Howl is a famous poem by the American poet Allen Ginsberg. It was published in 1956 in the collection Howl and Other Poems and ranks among the most significant expressions of the Beat movement of the 1950’s. This movement was rebellious in attitude, characterized by a contempt for conventional society and a celebration of stylistic freedom in literature.
In Howl, Ginsberg used violent images to condemn the weakness and failings he saw in modern American life, where he thought values had been dehumanized. He wrote the poem in three sections. The first is Ginsberg’s portrait of the despair and frustration he believed infected young people. The section begins with the words “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness….” The second section attacks materialism and conformity, and the final section is addressed to a friend confined to a mental hospital, an individual Ginsberg saw as a victim of society. Ginsberg wrote a footnote to the poem, stating that all existence is holy.
Howl reflects the influence of the American poets William Carlos Williams and Walt Whitman and the English poet William Blake. It has a chanting style that resembles some of the prophetic books in the Bible.
The poem created controversy for its frank references to heterosexual and homosexual love. The American Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who published Howl through his City Lights Publishers, was charged with distributing obscene material. He was acquitted in 1957 in a case considered a landmark decision in the area of censorship and free speech.
See also Beat movement; Ginsberg, Allen.
