Confessionalist Characteristics Of Allen Ginsberg And The Beat Generation

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 beat generation was a movement that sought to oppose American society values, and any sort of control. They explored Eastern religions, was somewhat postmodernism, rejected the materialistic culture, spoke about drugs, our conscious mind, and fought for sexual liberation and exploration with their unapologetically offensive language. While reading the novel Jitterbug Perfume written by Tom Robbin, one can witness how the novel exhibits aspects of the beat literature, and thus concluding that the beat generation served as inspiration to Tom Robbin.

Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” is a thought-provoking piece used to epitomize and give a voice the Beat Movement of the mid-20th century as they sought to reject nearly every aspect of society. Within his writing, he is quite literally “howling” his frustration regarding the conformism plaguing the population and seeks to abolish that by showing and protesting the havoc it has wreaked on even the best, most brilliant minds of his time. In what became an early forerunner to more modern calls for non-conformist action, Ginsberg employs vivid imagery, anaphora, and allusion to convey his message in the mind’s eye of his readers. A key literary device used by Ginsberg is imagery, which he utilizes to trigger the reader’s senses and foster a more holistic understanding of his writing by helping them to develop their

In the very beginning the speaker talks about “Negro streets” , and in contest to the time period, Black culture was segregated from white culture, and references of black culture weren’t found in mainstream white America. He also talks about jazz which is a staple in black culture at the time. Jazz was was also considered rebellious music because it didn’t conform to the rhythm and beat of typical white music at the time. Ginsberg and his fellow poet friends usually sneaked in backrooms in San-Francisco to listen to jazz music, and that is part of the reason why their poetry movement was named “ The beat movement”

Allen Ginsberg dedicates the entire third part of his epic poem, exclaiming his loyalty, to his dear friend, Carl Solomon. The third part of Howl is an example of loyalty that Beatnik artists and intellects have towards one another. In a small community like the Beatniks, it is sensible to be loyal to those whom one can truly trust and connect with as there are more who will challenge you than stand by you. So, it is crucial to hold on to those who share in your successes and tribulations with an open mind and open heart.

During the mid-40s, Ginsberg not only geared all his focus to his writing, but also explore his attraction to men. As a student at Columbia in the 1940s, he began close friendships with his colleagues William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and Jack Kerouac. These men would later become the leading figures that started the Beat movement. This group of men helped sculpt Ginsberg’s perspective on life. Ginsberg called it a “New Vision.”

In terms of personal style, both men had essentially invented and popularized two specific poetic genres, with Whitman favoring free verse and Ginsberg fathering beat poetry. The specific and unique styles of both men spread, with Whitman’s “intoxicating free verse style” (Folsom and Price) and Ginsberg’s “improvisational rhythmical style” ” (“About Allen Ginsberg”) influencing other poets to try to mimic their styles and forcing the recognition of new, distinct poetic genres never seen before. However, style and prominence within the craft are not the only things the two poets have in common—in fact, they also share a similar sense of purpose. Comparing the two, both Ginsberg and Whitman were nothing short of controversial, with the two embracing hotly debated topics, specifically social issues, in their

It was a 1951 TIME cover story, which dubbed the Beats a ‘Silent Generation, ’ that led to Allen Ginsberg’s retort in his poem ‘America,’ in which he vocalises a frustration at this loss of self- importance. The fifties Beat Generation, notably through Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl as will here be discussed, fought to revitalise individuality and revolutionise their censored society which seemed to produce everything for the masses at the expense of the individual’s creative and intellectual potential. Indeed, as John Clellon Holmes once noted: “TIME magazine called them the Silent Generation, but this may have been because TIME was not

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

Allen Ginsberg started his infamous life as a revolutionary and poet of the beat generation when he began attending Colombia University. While at Colombia Ginsberg met friend and mentor Jack Kerouac whom he would later join to form the School of Disembodied Poets. During his education at Colombia University Ginsberg started his highly political and opinionated poems, which would become his signature for the beat

Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl is a three part free form poem dealing with the unjust and unfair power of capitalistic government, and the effects it has on people with less than perfect social standings, specifically during the time of the beat generation. The first part of the poem deals with various reasons why Ginsberg and his friend from the beat generation went metaphorically mad. The second part of the poem, which was written at a later time, has to deal with the unfair amount of power the government has, and what it does to people of lower social classes. And the final part of this poem has to deal with Ginsberg's relationship with Carl Solomon.

He served as the backbone for cultural change through his most famous collection of poems, Howl and other poems which included: California Super Market, Sunflower Sutra, and America. Through Howl a new poetic and narrative voice had blasted into American culture that was spontaneous, fluid, restless, intensely private and yet unashamed of confessions. In this first and most widely recognized line Ginsberg writes, “The best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,/ starving hysterical naked...."(1-2). This new voice would speak of a new generation confronted with atom bombs, cold wars, consumerist materialism, and rampant social conformism, but also the freedom-enhancing possibilities of drugs, jazz, Eastern religions, and outlawed sexual practices. Ginsberg’s revolutionary style of poetry, which emphasized individuality in the 1950’s and 60’s inspired anti-materialism, gay rights, and anti-war movements that are still pertinent in present day America.

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

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

The Beat Generation of poets was created by a group of poets in the 1950s that were part of a new culture in literature. They chose to use their experiences in their writings which were widely criticized as well as loved by many readers. Two of the most influential Beat Poets of that Generation of writers were Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The Beat Generation poetry was the first poets to write about non-conventional subjects as well as using different forms of expression in their works. This generation of poets greatly influenced poets such as Anne Sexton, who wrote about personal experiences as well. The Beat Generation’s style of poetry have influenced many generations of poets after them.