BUNEA VALENTIN LEONARD
GROUP 3A, ENGLISH-AMERICAN STUDIES
ALLEN GINSBERG, ¡§HOWL¡¨ AND THE LITERATURE OF PROTEST
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 Generation¡¨ was coined by Kerouac in the fall of the 1948 in New York City. The word ¡§beat¡¨ referred loosely to their shared sense of spiritual exhaustion and diffuse feelings of rebellion against what they experienced as the general conformity, hypocrisy and materialism of a larger society around them caught up in he unprecedented prosperity of postwar America.
The beat poetry was the most anticanon form of literature in the United States. The poetry is a cry of pain and rage, a howl at what the poets see as the loss of America¡¦s innocence and as a tragic waste.
Allen Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey. His parents were second generation Russian- Jewish immigrants, left-wing radicals interested in Marxism, nudism, feminism, generally in the modern revolutionary ideas of his times. This background certainly did influence his evolution as a revolutionary poet. His father, Louis Ginsberg, was a teacher and a poet, whose work was published in New York Times. During Ginsberg¡¦s childhood, his mother, Naomi Ginsberg, started to suffer from paranoia. She was institutionalized and eventually lobotomized. She died in an asylum in 1956. her life is the subject one Allen¡¦s poem entitled ¡§Kaddish¡¨ and which was written as a compensation of her funeral service.
After he graduated a public high school, Ginsberg won a scholarship from Columbia University where he became a famous student, making friends with Williams Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. An...
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Ginsberg¡¦s style is not disciplined, but based on a spontaneous utterance of ideas, violating all the current artistic canons, provoking a literary and social scandal. The powerful representations of the urban realities, of the language and matter of the urban streets were meant to induce powerful reactions of the reader. He brought the culture down to the level of streets and neighborhoods. That¡¦s why the language and the images are obscene, including symbolism and direct references to oral and anal sex, homosexuality and drug use. We can even say that the form of the poem seems to be a self exploration, shaped after his own life.
What Ginsberg manages to do is to freely express his attitudes the way they overwhelm him: defiance, longing, terror, hysteria, prayer, anger, joy, exhaustion, culminating with madness and suicide.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
„« www.sparknotes.com
„« www.questia.com
„« UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE- ¡§OUTLINE OF AMERICAN LITERATURE¡¨
„« NORTON ANTHOLOGY
Historical events Ginsberg cited directly reflect the society which influenced him. They also show the bitter twist the speech's words "here gave their lives that the nation might live" to those Americans involved in these events. Sacco and Vanzetti, whom Ginsberg mentioned powerfully in the poem, are good examples of this. Sacco and Vanzetti were tried and convicted of killing two men and stealing $15,000 from the scene.... ...
A very well known and unusual poet of the early 1960's Allen Ginsberg captured many supporters and friends with his literary works. Allen Ginsberg led a very atypical life, and his poems reflect his lifestyle and the lifestyle of those who influenced him. Allen's work is a reflection of his life experiences, the vast influences of his family and friends formed him into the superior poet he was.
Marriage is considered as one of the most important decisions and events in a woman’s life, even though; she has no direct control over this romanticized idea, especially in this typical patriarchal society. The wisdom and cleverness of Penelope, which she uses in The Odyssey to free herself from the traps set up by the greedy and ruthless suitors, have distinguished her from the female supporting characters in the epic poem and hence, dismissed her from the assigned role as a female in a patriarchal society that the Greek’s culture had unequally attached for thousands of years. Penelope demonstrates her intelligence at the beginning of the epic poem when she cleverly esc...
Individuals in “Howl” are stripped away from claiming ample opportunities of being artistic, free, and have particular aesthetic sensibilities. “Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch...Moloch the incomprehensible prison...Moloch whose mind is pure machinery….” (1400) Ginsberg’s poem criticizes the lack of individual expression throughout society. Saying Beatniks who ate, wept, coughed, plunged, cut, balled, hiccupped, howled, broke, burned, cowered, and sank, yacketyyakking, screaming, vomiting, and whispering. Described endless depictions of how Moloch’s power over the lives of the oppressed gave his “filth, solitude, and, loneliness” (1400). Kept consciously destroying the minds of men and women alike. Intellectuals had done nothing wrong, yet vices and society tore them apart and killed them. Moloch from this perspective can be seen as an antithesis to of his generation. A concrete void, one who opposes individual freedom and love. However, Ginsberg’s poem initiated a call for self-expression and the use of rebellious language was a means towards a cultural and political oppression. Stand up against politics, society, and culture that ultimately brought down the youth culture of
Ginsberg and education could be compared to mixing blood with ketchup – completely and utterly horrid. The best minds, in the perspective of Ginsberg, are entrapped by education
One important characteristic that Penelope and Odysseus share is their loyalty to each other. Odysseus failed to return home seven years after the Trojan war. Because he is assumed dead, 108 wealthy noblemen and princes invade his palace and refuse to leave until Penelope has married one of them. By marrying her, the suitors hope to gain control over Odysseus’s wealth and power. However, Penelope remains faithful to Odysseus. But, as a woman, she is powerless to remove the suitors from the palace. And without a man in the household, she is subject to her father’s decisions. However, despite his wish for her to remarry, Penelope clings to the hope of Odysseus’s return and remains faithful to him. She waits and gathers information by asking strangers who arrive in Ithaca about Odysseus. She goes through the stories of their encounter point by point, and asks about every detail while tears stream down her eyes. Although the suitors promise her a secure future, Penelope continues to wait for Odysseus. Without Odysseus, she does not believe that she will ever be happy again.
Marriages consists of two lovers who never forget each other no matter how long it's been and no matter how much they’ve changed. They know things about each other that no one else does, sometimes they even have secret signs that only the other will recognize. This is the same case for Penelope and Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey; even though they have been apart for almost 20 years, and Odysseus is in disguise, Penelope still recognizes him. In their conversation, Odysseus drops clues that only Penelope would recognize and says things to make her suspicious causing her to realize that Odysseus finally came back.
The chief suitor, Antinoos, uses the word cunning to describe the queen after she had been able to deceive them (Homer 2.97). Penelope did this, firstly, by stalling her weaving, a task which she has insisted she must finish before she would be prepared to marry any of the suitors. However, Penelope never intended to complete her project, for “ ‘every night by torchlight she unwove it; / and so for three years she deceived the Akhaians.’ ” (2. 113-124). By unweaving the burial shroud - which she had been crafting for Odysseus’ father, Laertes - each night it was left incomplete, until an unfaithful maid told the suitors her secret. Despite having been discovered, Penelope’s ruse had successfully stalled the suitors for three - almost four - years. This would not be the last time she used her guile to delude the advances of her suitors. Nearing the end of the work Penelope proposes a challenge to these men, that who ever had the ability to string
In addition to making a manipulative compromise with the suitors, she manages to delay her completion of making the shroud, and therefore her marriage even further through secretive plots later described by Antinous as follows, “‘So every day she wove on the great loom/ but every night by torchlight she unwove it;/ and so for three years she deceived the Akhaians’” (2.110-2.112). Even though all this time has passed, Penelope continues to carry out her deceiving plot with the shroud. While she weaves it during the day, it proves that she understands the importance of the suitors seeing her progress as coming closer to the finish will allow her marriage. At night, Penelope’s unweaving of the shroud proves her utter devotion to her husband Odysseus even though he has disappeared and many people believe him to be dead. Everytime she unweaves the shroud, she spends enormous time, energy, and effort on metaphorically turning back time so that she doesn’t have to marry someone besides Odysseus. Penelope would easily be able to live a happy, easy life with one of the suitors; yet, she chooses a much harder path of life with Odysseus, who won’t necessarily come back. Hence, Penelope’s devoted character is portrayed through the symbolism of the shroud she weaves and unweaves for her father-in-law
Penelope is a very influential character in The Odyssey. She is an excellent match for Odysseus in that she is almost as clever as he. She is capable of using ingenuity and wit to accomplish many things throughout the story. She faithfully holds off the suitors in hope that her husband Odysseus will return from the Trojan War alive. She gives a test to the suitors that she knows only her husband could perform. Penelope also tests Odysseus himself by making a statement about moving his bed. This caused him to react rather intensely, and she then believes that her husband has returned home.
While Odysseus is away, Penelope fights of the suitors. She sets many challenges for the suitors, and in return they receive her hand in marriage. During these contests she hopes for Odysseus return, so she doesn't have to choose a suitor. Luckily none of them accomplish one before Odysseus returns home.
Penelope was being sought after by many of the suitors trying to make her their wife in her time of despair so that they can take control of Ithaca and Penelope's heart along with it. But throughout everything Penelope remained loyal to Odysseus, even after he had been lost for 20 years she did not lose hope and with everything else she still managed to hold the suitors at bay. “Penelope promised that she would make her choice when she had finished the fine linen web... All day long she worked at her loom and each night when the young lords were sleeping she would undo all the work that she did that day” (Sutcliff 47).
...g with many individuals, are alienated and in turn, wish for extreme change and even another life. Ginsberg conveys a vital message that carries through to the year 2010 even more. Materialism does not make a person, it is insignificant. What is imperative is the natural world; beauty, individuality, and real human interactions as these are concepts that make an individual.
The society around us changes constantly and if we don’t catch up, we can possibly find ourselves in a suffering of our own madness. Ginsberg lived in a society in which homosexuals were unacceptable in which had to be treated with shock therapy. We can easily see why one can be driven to madness because it is hard for one individual to change the minds of many. Over time though we can see the issue being resolved and the acceptance of gays is becoming popular. But that is just the thing though, why must we let society define who we are and how to live? As far as I’m concerned, we are all human, no different from one another. Ginsberg’s poem Howl is important to read because it gives us insight into the cruel side of society in which people are constantly living in. With that knowledge, we can learn be more fair and to treat other people like equals and not opposites. We can take the initiative as individuals to make equality known and freedom
People in love do what they have to do to survive. Odysseus shows his true colors in this chapter. He is portrayed as a great king, warrior, and hero, yet Odysseus has trouble keeping it in his pants. Penelope, Odysseus' wife, has stayed faithful to her husband at home. She is not completely innocent when it comes to the suitors, but she fights the suitors off in her own twisted ways. Penelope enjoys the attention that she has lacked since Odysseus left twenty years ago.