Since its release in 1956, “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg has been widely discussed and debated inside and out of the literature community. These disputes have most commonly been centered around the poem’s controversial nature and whether or not it should be considered obscene. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, obscene can be defined as “disgusting to the senses: repulsive” or “containing or being language regarded as taboo in polite usage”. Personally, I believe that for something to be considered obscene is has to be disturbing or offensive to the extent to which it is intolerable. I also believe that every individual has their own interpretation of what is considered obscene. Therefore, what is considered obscene is completely subjective …show more content…
That being said, I can understand how others may perceive it as such. Throughout the poem, Ginsberg repeatedly uses unattractive imagery and vulgar language to portray unfavorable scenes. For instance Ginsberg writes, “Who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in/ Paradise Alley, death, or purgatoried their/ torsos night after night/ with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol/ and cock and endless balls”. It is quite apparent that this is not a very desirable scenario and it is one that we would probably not read to our children as a bedtime story. In fact, this scene would probably be rated closer to “R” than “G” if it were a movie. Later Ginsberg writes, “Who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly/ motorcyclist, and screams with joy,/ who blew and were blown by those human seraphim,/ the sailors, caresses of Atlantic and Caribbean love”. The language used and images depicted in this scene are quite vulgar and impure. And although they are used to convey a larger idea, some of the diction used can be seen as excessive and perhaps …show more content…
Life for the average American family in the 50’s was very cookie cutter; Dad worked 9 to 5, Mom stayed home with the kids and everything was very “PG”. But for many young people, including poets, the status quo prohibited them from fully expressing themselves. Thus came the creation of the Beats. The Beats were writers, specifically poets, who “were radical, rebellious, experimental…and had a way with words. Starting in the 1950s, the Beat Generation rose to prominence in America, inspiring a culture of nonconformity and social revolution” (Bio). Ginsberg’s purpose of writing “Howl” was to quite literally express or howl the feelings and experiences of the misunderstood. Ginsberg along with others started a movement. These poets gave people who were being forced to be silent, a podium and a microphone to speak from. Slowly people began publicly displayed their differences and “not normal” thoughts and ideas. In other words, “The printed pages would no longer allow our country the ability to deny what the common people already knew; we are diverse in our desires. Whether those desires be same sex flesh or drug experimentation, our country is not the white picket fence, suburban dream that society wanted us to believe. America is full of these “wretched” souls who love jazz, marijuana, sex
Of Mice and Men should be banned because of its profanity. An example of this is on page 11 say “you crazy son of a bitch” (Steinbeck). We wouldn’t want our students or children saying that in school to other students or at home. Another example of profanity is on page 71 saying “This is ...
Rosenthal, M.L. "Poet of the New Violence". On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg. Ed. Lewis Hyde. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984. 29-31.
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.
Does the book Memoirs of a Woman Of Pleasure have either cultural, social or literary value, thus declaring it not obscene? Or is it a work i...
The 1950s saw a period of extensive contentment within postwar America. A majority of the population adapted to the modern suburban lifestyle that emerged within this time period. They bought houses, started families, got steady jobs, and watched the television while complacently submitting to the government. Although fairly monotonous, this sort of lifestyle was safe and secure many Americans were ready to sacrifice individuality for a sense of comfort. There was a minority, however, that did not quite accept this conservative conformity that had swept across the nation; some of these people took the shape of artists and writers. During the 1950s, what became known as the "Beat Generation" inspired the challenging of and rebelling against conventional America.
Chief Justice Warren Burger set three rules that are helpful in determining whether a material is pornographic or not. First, it is important to determine whether the material appeals to the prurient interest if an average person applies contemporary community standards to that materia (Barmore 475)l. Second, determine whether the material describes or depict sexual content, in a patently offensive manner (Barmore 476). Finally, determine whether the entire work lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value (Hafen 210). These three tests can help one determine whether a
Many people think this book should be banned because of profanity and adult content. I can somewhat see where these adults are coming from because they don’t want their kids seeing this. There isn’t very much vulgar
Throughout their fun and crazy adventure, they realize more what the world has to offer, opening their realistic minds. At this part of the poem, he begins to sound frustrated, confused, questioning the status quo. By line 65 and beyond, he begins talking about the time he spent in a psychiatric ward. Ginsberg wants people to know that someone like him, whose mind wandered over life’s truths, ends up at a madhouse. Why? Because he practiced Dadaism, a artistic art movement that opposed social, political, and cultural values, when he threw potato salad at a professor in CCNY. At this psychiatric ward, he was introduced to many therapies such as ping pong, shock therapy, and hydrotherapy. Also, his close friend, Carl Solomon, and Ginsberg’s mother was in a psychiatric ward, blamed for their insanity. For this, Ginsberg grew angry at
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.
...erg’s lines are inwardly. The self of Whitman is all-encompassing but Ginsberg’s self is passive, lacking diversity by excluding rural settings. In short, Ginsberg’s Howl” is a journey through a different route to reality by leaving the doubts behind and taking the lead role of a public American poet-prophet, which Whitman only dreamt of in his life by composing poetry for an imagined audience.
In light of its being considered to have not only redeeming social value, but redeeming scientific and literary value as well, Naked Lunch cannot be declared obscene in the legal sense.
Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" is a complex and intriguing poem about the divine in the common world. The minor themes of drugs and sexuality work together to illuminate the major theme of spirituality. The poem reveals through a multitude of sharp images and phrases that everything from drug use to homosexuality to mental illness is holy, even in a world of atom bombs and materialistic America, which Ginsberg considers not to be holy and he refers to as Moloch. As it is stated in Ginsberg's "Footnote To Howl," "The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! The nose is/ holy! The tongue and cock and hand and *censored* holy! / Everything is Holy! Everybody's holy! Everywhere is holy!" (3-5).
Raskin Jonah, American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004.
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
" In 1957 U.S. customs seized over 500 copies of Ginsberg's novel Howl on grounds of obscenity. These c... ... middle of paper ... ... ments. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.