The Similarities of Writting Style in Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”

Although often associated with two completely different eras in American history, both Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman share a great deal in common as two of America’s most famous poets. When it comes to the craft of poetry, both men grew to become extremely influencing figures both within the field and within American society. For example, as mentioned in his biography by Ed Folsom and Kenneth Price, Whitman has had such an influence on others that, “Poetic responses to Whitman sometimes fall into his cadences and in other ways mimic his style” (Folsom and Price). Additionally, Whitman has also influenced, “fiction, film, architecture, music, painting, dance, and other arts” (Folsom and Price) and is known world-wide. Likewise, Ginsberg influenced poetry, for “the Beats”, “encouraged a break from traditional values, supporting drug-use as a means of enlightenment”

Walt Whitman is one of americas greatest poet’s. He was born on long Island at a time before it became a city it was all fields and farms at that time. He left school at age 11; but he kept on educating himself especially he was reading the works of emerson who was a famous author and lecturer. Whitman worked as a newspaper editor in Manhattan but he had the hope and desire to become a Poet. He read emersons essay, “the Poet”, and he started to work on his most famous of all his works which was called “Leave’s of Grass”. It was not a hit at-the-time, the public mostly called it scandalous; because it dealt in part with sexual desire and passion. However, he sent a copy of it to emerson, Emerson was one of the few who praised it. Whitman

Auden and Ginsberg both attempted to define the period of time and turmoil that they lived in as members of “the other” in their respective societies. Both make booming battle cries for a generation, fit well into places of deserved canonical respect, and receive influence from political and personal

"So these poems are a series of experiments with the formal organization of the long line... I realized at the time that Whitman's form had rarely been further explored..." (636). Therefore Allen Ginsberg went on to attempt this form that so inspired him and it is of no coincidence that Ginsberg's style is often analogous with Whitman's.

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.

When I read Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of myself”, it took me a minuet to realize that it was a collection of poems written into one long poem. Once I learned that I made reading it easier.

The Beat Generation began in the 1950’s with a group of writers who took part of this movement were Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Bob Dylan, and William S. Burroughs. They were a group of rebellious free thinkers as well as famous authors during their time. As time progressed into the 1960’s, these men were known as hippies. The Beat Generation was a literary movement. Their radical ways of thinking helped shape what allowed literary figures to publish. The poem “America” written by Allen Ginsberg is one of the many creative works written during the 1950’s. Ginsberg’s poem contains a free verse style, voices such as anger and hatred towards society, and themes such as materialism and The Cold War. This form of writing is what makes his literary works tie into being a

Ginsberg was greatly influenced by Whitman when writing “Howl”. While writing, he was even reading some of Whitman’s poems. He wanted his world to be like how Whitman saw his own world in

One of the most esteemed writers and renowned American poets of the Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg is a distinguished individual in American culture. An important topic in Ginsberg’s life and in his poetry was politics. In several of his poems, he energetically disagrees with materialism, militarism and sexual repression. He is often recognized for his poem Howl, in which he powerfully condemned what he viewed as the detrimental powers of capitalism and obedience in the United States. The poem is one of the classic poems of the Beat Generation.

Allen Ginsberg’s work carries strong the themes of the Beat Generation, a rebellious and melodramatic extravaganza. He grew up protesting World War II, then continued to fill his life with drugs and rebellion. He wrote much of his work during the Vietnam War, a highly opposed war that caused much distress especially in the young male demographic because of the draft. While often containing anti war and anti government rhetoric, his poems usually focus on amorous connections and the troubles of his time. Ravaged by drugs, depression, and debt, the Beat Generation sees many of its core themes in the work of Allen Ginsberg.

The thoughts most people are scared to share they was not. Ginsberg writing showed a lot of people how to express themselves. I am learning how to express myself more by reading Ginsberg’s poetry. Nowadays Ginsberg is still a motivator. I wished the poet was still alive. He would change a lot of things other than literature. The beat generation made people want to come together and work as a team. Ginsberg went through a lot of things growing up. He was wise. He knew how to lead his fellow beats. He had the experience. Allen prayed for the better, but prepared for the worse. It felt like he wasn’t afraid of what would happen to him. Nothing he experienced in his life lead him to have those thoughts. Nothing I had experienced in my life led me to expect what would happen to me in my loneliness(Morgan,2006). I wish I had Ginsberg’s mindset. He had 20/20 vision. That is what his fellow beats loved about him. Allen didn’t want to take all the credit for all his work and accomplishments. He wanted his fellow beats to be recognized as well. They did things together from city to city and Ginsberg wanted everyone to know that. I like the fact that Ginsberg wasn’t a greedy person that wanted all the attention. Some people want to take the credit for every single

“Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.” Allen Ginsberg believed this wholly and based his means of poetry by what he said in this sentence. One cannot censor thoughts, just as one can’t censor expression. Ginsberg faced controversy for sexual content and profanities that he used in his poetry, but those were merely his private thoughts that he brought to the public. His poetry fueled a whole generational revolution in the 1950s. In times of cookie cutter uniformity Allen Ginsberg went against norm and wrote explicit poetry for the sake of expressing a

Walt Whitman is regarded as one of the most influential poets in American history while Allen Ginsberg was and still is considered a leading figure of the Beat Generation. Both of these poets have similar poetic tendencies even though they were almost a century apart from each other. Walt Whitman helped to inspire many literary descendants ranging from writers to poets alike. One of his most famous poems is in his book, “Leaves of Grass”, called “Song of Myself”. Allen Ginsberg can be considered one of Walt Whitman’s literary descendants due to the numerous similarities between “Song of Myself” and Ginsberg’s “Howl”, which is about the real experiences of Americans after World War II.

Title- The song of myself sounds like a poem of self expression, and a gospel of Walt Whitman's’ self beliefs. When his optimistic outlook on life is brought into perspective, one could also conclude that the poem was about his positive and radical outlook on life, because it is a song of himself, his personal expression.

     Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an important figure in the Beat Generation Movement that took place right before the revolutionary American 60¡¦s. Other major beat writers (also called ¡§beatnicks¡¨) were: Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. The beat poetry was meant to be oral and very effective in readings. It developed out of poetry readings in underground clubs.(a beautiful image of these secret clubs can be found in the movie called ¡§Dead Poet¡¦s Society¡¨ with Robin Williams playing the main character). Some argued that it was the grandparent of rap music. The term ¡§Beat