Howl

Allen Ginsberg

We cant even begin to think about Howl without, at least a little, thinking of the nearly hundred
years prior Song of Myself by Walt Whitman.

Trippers and askers surround me,

People I meet, the effect upon me of my early life or the ward and city I
live in, or the nation,
The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old and new,
My dinner, dress, associates, looks, compliments, dues,
The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love,
The sickness of one of my folks or of myself, or ill-doing or loss or lack
of money, or depressions or exaltations,
Battles, the horrors of fratricidal war, the fever of doubtful news, the
fitful events;
These come to me days and nights and go from me again,
But they are not Me myself.
(Whitman, Song, 4.1-9)

The most obvious similarity between the two poems is their structure: both poems utilize a rather long
poetic line and both are divided into sections (though Whitmans is much longer). The poems also
employ a non-rhyming style that appears very prose-like. Theyre both telling stories (using lots of
adjectives to paint a picture).

Ginsberg and Whitman are both also concerned with issues of individuality, drawing attention to the
fact that society is made up of individuals:

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
(Whitman, Song, 1.1-3)

But throughout both there is a real tension between this individual and the society within which he
moves. Its about individuality situated within society, especially for Whitman.

If youre going to tackle Howl in your essay,

Id suggest that (at least a little) reading Song
and a bit research around the conversation
between the two poems might be in order.
The Beat Generation
The term beat, in this restricted sense, bears connotations of down-beat, off-beat, down-and-
out, drop-out and beatitude, and denotes a group of American writers (especially poets) who became
prominent in the 1950s (Cuddon 78). Further, Allen Ginsbergs Howl and Other Poems (1956) represents
as well as anything the disillusionment of the beat movement with modern society, its materialism and
militarism and its outmoded, stuffed-shirt, middle-class values and mores (78).

1. What were your first impressions of the poem? Did it shock/surprise/unsettle you in any way? Be
specific!

Read the opening line of the poem:

I saw the best minds of my generations destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical naked, /
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix (Ginsberg, Howl,
1.1-2).

2. Who are the best minds?

3. How are class and poverty presented in the poem?

4. Is Howl an act of rebellion, and if so, what (particular type of society) is it rebelling against?
(Think about the term beat).

5. How does Howl poem engage with the question of American identity?

Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and

unobtainable dollars! Children screaming
under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies!
Old men weeping in the parks! (Ginsberg,
Howl, 2.2)