Allen Ginsbergs Howl - Essay Example

One of the most prominent 20th-century literary works is Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. Published in 1955 the work is Ginsberg’s greatest, and one of the seminal texts of the beat literature movement. The text itself was originally written as a performance piece and only later published in written form; this is reflected in the work’s lyrical and performative structure. Still, the work remains complex and richly textured. The poem is divided into three sections, each with prominent thematic concerns. This essay examines Ginsberg’s Howl as it relates to historical, political, and social contexts.
From the very first lines of the very first section, one notes the work’s characteristic implementation of Beat Generation social concerns. Ginsberg writes, “angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night” (Ginsberg). This is a textured statement that could even stand in as a sort of characterization of the entire beat movement; namely, Ginsberg is articulating this social generation as hipsters that are seeking a sort of transcendental or ‘heavenly connection’. As this section continues Ginsberg goes on to glorify this alternative lifestyle, framing it as a sort of counter-cultural perspective on the pervading social and political order. For instance, he refers to these individuals, “who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull” (Ginsberg). Here one sees a sort of glorification of individuals who assume an alternative to the academic institution. This is also a prominent articulation of a historical situation, as it is well known that Ginsberg was expelled from Columbia for writing obscenities on his dorm room wall.
While Ginsberg’s text generally only refers to political and historical events through his discussion of the beat generation, in great regard it appears that Ginsberg is highly critical of a number of these events. Consider Ginsberg when he writes, “who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism,/ who distributed Supercommunist pamphlets in Union Square weeping and undressing” (Ginsberg). Here Ginsberg both glorifies the beat social movement and makes a subtle jab at the pervading political order through his articulation of it as “the narcotic tobacco haze”. This is followed by a positive reference to communism in an era of McCarthyism.
One considers that while much-extended poetry is replete with dense and figurative language Ginsberg achieves investigations of the political and social milieu largely through more explicit linguistic descriptions. Still, there are several stylistic elements Ginsberg implements to convey these concerns. In these regards, one notes Ginsberg’s use of alliteration “who lit cigarettes in boxcars boxcars boxcars racketing through the snow” as a means of characterizing the beat social perspective. As the text shifts to the second and third sections, there is increasing use of abstraction and literary techniques as a means of articulating social and political concerns. Ginsberg writes, “Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!” (Ginsberg). The use of the word moloch becomes a cyclical recurrence throughout this section. The specific quote above seemingly rejects notions of armies, and continues the text’s overtly anti-capitalist concerns as it refers to ‘unobtainable dollars’.
The implementation of figurative language and cyclical structure as a means of further levying alternatives and criticisms of the overriding capitalist political concerns occurs again in the poem’s third section. Ginsberg writes, “I’m with you in Rockland/ where we hug and kiss the United States under our bedsheets the United States that coughs all night and won’t let us sleep” (Ginsberg). Here Ginsberg is speaking to Carl Soloman, a person to who the poem has also been dedicated. This entire section begins with the cyclical implementation of ‘I’m with you in Rockland’ as a means of creating a lyrical effect, as well as rooting the poem in a sort of real-world context. This specific passage is complex in its criticism of the United States. Essentially, what Ginsberg is indicating is that while ‘underneath bedsheets’ or secret and in their way they appreciate America, the country coughs all night and won’t let them sleep. The image of coughing seems to function as a political criticism of a country overcome with the sickness of capitalism and consumer culture. The image of ‘underneath bedsheets’ also harkens to Ginsberg’s homosexuality and the necessity of keeping this a secret in the highly naïve and conservative 1950s United States social climate.
While historical and political elements pervade the poem, if there is an overarching theme it is the articulation of an alternative vision of spirituality or meaning. In these regards, all three sections of the poem articulate these spiritual elements in a different context, with the first section demonstrating this alternative spirituality through experiential descriptions. The second section then articulates these concerns through what appears a disease or sickness that is pervading society and its spirituality. Finally, these spiritual concerns are concluded in the third section as Ginsberg personally articulates both his own and the greater beat generation’s spirituality. In this final section, Ginsberg states, “where you bang on the catatonic piano the soul is innocent and immortal it should never die ungodly in an armed madhouse” (Ginsberg).  Read More