Explication Of Allen Ginsberg Howl

Ginsberg was institutionalized for a plea bargain when him and his friend stole some things from a University professor and was caught having some of the belongings in Ginsberg apartment while Solomon was in for depression, and suffers from delusion. Ginsberg compares his mother to Solomon “I’m with you in Rockland where you imitate the shade of my mother” (96) Ginsberg’s mother was also institutionalized for recurrent epileptic seizures and paranoia and underwent numerous electrotherapy and lobotomy, she was hospitalized for 15-years (charters, 4)—this took a toll on Ginsberg life, he became traumatized which lead to problems in his adult

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.

In both Ginsberg's poem and Waldo's essay, society creates additional harm rather than aid. Ginsberg writes " I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix..." Ginsberg reflects on how backward his generation turned out to be because of society and the culture already at bay. A culture of white picket fences that camouflage the mass culture and bigotry that put a strain on the individual. The best minds were outcast of the society who didn't conform but used drugs as an angry fix to relieve themselves.

Ginsberg addressed the inner workings of his complicated mind through his poetry, but he also inspired his readers to do so as well. Ginsberg was notorious for representing a variety of controversial issues, but he was also a part of the drug scene as a means of expanding personal exploration towards questioning the human condition. In his travels alongside his partner, Peter Orlovsky, Ginsberg was inspired by a variety of psychedelic drugs and the peaceful acceptance of Eastern religions to develop a “global consciousness” that challenged his native society (Schumacher). In the same way rock music of the counterculture combined different types of music, Ginsberg's poetry uniquely combined styles of poetry, religious influences, and drug-induced creative thought processes to question his reality living in a Christian-dominated society. One passage of “Howl” in particular reads, “I’m with

Ginsberg expresses what Moloch means to him. The “best minds” are exposed to the unpleasant feeling of being remote from society if they did not follow their callings. Those callings create solitude of man from one another and the world as a whole. Members of the American society sacrifice their time and emotions for an unobtainable wealth they can never receive. Ginsberg reflects on poverty of the time the “best minds” were living in which left the children homeless and on the streets. Ginsberg expresses American society taking the young people and making them go mad by stating that boys were in armies and old men in parks. Moloch creates the filth and ugliness the “best minds” are forced to live in if they do not conform to the ideals of the modern society they

Years after the end of the great depression, the 1950’s brought fourth the coming of the modernized America though economic expansion. This passage, along with the rest of the poem, possesses a sense of harbored feelings, which are translated through the graphic descriptions. What could have contributed to this was a sudden change from observing a society that was once more connected to the earth, to one that had become more centered on capitalism and economic materialism. When Ginsberg writes, “Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy! Moloch whom I abandon!”(Ginsberg 9), It signifies the speaker’s refusal to conform, embodying an anti-establishment

Ginsberg was a major figure in the Beat Poetry movement. The Beat Movement involved a literary group challenging materialism and conformity while also focusing on expressing their individuality. It took place from 1950-1959, in Post-War America. The movement’s main “branches” were in San Francisco, Southern California, and New York (Beat Movement 1). Members of the movement were called “Beatniks”, and they were very carefree in nature.

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

Ginsberg was educated and well traveled but gay and a heavy drug user which influenced his life and writing. Ginsberg, as we all are, was heavily influenced by his mother who was a “... mentally unstable mother...” (Shmoop Editorial Team) According to Black's Medical Dictionary “manic depression seems to run in some families” (Depression) and to those who are familiar with bipolar depression “is a serious form of the disorder [depression] that recurs throughout life and produces bouts of abnormal elation ­ the

In Howl Allen Ginsberg uses a series of scenes and numerous images of confusion, disorder, and violence to show the Beat Generation’s life and thoughts. The best minds of the Beat Generation respect Moloch. Moloch is a symbol to represent the power of the society and controls material possessions. However, Moloch oppresses them and they bear the spiritual starving, which express Ginsberg’s criticism about social suppression and pursuit of material possessions. For them, the actual life is hopeless and only drugs, alcohol, and sex can make them forget sadness and affliction. They also choose to suicide to release: “jumping down the stoops off fire escapes off windowsills off Empire State” and “cut their wrists three times”. These varied scenes

The world today is filled with a lot of good authors, poets, and writers. Sometimes I wish I was a writer. I have read and focused on the works of a lot of good poets. Allen Ginsberg is an amazing poet. He is legendary. The work that he has done will always be remembered. I like the person Ginsberg was when he was growing up. People spoke a lot about him. Nowadays people still follow his work. He was born in Newark, New Jersey. Ginsberg attended high school in Paterson, New Jersey. After high school Ginsberg attended Columbia University where he graduated from in 1948. Writing poetry was one of Ginsberg’s strengths. His famous poems mean a lot to some people. A lot of people are living the same way Ginsberg lived just by reading his poems.

Allen Ginsberg is a brand name of the Beat Generation. In Howl, Allen Ginsberg expresses his unconventional views of society throughout the poem. He references his hate for mainstream living and his love for the dark underground world of self expression and spiritual freedom. Ginsberg’s language and opinions are contentious for the 1950s. Howl is written to open the eyes of Americans, and to cry out against conformity and exploitation.

Allen Ginsberg was one of the founding fathers of what is considered the Beat Generation and the Beat Movement. Throughout his entire life he wrote multiple poems which voiced his certain opinions and thoughts about what America had been going through at the time. American poet, writer, and philosopher, Allen Ginsberg uses his life experiences and ideas on resistance, freedom, and the Beat Movement to express specific ideas within his poems.

Allen Ginsberg; philosopher, activist, poet, a man highly revered as a groundbreaking figure between the 1950’s Beat Poetry Generation and the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960’s (poetryarchive.org). Ginsberg’s first book “Howl and Other Poems,” was published in 1955, his work was involved in an illustrious obscenity trial because of the use of homosexuality in his work and its explicit content (poetryarchive.org). This was a pivotal case for those defending free speech; the judgment was overturned due to the book’s “redeeming social importance,” thus setting the tone for his

Ginsberg lived to shock the masses through his poetry; as a gay man from Jewish parents