Howl  Allen  Ginsberg  

We  can’t  even  begin  to  think  about  Howl  without,  at  least  a  little,  thinking  of  the  nearly  hundred  years  prior  Song  of  Myself  by  Walt  Whitman.     Trippers and askers surround me, People I meet, the effect upon me of my early life or the ward and city I live in, or the nation, The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old and new, My dinner, dress, associates, looks, compliments, dues, The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love, The sickness of one of my folks or of myself, or ill-doing or loss or lack of money, or depressions or exaltations, Battles, the horrors of fratricidal war, the fever of doubtful news, the fitful events; These come to me days and nights and go from me again, But they are not Me myself. (Whitman, Song, 4.1-9) The most obvious similarity between the two poems is their structure: both poems utilize a rather long poetic line and both are divided into sections (though Whitman’s is much longer). The poems also employ a non-rhyming style that appears very prose-like. They’re both telling stories (using lots of adjectives to paint a picture). Ginsberg and Whitman are both also concerned with issues of individuality, drawing attention to the fact that society is made up of individuals: I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. (Whitman, Song, 1.1-3) But throughout both there is a real tension between this individual and the society within which he moves. It’s about individuality situated within society, especially for Whitman.

If you’re going to tackle Howl in your essay, I’d suggest that (at least a little) reading Song

and a bit research around the conversation between the two poems might be in order.

The  Beat  Generation       “The  term  ‘beat’,  in  this  restricted  sense,  …  bears  connotations  of  down-‐beat,  off-‐beat,  down-‐and-‐out,  drop-‐out  and  beatitude,  and  denotes  a  group  of  American  writers  (especially  poets)  who  became  prominent  in  the  1950s”  (Cuddon  78).  Further,  “Allen  Ginsberg’s  Howl  and  Other  Poems  (1956)  represents  as  well  as  anything  the  disillusionment  of  the  beat  movement  with  modern  society,  its  materialism  and  militarism  and  its  outmoded,  stuffed-‐shirt,  middle-‐class  values  and  mores”  (78).      

1. What  were  your  first  impressions  of  the  poem?  Did  it  shock/surprise/unsettle  you  in  any  way?  Be  specific!      

 

Read  the  opening  line  of  the  poem:  

I  saw  the  best  minds  of  my  generations  destroyed  by  madness,  starving,  hysterical  naked,  /  dragging  themselves  through  the  negro  streets  at  dawn  looking  for  an  angry  fix  (Ginsberg,  Howl,  1.1-‐2).    

 2. Who  are  the  ‘best  minds’?  

3. How  are  class  and  poverty  presented  in  the  poem?    

4. Is  Howl  an  act  of  rebellion,  and  if  so,  what  (particular  type  of  society)  is  it  rebelling  against?  (Think  about  the  term  ‘beat’).  

5. How  does  Howl  poem  engage  with  the  question  of  American  identity?  

       

 

 

 

Moloch!  Solitude!  Filth!  Ugliness!  Ashcans  and  unobtainable  dollars!  Children  screaming  

under  the  stairways!  Boys  sobbing  in  armies!  Old  men  weeping  in  the  parks!  (Ginsberg,  

Howl,  2.2)