whitman’s writing is considered controversial for the eighteen hundreds. He sets the stage for generations to come breaking way from the strict Victorian poetic tradition by writing in free verse. Ginsberg follows his footsteps when composing his poem “Howl” by writing in long lines almost resembling prose and subdividing the poem into several parts. Likewise, he uses numerous repetitions to achieve rhythmicity of his verse. Ginsberg’s poem is heavily influenced by Whitman’s philosophy. The works “Song of myself” and “Howl” are similar in ideas, structure and underling themes. The two authors protest against old traditions imposed on the individual by corrupt society, stand against conformity and put emphasis on the need for change. They identify with their generation and dwell on themes such as sexuality, religion and the state of American society.

Ginsberg’s work often represents a struggle for spiritual survival in a dehumanized, repressive society. This can be seen in his writing of “Howl”:

The Beat Generation is a literary movement during the 1950s that consisted of male authors including the widely known Allen Ginsberg, who explored American culture in their poems. The Beat Generation could be described as misogynistic and patriarchal due to their exclusion of women and concerns confined to only male outcasts. In Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 “Howl”, he brings his audience’s attention to male outcasts in society. In her 2015 “Howl”, a critical response to Ginsberg’s “Howl”, Amy Newman explores the oppression outcasted women endure in a male-dominated culture through the allusions of an admired female poet, Ginsberg’s original stanza form, and utilizing diction to convey a woman's perspective antithetically to Allen Ginsberg's original.

Poet Allen Ginsberg composed "Howl" in 1955 and it was published by City Lights Books of San Francisco, CA the following year. He composed the poem in the middle of the 1950s, one of the greatest decades in history for mainstream America. It had been a decade since the American and Allied victory in the second world war. Numerous American men returned home to a country in much better shape than expected, with many women having entered the workforce to keep the economy and industry alive in their absence. The spoils of war were great and America saw a great era of prosperity and domestic, suburban bliss. More interstate highways were constructed. Many more cars were produced and bought. It was a classic era for mainstream American culture in the 1950s. Yet in the haze of the suburbs, expansion of television, growth of Hollywood, and cars, present here were the seeds of rebellion and counterculture that was more indicative of the following decade, 1960s. One such seed is the poem

Whitman and Ginsberg share the same points of view that can be seen through not only the words in their poetry, but through how they share similar poetic techniques. In part 1 of “Howl”, Ginsberg repeats the word “who” to begin many of the lines. This gives readers the impression that every strophe in “Howl” is separated with the word “who”. In “Song of Myself”, Whitman often used such devices of repeated identification, here he writes, “It cannot fall the young man who died and was buried, Nor the young woman who died and

What Allen Ginsberg did in 1955 was unthinkable. In the midst of McCarthyism and severe anticommunist sentiment, he wrote a poem in which he admitted having belonged to the Communist party. Yet, even more surprising was that he didn't stop there. In his poem "America," Allen Ginsberg challenges the beliefs and values that the United States has always cherished, leaving no stone unturned, and no feather unruffled. Always the cynic and revolutionary, Ginsberg slaughters the sacred cows.