Allen Ginsberg's Howl

The "Beat Movement" in modern literature has become an important period

in the history of literature and society in America. Incorporating

influences such as jazz, art, literature, philosophy, and religion, the

Beat writers created a new and prophetic vision of modern life and

changed the way an entire generation of people see the world. That

generation is now aging and its representative voices are becoming lost

to eternity, but the message is alive and well. The Beats have forever

altered the nature of American consciousness.

The impact of the Beats would certainly not have been as universal or

influential if not for the writing of one poem; "Howl" by Allen

Ginsberg:

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,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly

connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.(1-3)

These lines, perhaps the most well known in 20th century poetry, serve

as a thematic statement for a poem that offers a new way of thinking, a

sense of hope of escape from the "Molochs" of society. The story of the

poem's history serves well as an account of the birth of the Beat

Generation. Ginsberg's life leading up to the writing of "Howl," the

actual creation of the poem, its legendary first reading, and the

aftermath of its public debut all figure prominently into the history of

the literary movement. One can understand the impact of the poem on the

Beat Generation by studying not only the chronology of its past, but its

intricate and unique structure as well as its themes and ultimate

message. Following is an examination of the poem as the great

expression of Beat defiance, beginning with a short history of the poem.

Ginsberg's Beat career began at Columbia University in 1943 where he

met Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassidy and others. This

group of writers would remain life-long friends of Ginsberg and

influence him in myriad ways. The history of "Howl," however, begins in

1953 after Ginsberg's move to San Francisco in search of poetic

inspiration. Having moved away from the camaraderie of his group of New

York friends, Ginsberg began to feel dislocated and depressed. Ginsberg

knew he was at a crossroads in his art between his apprenticeship to

academic models of literature (mentor William Carlos Williams

specifically), and breaking through to a personal voice which could sing

of experience beyond the bounds of what was permissible - by 50's