"Howl" Allen Ginsberg

“Howl” 1956

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical

naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,

who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,

who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,

who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucinating Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war,

who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,

who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burning their money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror through the wall,

who got busted in their pubic beards returning through Laredo with a belt of marijuana for New York,

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,

incomparable blind streets of shuddering cloud and lightning in the mind leaping toward poles of Canada & Paterson, illuminating all the motionless world of Time between,

Peyote solidities of halls, backyard green tree cemetery dawns, wine drunkenness over the rooftops, storefront boroughs of teahead joyride neon blinking traffic light, sun and moon and tree vibrations in the roaring winter dusks of Brooklyn, ashcan rantings and kind king light of mind

Title:

The title sets the stage for the entire tone of the poem. “Howl” illustrates the rage of the Beat Generation, while also adhering to the depressing underlying tone in Ginsberg’s thoughts on the world. This poem, in a sense, is a diatribe directed towards the conformity of the American culture. Ginsberg is angered by this unconscious obedience, thus this “howl” that the title pronounces indicates a catharsis of pent up frustration. It is also interesting to note that a howl is the noise a wild animal makes; Ginsberg is urging people to howl and use the madness they possess to transgress societies social norms.

Paraphrase (first 25 lines):

The speaker is scrutinizing society and observing its detrimental effects: a lost generation. These people are the “best minds” (1), meaning their intelligence is evident, but as the poem continues it is clear that society does not have this view. This generation-the Beat Generation-is “destroyed by madness”, which leads them to “look for an angry fix” (1-2). Meaning that society has labeled these individuals are outliers in the world, leaving them to suffer through the isolation of humanity. Aware of their difference, these individuals walk through life with the burden of being an outcast. The remainder of the poem describes these individuals, what they do with their lives, and how they cope with being different. They smuggle drugs from Mexico and get high in order to hallucinate; they are musically talented and immersed in the artistic culture of America; they are paranoid of their outcome on earth; they are not accepted by society. Ginsberg mentions “academies” and how these people were kicked out of school. These universities were not prepared to have hipsters with “crazy” ideas in their school, therefore even the educational system isolated the Beat Generation.

Connotation:

Form: Free verse; no structured meter. Long lines (like Walt Witman) that are suppose to be read in one breath. Ginsberg wanted each line to be read in one breath to emphasize the anger, pain and suffering that society was going through, along with reminding the reader of the struggle the Beat Generation faced during this time period.

Point of View: The speaker is a man, scrutinizing society and describing his disgust through his description of the outcasts in his generation.

Diction: Ginsberg is relaying a harsh, yet profoundly depressing message to his readers. Because of his desire to illustrate society as a power hungry, brainwashing leech, he uses words to capture the essence of his harsh reality. Throughout the poem, words such as “cunt” and “cocksman” appear, not to scare the reader away, but instead to make the reader feel a bit of discomfort. This discomfort illustrates the lives of the Beat Generation, and their struggle in the societal war. Other phrases such as, “passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucinating,” indicate the alternatives that these individuals had. Ginsberg choose these words “radiant” and “cool” to describe the effects of drugs to depict the alluring reality of these outcasts. Drugs and alcohol gave them the outlet they desires

Allusion: “Who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated” (8). El means God in the Hebrew Bible, which is from the Jewish language. Ginsberg mentions both the Jewish religion and Islamic religion, indicating that these people came from many different religions, places and regions. What’s interesting about the Jewish language is its liberal ideology, thus indicating that there was a need for the rest of society to catch up with the more accepting ideals of the outcasts.

Literary Devices: Anaphora-- “who” is used at the beginning of a majority of the sentences. Ginsberg uses this device to put an emphasis of the “best minds” of his generation.

Symbols: The second section of this poem introduces Moloch, who is a destructive Jewish God. Moloch is code for all of the detrimental sources on society: government, war, America’s conforming culture.  These prongs work together to create a machine that destroys the world--the generation, specifically the Beat Generation.

Attitude: The speaker is frustrated with society, yet there are hints of melancholy in his words. The long lines of this poem, coupled with the harsh diction, the pure sound of this poem is one of disappointment. The speaker is enraged by society’s ability to conform those in charge, while obliterating those who do not fit in.

Shifts: There are technically four different parts to this poem, yet only the first three poems relate and carry the same structure. The first section introduces the “best minds” of the generation--the middle class outcasts. The second section describes the detrimental effects of war on these individuals and society. The third section is about Carl Solomon, whom the poem is dedicated to.

Theme: Transgressing societal norms in order to obtain freedom. The Beat Generation is confined within the laws and social regulations of the 20th century. The middle class, those who are peculiar to society and those who are not perfected by the governing rules are subjected to suppression. These individuals have overcome the mainstream culture of society and thus are striving toward their own freedom both mentally and physically.