Challenging the Modernity of American Culture: The Howl by Allen Ginsberg

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

and his “best minds” pals encounter during a time after World War II. The “who” relates to Ginsberg

Lee notices that Ginsberg’s use of anaphora questions “the historical origins of both social afflictions and collective resistance in Howl.” The “origins of both social afflictions” and “collective resistance” stems from America’s need to impose unrealistic expectations on young people. Ginsberg idealizes America’s youth by celebrating their imperfection. Ginsberg “blurs” his “central objects of identification” by finding a connection between the insanity that Carl Solomon and Naomi Ginsberg share. The “blighted hopes and wasted intellects” of America’s past and present generation are subject to

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

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.

With reference to Ginsberg's emulation of Walt Whitman's content, the Norton Anthology, Postmodern American Poetry, states that, "Ginsberg proposed a return to the immediacy, egalitarianism and visionary ambitions of Blake and Whitman." (130). His poem "America" caters toward themes of democracy, something Whitman's poetry also does. Yet unlike Whitman, Ginsberg takes a more questioning stance on America and does not use his poem to praise the nation.

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

Ginsberg asserted that the best minds were the underrepresented outcast. For example, Ginsberg states beginning of the poem, “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” (1-2). From the beginning of the poem, the reader would expect Ginsberg talking about intellectual people such as scientists, philosophers, inventors, etc. The best minds were regular people who had dreams and lived their life to the fullest. They would go to bars, look down on NY, talk about philosophy, do drugs, and be sexually active. It prevalent to our society

Rant Within the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg, the author delivers a brilliant example of remarkable word usage, and emotion. The poem illustrates how Ginsberg’s journey of exploration, hardship, and pain affected him for the rest of his life. At the time of its publishing, some of the language he used in the work was considered obscene and as a result, was banned in the U.S. His descriptions of places and happenings are both vague and intricate at the same time, compelling one’s imagination to participate in an attempt to relate to the words in some minor way. The language is harsh, but guides the readers to his locations and through his experiences. In the 1950s people dealt with poverty, war, civil rights, and drugs. Ginsberg’s poem is a

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.

Therefore, in the very beginning, Ginsberg presents to the reader the subject and tone of the poem in the context of this question. Ginsberg’s questions make the audience realize the seriousness of the issues that this poem discusess, such as America, politics, war, humanity, and ethics.

It is evident from the very beginning that Ginsberg is disillusioned with American society, and he is ready to turn his back on what he feels has been oppressing him. "America I've given you all and now I'm

This poem is sometimes referred to as a violent “howl” of human anguish. It attacks the forces of conformity and mechanization that Ginsberg believed destroyed the best minds of his generation. This poem has no real structure or rational connection of ideas, and the rules of grammar are abandoned in order to pack imagery into one line. The poem points the way toward a new and better existence, chronicling the pilgrimage of the “mad generation” toward a reality that is timeless and placeless, holy and eternal.

After this point, it seems that the destruction has taken its course and there is nothing left but emptiness and everyone “battered bleak of brain all drained of Brilliance in the drear light of Zoo.” The last “fantastic Book,” “open door,” and “piece of mental furniture” represent any remaining originality, opportunities, and ideas that were left being “thrown out the tenement window” and “slammed shut” by society and the capitalist system.

Allen Ginsberg’s poem “America” is a one-sided poem that should be viewed as an attempt to question America’s ethical and moral values during early 1950. He starts out by using sarcasm to show his disaffection with the political movements and figures of the time. Ginsberg confesses to behaviors to which do not comply with the social norms of the day. He was known to experiment with illegal drugs, “I smoke marijuana every chance I get” (Ginsberg). He engaged in sexual practices, drank in excess, and condemned America. He himself was part of the counterculture of the 1950s known as the Beats. He was considered a spiritually and sexually liberated ambassador for tolerance and enlightenment (PBS, 2015). “America” is filled with accusations about America; the author asks us to consider several rhetorical