Most literary movements can be traced back to a specific time and place. It begins with a few writers defying the previous movement’s rules.The renaissance began with two. The romantics: five. Following suit, the Beat generation was born when a few friends in and around Columbia University joined together to start a literary revolution. The Beats were defiant, free, and unattached. They believed poetry didn’t have to follow rhyme and meter to have meaning. They believed in throwing out the general rules of literature. They were a “generation of crazy, illuminated hipsters suddenly rising and roaming America” (Kerouac 13), who wrote their own style of literature while on their bohemian travels. The Beats were the founders of the American counterculture …show more content…
Jack Kerouac, Lucien Carr, and Allen Ginsberg were all enrolled in Columbia University, somewhat begrudgingly. Columbia was a traditional school with traditional values. Carr was attracted to the “restricted” section of the library, Ginsberg was attracted to Carr, and Kerouac would drop out twice. These rebellious qualities brought these boys together. They shared a kindred spirit, a hatred for society. These three got involved in pranks, consumed illegal substances (courtesy of their friend William Burroughs, a fellow Beat), and discussed literature, “vowing to live by truth to the end” (Ginsberg 12). They called themselves the “New Vision.” Ginsberg, Carr, and Kerouac were only a few of the “first wave” of Beat generation, but they can be credited as its true …show more content…
He was the son of Louis Ginsberg, a poet and schoolteacher, and Naomi Levy Ginsberg. Naomi was a paranoid schizophrenic, and a communist, who often took her son to communist meetings during the Great Depression. His family was Jewish and were Russian immigrants (Gladysz 1). In a time of general disgust at anything other than “normal” with race, mental illness, and political ideology, it was not easy for Ginsberg. These factors all set him outside of the norm, especially among the WASPs of Columbia. His father’s poetry was not famous, but at least relatively well known in the tri-state area. Allen Ginsberg hated it. It followed rhyme scheme and pattern, and was not unique in any way for the post-WWII time period. His father did pique his interest in poetry, however, which affected his learning. He knew all about the structure of poetry, which made him useful when it came to defying it. He could write well, and in order to challenge something it is best to have an in-depth knowledge of it. His later poetry reflected his understanding of syntax and literary devices, though used in different ways. In his poem named after his hometown, Paterson, he muses
“if in antechambers I face the presumption of department store supervisory employees, old clerks in their asylums of fat, the slobs and dumbbells of the ego with money and power to hire and fire and make and break and fart and justify their reality of wrath and rumor of wrath to wrath-weary
... Without the authors William Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac, the Beats would not have been nearly as memorable. Their views on homosexuality, drugs, religion, and politics were considered radical and even revolutionary for the time period. It gave them a longevity that would only be matched by the restless individuals of the 1960s individuals influenced directly by the Beat philosophy. The Beat Generation single-handedly paved the path to future waves of counter-culture.
Allen Ginsberg was a Jewish American poet, born June 3, 1929, he’s poetry vigorously opposed such topics as militarism, economic materialism and sexual repression. Ginsberg is best known for his epic poem "Howl", in which he denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. In his early years, Allen was born into a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey, his father Louis Ginsberg was a published poet and a high school teacher. Ginsberg's mother, Naomi Ginsberg, was affected by a psychological illness that was never properly diagnosed. She was also an active member of the Communist Party and took Ginsberg and his brother Eugene Ginsberg to secret Communist meetings.
Tytell, John. "The Beat Generation and the Continuing American Revolution". American Scholar 42 (1973): 308-317.
America was built on rebellion. This was no different for the Beat Generation whom took Americans in the 20th century, into a new way of life. Middle class free spirited people who questioned the practices of everyday lifestyle and mainstream culture, the beats lived in disillusionment with society. The fifties being a time of conservative family morals encouraged the bohemian nature of the beats for their want to experience more. The nature of this rejection is expected but, why? And how does such rebellion begin to take place, what forms does it take, and does such rebellion provide a lasting change?
A few cases in which this poem is particularly relevant in today’s society, apart from just the general hipster culture, is the fact that in many ways we’re faced with similar issues of social oppression of certain sects of the population, homophobia, discord amongst different cultures and excessive consumerism – all these being matters than Ginsberg felt strongly about and sought to fight against.
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
Allen Ginsberg confessed the intention to “defy the system of academic poetry, official reviews, New York publishing machinery, national sobriety and generally accepted standards to good taste” (qtd. in Tyler Hoffman 128). These were the poet’s answers to decay and disillusion. The technique used to deny the tradition was similar to the Dadaist approach by using spontaneity as a method of composition. Ginsberg, being part of the Beat movement, tried to establish a new tradition, and a new perspective regarding the world, all carefully wrapped in a less academic view. They had “A profound love of poetry, a belief in the vitality and integrity of
Born June 3, 1926, Allen Ginsberg is known as one of the most influential poets of the Beats Generation. With his forward political views and content that pushed limits, he was always working toward equality for the all. Ginsberg is considered to have “[grown] up in a conventional and uneventful fashion,” with politically active parents as an influence (Lewis, Critical Survey of Poetry). It is no mere coincidence that as he continued to grow, he also became involved with politics. Many of his poems tend to address issues that Ginsberg did not agree with. It is said that many of Ginsberg’s poems have something to do with what has influenced his life. They are considered to have some autobiographical elements.
Born March 12, 1922, to French Canadian parents, Jack Kerouac’s given name was Jean Louis Kirouac. He grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, surrounded with his two great loves, football and the written word. He spoke a French dialect in which some of his later works were written, finally learning English at school, aged six. His athletic skills later earned him a scholarship to Columbia University. He wrote many pieces for the school paper while a fractured tibia forced him from the team. He later dropped out of Columbia after many arguments with his coach. He remained in the New York City where he met many people whose names are still synonymous with his today, the ‘beat generation’. These people provided him with experience and influenced his writing along with jazz, travel, and spirituality. Jack Kerouac is renowned for many of his pieces including On the Road and Big Sur. He wrote in ‘Spontaneous Prose’.
In the mid 1940’s a movement began, a generation of writers and poets would emerge; they were called the ‘Beat Generation’. The term was first used by Jack Kerouac while talking to fellow writer John C. Holmes, in 1948, Kerouac said to him, “So I guess you might say we’re the beat generation” (What’s Beat). The ‘Beat Generation’ was a movement that influenced the next generation of young rebellious minds of the 1950’s and ‘60’s through poets and writers who did not follow the rules of society. Growing up I have always liked the poets and writers of that time, the smooth cool way they talked, the slang they used, the goat-tees and black berets they wore and their cool and casual demeanor. The writers and poets of that generation were so passionate in what they wrote, and in their resistance to conformity. Not caring to be like everyone else, instead, they sought to be the individuals that they were, not bowing to what mainstream society thought they should be. Freedom of individuality was their passion. Although it wasn’t until I was older that I really understood what they meant and stood for, the movement had a deeper meaning; to be yourself.
Homosexuality remained illegal in most parts of America until the 1960s, but Ginsberg refused to equate his Gay identity with criminality. He wrote about his homosexuality in almost every poem that he wrote, most specifically in ‘Many Loves’ (1956) and ‘Please Master’ (1968), his paeans to his errant lover Neal Cassady. Ginsberg’s poems are full of explicit sexual detail and scatological humour, but the inclusion of such details should not be interpreted as a childish attempt to incense the prudish and the square.
The Beatniks were considered the first subculture of America that dealt with the way people lived and their views on politics, which had nothing to do with race or ethnicity. “According to Steve Watson, the Beatniks had a certain stereotypical look that you could tell belong to the counterculture. The men had goatees, wore second hand clothing, smoked marijuana and wore dark glasses. They were instrumental by playing the drums and bongo’s. The men also were artist that painted expressions on canvas and chanted poetry to back up jazz players. The female Beatniks were slender who wore jeans with black leotards and waxy eye make-up. They beverage of choice was dark expresso and mostly dated black jazz players. Both genders were opened sexually with each other. ” “They began to emerge through young people who admired Beat writers in the late 1950s. The Beatniks were attributed to starting the Hippie Movement, when they moved from New York City to San Francisco in the late 50’s leading to what would become a cultural
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.
Raskin Jonah, American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004.
The Beat Generation: A Cultural Revolution In the 1950's, society's prudish view on art was drastically altered. If not for this era, art (literature, music, and fashion) would not be as exceptional as it is today. Prior to the beat generation, the conformists of America censored everything; freedom of expression was unheard of. The Beat Generation, blooming in the 1950's, inspired a group of people whose unparalleled creativity shaped the worlds definition of art today.