Allen Ginsberg's ''Howl''

Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl is his most well-known poem, as well as one of the defining literary works of the Beat movement, which was written in 1955 and finished in 1956. Ginsberg was part of the Beat generation, a group of young authors, among them Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who created a new and unconventional kind of literature. Howl is well-known example of such provocative and innovative writing this group produced. After being published, ''reviewers and critics have generally emphasized the social or political aspects of the poem, its breakthrough use of obscenity and its allusions to homosexuality, or its long-line, free verse, open form. For these reasons Howl is already being relegated to the status of a literary artifact.'' 1 Although at first degraded and not considered to be a literary masterpiece, I think that Howl must be deemed ''a prophetic masterpiece - an epic raging against dehumanizing society that overcame censorship trials and obscenity charges to become one of the most widely read poems of the century.'' 2 Given that I consider it to be a significant poem that represents a turning point in human thinking and strong social criticism, I will be dealing with it in this essay, primarily with central themes and motives that are used to express a ''howl'' of those people who are misjudged and ''different'', at least in terms of some norms imposed by the society in America in 1950s. Being influenced by great poets such as William Blake, Ezra Pound, and Walt Whitman, Ginsberg ''felt that these poets called for and inspired a return to a mystical, bardic tradition of poetry. However, it is Walt Whitman, more than any other, upon whom Ginsberg called as a muse. At the time, he was getting interested in free verse and long-line poetry, forms which he utilized in Howl, and he looked to Whitman for guidance in these efforts.'' 3 However, he didn't look for inspiration in his literary heroes, but in his fellow Beat poets. Ginsberg formed a strong connection with them, and we can feel a sense of solidarity and mutual support in the poem, as well as compassion towards Carl Solomon. Solomon was Allen's friend he met in a mental institution and the one to whom the poem is dedicated. It is important to stress that Ginsberg wrote about his personal experiences (for example, his travels, an expulsion from Columbia University, visions of Blake, his time in jail and in the mental hospital), and his view of the world, that deviated from generally accepted beliefs of that time. In the first line of Howl, ''I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by

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Stephenson, G., 1990., p. 50. <http://books.google.hr/books/about/Howl_A_Graphic_Novel.html?id=RZNsrRkWvwQC&redir_esc=y> 3 <www.und.edu/instruct/.../JFKChapter6R.doc>

madness''4, Allen touches on the theme of insanity and the struggle of people who are different. Who are those insane and mad people he refers to? His friends, other Beat poets, and Carl Solomon who were considered to be insane because of their disapproval of the Fifties society. In Part I, at the beginning of the majority of lines, the poet uses the word ''who'' followed by a verb (these are people ''who did this, who did that''). Ginsberg speaks of people with nonconformist beliefs, such as social outcasts, world travelers, bums, musicians, drug users, political dissidents, homosexuals, and poets, whom he encountered in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They are ''the best minds'' of his generation, misunderstood geniuses, and he witnesses their destruction caused by inability to cope with their ''madness''. They ''are driven insane by their inability to accept the models of normality and conformity imposed on them by modern life, and their inability to escape these same structures.'' 5 Feeling desperate, alienated, and suppressed by American society that demands intellectual conformity, insane ''best minds'' face a massive struggle and long for an escape from confinement and oppression. Another significant motive in dealing with the theme of insanity is Ginsberg's mother, Naomi, who was institutionalized a few times. Her absence in his early life affected him greatly, and this caused his fascination with the mentally ill. Also, other motives which point to the theme of insanity and madness of the ''best minds'' are, for example, a list of treatments for psychiatric disorders (''who were given insted the concrete void of insulin Metrazol electricity hydrotheraphy psychotherapy occupational therapy pingpong & amnesia'' 6), and the names of fictional psychiatric hospitals (Pilgrim state, Rockland, and Greystone). Furthermore, in the first part of the poem, Ginsberg describes experiences of ''the best minds'' in detail, openly discussing drug use and homosexual activity. Those were behaviours and odd habits that were not considered acceptable by society. Ginsberg describes the desperation and the suffering of a group of outcasts who are ''looking for an angry fix''. But, important questions are: why are they self-destructive; why are they going ''to Mexico to cultivate a habit''; and why they are suffering from ''migraines of China under junkwithdrawal in Newark's bleak furnished room''? Because they don't see another way towards breaking free from social norms and towards personal freedom. They feel frustration because they are ''suppressed by a dominant American culture that valued conformity over artistic license and opportunity. For a poet or the individual to howl, meant that person was breaking from the habit of conformity to the virtues and ideals of American civilization and expressing
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Ginsberg, A. 1973., p. 9. <http://www.gradesaver.com/allen-ginsbergs-poetry/study-guide/major-themes/> 6 Ginsberg, A. 1973., p. 18.

a counter-cultural vision of free expression.''7 Thus, while not creating a habit of conformity, the ''best minds'' of Ginsberg's generation, were creating a habit of drug use, that was a method through which they sought a great vision or epiphany, to be allowed freedom (''who drove crosscountry seventytwo hours to find out if I had a vision or you had a vision or he had a vision to find out Eternity'' 8). ''These seekers are impoverished, alienated, arrested, and driven to suicide both by the hostility of the society in which they pursue their quest and by the desperate nature of the quest itself, by its inherent terrors and dangers. They ''purgatory'' themselves in the manner of medieval flagellants with profligate and dissolute living (alcohol, sexual excess, peyote, marijuana, benzedrine). And through these means they achieve occasional epiphanous glimpses: angels on tenement roofs, illuminations, vibrations of the cosmos, visions, hallucinations.''9 For such sensualized spirituality and for their pursuit of some kind of a vision, they are outcast, driven mad, suicied by society, driven into exile, despised, institutionalized, and arrested (''who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delight in policecars for committing no crime but their own wild cooking pederasty and intoxication''10). Subsequently, Ginsberg also wrote about homosexuality, refusing to hide ''the truth'' or things which society believed should be hidden. He used explicit descriptions of sexuality, that were the primary focus of the obscenity trial. At the time when he still struggled with his identity as a homosexual, Ginsberg thought that there was something wrong with him. But, later he accepted that fact, made it public, and started to write about it. So, the ''secret hero of these poems'' is N.C., initials that stand for Neal Cassady, a man who Ginsberg loved. Although, it should be noticed that the poem had been misinterpreted as a promotion of homosexuality. Ginsberg himself asserted that it's a promotion of frankness, about any subject. ''Ginsbergs refusal to censor words like pederasty, genitals, and balled in his opinion constituted a liberating assault by truth on a restrictive stereotype of 1950s culture. The text of the poem itself exceeds Ginsbergs stated philosophies: for example, gender in Howl causes untold pain and suffering in the lives of the angelheaded hipsters who have to navigate the morass of gender normativity in their everyday lives. The characters of Howl suggest the subversive potential of art in the politics of gender and sexuality. In the penultimate line of Part I of Howl, Ginsberg implies that art (like Howl) might have a
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<http://www.gradesaver.com/allen-ginsbergs-poetry/study-guide/section1/> Ginsberg, A. 1973., p. 17. 9 Stephenson, G., 1990., p. 52. 10 Ginsberg, A. 1973., p. 13.

profound effect on political struggle in the way it alters readers opinions''.11 Thus, this poem is a significant work that represents the beginning of an escape from social constraints, imposed standards, as well as arbitrary idea of what is ''normal'', and what is not. Furthermore, in Part II of Howl, Ginsberg uses a great deal of metaphor and symbolism to make social and political points. He was a leftist who supported Communism and denounced capitalism, and in the poem ''the greatest of minds'' distribute Communist literature until they get arrested (''who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism, who distributed Supercommunist pamphlets in Union Square weeping and undressing while the sirens of Los Alamos wailed them down'' 12). Also, he was a pacifist who believed that war is inherently bad and that only serves the interests of the rich and powerful. ''Howl is freighted with images of Cold War anxiety, the Atomic age, and the military-industrial complex. The poem's heroes, such as the patients of Rockland psychiatric hospital, must fight back against society with their own ''symbolic'' weapons.''13 This second part of the poem begins with the following line: ''What sphinx of cement and alumnium bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?'' 14 We can understand this question as: what destroyed the best minds of Ginsberg's generation? He immediately gives us the answer: Moloch. Moloch is the main motive in Part II, and it is a term used in modern days as something that requires sacrifice. For Ginsberg, it is associated with war, government, industry, capitalism, and mainstream culture (''Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! ... Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks!''15). Also, ''Moloch is a condition of the mind, a state of the soul: ''Mental Moloch!''; ''Moloch whose name is the Mind!''. We are born, according to Ginsberg, in a state of ''natural ecstasy'', but Moloch enters the soul early... Commercialism, militarism, sexual repression, technocracy, soulless industralization, inhuman life, and the death of the spirit are the consequences of Mental Moloch.'' 16 In Moloch, a ''judger of men'', Ginsberg sees the best minds of his generation sacrificing their souls to a set of false values. ''Ginsberg's mind-forged Moloch is figure for the oppressiveness of a modern industrial and military state, exuded from Reason. Ginsberg's Moloch is also the modern version of Mammon, the capitalism of "Unobtainable dollars... running money...
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Van Engen, D., 2011 Ginsberg, A. 1973., p. 13. 13 <http://www.shmoop.com/howl/war-symbol.html> 14 Ginsberg, A. 1973., p. 20. 15 Ginsberg, A. 1973., p. 21. 16 Stephenson, G., 1990., p. 55.

electricity and banks!"17 This very Moloch, a symbol of social oppression, is the cause of the insanity of the ''best minds''. Part III is addressed to Carl Solomon, mentioned before, Ginsberg's close friend from the Columbia Presbyterian Pychiatric Institute. In this section, Ginsberg names the mental institution Rockland, and reiterates the sentence: ''I'm with you in Rockland!''. Thus, while repeating this phrase, he reaffirms his solidarity with Solomon. ''The piteous and brave cry of Solomon from the Rockland Mental Hospital is the essence of the poem's statement; his is the howl of angushed and desperate conviction.'' 18 The third section finishes with the image where Solomon is walking to the poet's cottage, where they will reunite. Also, there is a hope for Solomon and Ginsberg, as well as all the ''best minds'', to free themselves from social constraints, i.e. from all the woes and weaknesses caused by Mental Moloch, as the ''imaginary walls collapse''. In addition to previous three parts of the poem, Ginsberg also wrote ''Footnote to Howl'', where he announces the holiness of everything. ''The essence of everything, of every being, is holy; only the form may be foul or corrupted... If we can wake up in Moloch, we can awake out of Moloch.''19 The ''holy bum'' has had everything that is valuable, such as freedom and the ability to express himself sexually or artistically, but that was taken away from him by modern society. ''Ironically, it is in the act of destruction that the bum then becomes holy. He becomes holy because he is detached from the ''normal'' things of this world. He is then able to embody the sacred values of humanity, such as mercy, kindness, charity, and freedom.''20 To conclude, with Howl, a classic poem of the Beat movement, Allen Ginsberg presented a view of his generation's struggle to be free from the constraints of society, letting us to get into the minds of an entire generation. This poem was a breakthrough for him, because he wrote in the language of the street about previously forbidden and unliterary topics. ''It is a howl against everything in our mechanistic civilization which kills spirit... Its positive force and energy come from a redemptive quality of love.''21

REFERENCES
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Ostriker, A., 1997. Stephenson, G., 1990., p. 56. 19 Stephenson, G., 1990., p. 57. 20 <http://www.gradesaver.com/allen-ginsbergs-poetry/study-guide/major-themes/> 21 <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/allen-ginsberg>

1.) Ginsberg, Allen. Howl and Other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1973. 2.) Stephenson, Gregory. The Daybreak Boys: Essays on the Literature of the Beat Generation.: Southern Illinois University, 1990. 7 May 2013 <http://books.google.hr/books?=stephenson+allen+ginsberg%27+howl> 3.) Stephenson, Katie. A Revival of Poetry as Song ''Allen Ginsberg, Rock-and-Roll, and the Return to the Bardic Tradition'' 7 May 2013 <www.und.edu/instruct/.../JFKChapter6R.doc> 4.) Van Engen, Dagmar. Howling Masculinity: Queer Social Change in Allen Ginsbergs Poetry. Boston College, Gender, Sexuality, and Urban Spaces: Conference 2011 5.) Ostriker, Alicia. "Howl" Revisited: The Poet as Jew: The American Poetry Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 (1997) 6 May 2013<http://www.jstor.org/stable/27782471 .Accessed: 10/05/2013> 6.) <http://books.google.hr/books/about/Howl_A_Graphic_Novel.html?id=NsrkWC&_ec=y> 7.) <http://www.gradesaver.com/allen-ginsbergs-poetry/study-guide/major-themes/> 8.) <http://www.gradesaver.com/allen-ginsbergs-poetry/study-guide/section1/> 9.) <http://www.shmoop.com/howl/war-symbol.html> 10.) <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/allen-ginsberg>