Essay on Howl by Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg’s revolutionary poem, Howl, is a powerful portrayal of life degraded. It represents the harsh life of the beat generation and chronicles the struggles of the repressed. Howl is a poem of destruction. Destruction of mind, body, and soul through the oppression of the individual. Using powerful diction, Allen Ginsberg describes this abolition of life and its implications through our human understanding of abstractions like Time, Eternity, and self. The poem’s jumbled phrasing and drastic emotion seems to correspond with the minds of the people it describes. Ginsberg uses surprisingly precise and purposeful writing to weave the complex

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.

of which help him cope with his unhappiness. Howl is an example of an artistic outlet that Ginsberg

In “Howl”, Ginsberg’s style of writing and structure of the lines are very similar to those in “Song of Myself”. For example, in the first part of “Howl” he constantly uses repetition of the word “who” to describe the experiences of his associates. He uses this repetition to emphasize them as the theme while listing all the ways they were shunned by society and “destroyed by madness”. Ginsberg picked this up from Whitman who uses it in a similar fashion to also describe those were also shunned and cast aside in his

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 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.

Schumacher later writes about how Ginsberg dealt with his sexuality: “Ginsberg made a halfhearted attempt a living a ‘normal’ life, taking up with a girlfriend and working a job, with predictable results. He was encouraged by a psychiatrist to drop the job and live an openly gay lifestyle if that would ease his mind” (102). The point to take away from this is that Alan Ginsberg felt the need to attempt to change his personality to appease society. Society was such that one could not be an openly gay person, and if one was they were to be shunned. The men that attracted Ginsberg’s attention were another problem for him as many of them were mostly heterosexual (99). When one cannot freely confess part of their life the result never comes out well. Ginsberg’s psychiatrist saw the result of the attempted change, and that the best decision was to come free and live the way that Ginsberg truly was. Ginsberg shows this openness in “Howl” and praises this throughout the poem.

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.

The poem Howl written by Allen Ginsberg contains opinions of a speaker, based on witnessed occurrences and observations during a progressive time in a society. It explains of how the “best minds of a generation”(Ginsberg 1), refused to surrender their creative freethinking mindsets for means of conformity. The Moloch character in the poem serves as a symbol to convey internalized feelings of outrage and displease the speaker felt with the government and the domino effect of changes it brought fourth, upon observing the destruction of a generation. Moloch is made out to be a negative unwanted and unwelcomed entity, used to describe the control and rulings of a government. The part of the passage that states, “Robot apartments!

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

In Amy Newman’s “Howl”, she alludes to Sylvia Plath, an American female poet, who is acknowledged for her hardships as a outcasted female in the poetry world due to her oppressive marriage. Newman illustrates Plath as, “[a] star-spangled lost in her housebound Eden curse with orchards and a million gossipy daffodils, writing and nursing and not on the lists...” (Newman). In Allen Ginsberg’s original “Howl” he adverts to male poets he admires of his time, opposingly Newman emulates Ginsberg’s technique and alludes to a feminist iconic poet Sylvia Plath. Newman implements a biblical allusion referencing The Garden of Eden to depict Plath as a successful female poet who was metaphorically locked in her household; where a woman's place

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

There are many similarities between Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and Ginsberg’s “Howl”. Whitman’s influence can be noticed in Ginsberg’s work which range from a similar style of format, structure, a concern with the general population of America, and the impact that these two great writers had on the rest of the literary world. Another significant influence that Whitman has for Ginsberg is the fact that Whitman had been considered an outcast from the literary world of his era. Whitman appeared as a plainly dressed working man rather than a fancy high societal poet. His long winded style, free verse, and sexual exposure made Whitman stand out from the rest of the other poets. Ginsberg was also not accepted among the poets of his generation. His literary works were banned from the public’s eye. Another similarity was between the two was their subject matter. In the introduction of leaves of grass, Malcolm Cowley said, “Its subject is a state of illumination induced by two (or three) separate moments of ecstasy”.

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.