What was allen ginsberg poem howl about

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Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. For a poet or the individual to howl, meant that that person was breaking from the habit of conformity to the virtues and ideals of American civilization and expressing a counter-cultural vision of free expression.

The title also expresses one of the major themes in the poem - that of madness. To howl is usually associated with animals howling at the moon, an image that Ginsberg wanted to convey. The artists of the Beat generation were like animals, instinctively wild and only allowed out at night into an underground scene of literature and jazz not accepted by more cultured members of society.

The moon is also a symbol associated with madness. Medical opinions from the nineteenth century and before believed that persons who were mad or evil would naturally manifest these tendencies when the moon was full. To howl at the moon in poetic and artistic terms, then, is to announce that madness has entered into society and will not be silently put away.

This is a theme that Ginsberg would return to throughout his career. Ginsberg uses a triadic verse form, the form used by his mentor William Carlos Williams, but he extends the lines out to his own long breath length. Each line was meant to be spoken in a single breath.

Ginsberg was specifically trying to use Kerouac's prose and the way his own rhythms mirrored jazz music as inspiration. One important thing to note about "Howl" is that it is a male-centric poem. Ginsberg speaks from a male point of view, but it is a decidedly homosexual male point of view. Like other Beat writers, Ginsberg's poem creates women that are simply ancillary characters to the male protagonists.

Women are there for sex, for children, and to be a kind of anchor for men to the "real world. The male is the hero. He is free to experiment in life; with drugs, with sex, with art. Ginsberg begins "Howl" by describing his subjects. This is arguably the most famous line in all of Ginsberg's poetry: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness While there are traces of narrative within the poem as it moves from location to location, it is meant to be more of a snapshot of Beatnik life.

But there were just as many who never gained literary or artistic fame or who were not even interested in creating their own art or literature or original thought. Madness is a central theme. The militaristic, dominant culture of the time had "destroyed" this generation, driven them into "madness," and left them vulnerable and "hysterical.

This desperation has left them "angry" and in "poverty" and disconnected from the spiritual realities of life But these people are also scared of the authority that has abused them and left them as outcasts.

This is both a physical hardship that has left them poor and unable to honestly earn a living because of their political beliefs and artistic calling, and it is a mental hardship. Ginsberg describes this as " Yet, for as angry and hysterical as these individuals are because of the culture that suppresses them, Ginsberg also suggests that they also represent a certain kind of salvation for the rest of America, though it is a salvation that has yet to be achieved.

He calls these individuals "angelheaded hipsters" and suggests that they are "burning" for a relationship with spiritual things, represented by the starry sky Lines He says that these individuals "bared their brains" to these spiritual things. While there was a strong spiritual dimension to almost all of the Beat writings, Ginsberg does not single out a particular belief system as holding the key to truth.

The "best minds" opened themselves up to "El," which is a name for God used in the Hebrew Bible by the Jews, and they witnessed "Mohammedan angels" in their hallucination, a nod towards Islam. Lines 12 - 15 put these "best minds" in conflict with the established literary and intellectual culture and they refer to Ginsberg's own difficulty within these more refined cultures.

Ginsberg talks of how the "best minds" went to the most distinguished universities, though he notes that they only "passed through," denoting that they did not stay or make any kind of significant academic or intellectual impact on these institutions.

This is because, Ginsberg insinuates, the artistic visions that the "best minds" produced would never be accepted by such institutions. Ginsberg uses the derisive term "scholars of war" to symbolize how academic culture had ceded their power to the political and military power of the day.

He then notes how these "best minds" were expelled from their universities for the kinds of work they published. There was something very attractive and engaging about him. I'd been hearing a great deal about Jack, so when the opportunity presented itself I definitely wanted to meet him.

Allen saw that I was alone, he knew that I was a girl who had an apartment — not easy to find in those days — so he decided that Jack should meet me. One night, while I was visiting, Jack called up on the phone and Allen said: 'Someone wants to speak to you. Allen handed me the phone and Jack said: 'Hi, I hear you're really nice, if you come down to the Howard Johnsons in Greenwich Village, I'll be waiting at the counter in a red-and-black-checked shirt.

Allen was actually away in Paris during the fall of 57 when On The Road came out. I think that whole experience for Jack would have been much better if Allen were here [in the US]. Allen always had a very good sense of how to deal with the media and he would have been happy to take some of the limelight. He had a natural instinct for promotion; it was a gift. I remember him running all around town, to various publishers' offices, trying to get his work and everybody else's work published. He definitely became a public figure, but he was always accessible, he didn't wall himself off at all — he was always out there.

He survived extremely terrible circumstances as a child and he was working out his sexual identity at a time when that was so difficult. He easily could have perished, but I guess there was something always very strong in him and he kept going.

I just think of his terrific, tremendous intelligence and a real generosity of spirit. Ever since he died and the political situation has unfolded here in various distressing ways, I really have missed Allen's voice. Because he would write a poem about that, you know?

There's been no one like that. Neal and Carolyn Cassady's son is a musician who grew up around Ginsberg and remained friends with him all his life.

I remember in , the Beatles had just hit [the US] — I was 14 and a huge fan. I was living with my parents in the house in California and Jack [Kerouac] and Allen and everybody was in and out.

It was kinda an interesting childhood, as you can imagine. I'm sitting across the coffee table from Allen and he goes: 'Johnny!

D'you wanna scoop? You want some dirt? He gave me this look like, 'aren't you Neal Cassady's son — whaddya mean "what's pot? One time my mother threw this huge party in , I forget the excuse.

Allen showed up with this big cast on his right leg, on crutches. I say what happened and he gives me a wink and a nod and says: 'Chasin' women. When the police showed up at the party — we had cars up and down the street for three miles — they saw Allen and asked for his autograph: the cops were fans. I mean, is this a great world or what? Allen was always very kind and a real gentle soul, never selfish at all.

It wasn't until years later that I realised he was a rock star as far as literary history goes. A musician who was Ginsberg's accompanist and collaborator for 20 years. I had no experience of gay people, or Russian Jewish people, or the slums of the Lower East Side bohemia; that was all new to me.

I'd go to his house and he'd say: 'OK, let's make lunch', and he'd empty the entire contents of the refrigerator on to the table. So lunch would be some boiled eggs from yesterday, some rice, some Chinese cabbage, a little caviar, a little sour cream. He was older than my father but he spoke as I did.