...Generation Literature Allen Ginsberg Topic 1 “Look, my suit is five bucks, shoes are three bucks, shirt is for two dollar, and tie is for one dollar. These things are all secondhand. Only my poems are first class”(Beidao, p.136), Ginsberg said to his friend. As the father of Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg came with his astounding freedom, powerful moral integrity and unique madness. Life with poem, decadence, wandering and willful indulgence, Allen Ginsberg’s spiritual ethos of getting rid of all the fetters, thinking highly of liberalism, pursing the unconditional and absolute freedom, independence and creativity is the reflection of the truly literary, aesthetic and cultural value of his poems. Allen Ginsberg’s spiritual ethos is embedded in his writing style and language. Ginsberg's style may have seemed to be chaotic or un-poetic, but to Ginsberg it was an open, ecstatic expression of thoughts and feelings that were naturally poetic. “Moloch! Solitude! Faith! Ugliness! […] Moloch! Moloch! […]” (Howl part 2, 3-6). According to Ginsberg: “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.” Which also demonstrates Ginsberg’s poem has no form, and it is the chosen phrases that express his mind. Ginsberg believed strongly that traditional formalist considerations were archaic and didn't apply to reality. Though the language of Ginsberg’s poem is vulgar and...
Words: 1059 - Pages: 5
...“Nature” of Allen Ginsberg - Hear Our HOWL There are a lot of things that can be expressed from the mind. How the thoughts are presented through the mouth of the individual can be interpreted in many ways. Is the person upset? Is the person trying to make a point that can only be understood by a certain group of individuals? What is the message they are trying to convey? In Allen Ginsberg’s poem: HOWL, he expresses his outlook on the world in a run-on, angry, and a derogatory fashion combination which make up the theme of reformation: being a non-conformist himself in a set-ruled based 1950s society. HOWL has a unique nature to it. It projects Ginsberg’s anarchistic view on reality’s “social” standing. HOWL sort of reflects on how Allen Ginsberg views the world. Ginsberg is one of the most renowned poets of his time and an iconic figure of the Beat generation. As an activist, he was very open about what he believes in – anti-war, homosexuality and so on. When he moved to San Francisco in 1954, he joined a clique that sought out to “eschew rigid rules of...
Words: 1757 - Pages: 8
...Howl In the post-World War II years, a cultural and literary movement began. A new generation of American writers, artists and thinkers reacted and expressed their ideas in obscene forms. They were called “The Beats” who were formed in the 1950’s by poets Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Howl by Allen Ginsberg illustrates America’s post-World War II culture and political issues through his journey and views. The use of metaphors, tone, and descriptive language draw parallels between the ideas of, conformity to institutions, sexual repression, and religion. According to the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Allen’s Ginsberg was a popular poet after World War II. He was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1926. Ginsberg attended college at Columbia...
Words: 1182 - Pages: 5
...Howling in Pain There’s a silence after every chaos. There’s a calm that lingers for a period of time, a blank. Silence that makes one feel hollow and howl in pain. In HOWL, Allen Ginsberg illustrates his and his companions, the Beats’ experiences during the 1950’s. HOWL is broken down into three different parts that each depict different emotions. Ginsberg has been to different places that it seems like he is trying to escape, or looking for a place that will dissipate the feeling of loneliness. He has a tendency to travel to many different places but he always ends up coming back to himself. After the chaos that is World War II that rattled America, changes started to flower into society. During the postwar in the U.S, new poetry styles...
Words: 1244 - Pages: 5
...“Howl” by Allen Ginsberg In the poem “Howl”, Allen Ginsberg depicts an image of a disastrous world which reflects a time in history that was experiencing cultural, social and economic change. Ginsberg used this poem to express anger towards the modern American culture. “Howl” is mainly about demonstrating and revealing the madness, neglect, and hypocrisy that Ginsberg and his generation suffered during that time. Seeking liberation, Ginsberg shows his anger and frustration by showing the readers the horrors of their culture using madness and spirituality. Ginsberg beliefs are shown at the beginning of “Howl” when he describes madness and oppression which were a result of the conservative society the people were living in. 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. (Ginsberg 1-3) by which these lines show Ginsberg’s thoughts at the time. He believed that the “best minds” of his generation were the ones who were driven to madness and insanity fighting to find their way out of this culture. If you take a look at the title “Howl” which elucidates that this poem is not going to be a quiet one. As explained in class, the title hold an animalistic feature where the artists or the “best minds” of that generation were not going to let this go...
Words: 749 - Pages: 3
...A Howl in the Wind Allen Ginsberg was one of the most influential poets /writers during his time. He was considered as the founding father of the Beat Generation and was known for his poem, HOWL. In addition, Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey in the year 1926, suffering from an emotionally troubled life throughout his teenaged years because he’s been secluded when finally realizing his desirability towards men, while his father Louis is the one who introduced Ginsberg to poetry. Besides his father, Ginsberg had many literary influences such as, William Carlos Williams, Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, etc. Nonetheless, later in the years, after remaining an “iconic figure” of the counterculture throughout the 1960 and 70s, he passed...
Words: 995 - Pages: 4
...[pic][pic] [pic]Copyright © 2005 West Chester University. All rights reserved. College Literature 32.2 (2005) 103-126 [pic] | |[pic][pic][pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | |[pic] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Access provided by Northwestern University Library ...
Words: 36700 - Pages: 147
...Student’s Name Professor Course Name Date Walt Whitman, Man of Influence Introduction Walt Whitman’s literary works have occupied the highest place in the world of American literature. He has been recognized as the focal center of creativity having truly American experience in the literary expression. Although a late bloomer in the literature world, Whitman embodies the elements of indigenous realism and the New England philosophy which makes him a truly national spiritual synthesis. His works touched on the trying times in the American history during the civil war and a story that influenced the society in many ways. Though a very individualistic poet, his works have influenced many other modern poets, who take after his style and themes. The most exceptional characteristic feature of his work is that he endeavored to always produce a mystical vision where everything was a part of something bigger and was equal in every aspect. Walt Whitman, indeed, embodies many qualities that highlight the real American character like viciousness, diversity, love for adventure and the ever pioneering fortitude of the American people. He is a symbol of variety, largeness and the tendency toward innovation. Brief History Walt Whitman was born on May 31st, 1819 in West Hills, a village near Hempstead in Long Island, New York. His mother, Louisa Van Velsor was a farmer, while his father, Walter Whitman was a carpenter. The family moved to Brooklyn where Walt attended school. He left...
Words: 2816 - Pages: 12
...the rest of society was working for. These men were Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassidy. They were a group of "struggling writers, students, hustlers, and drug addicts" (Wikipedia.com) better known as the "beats", and the founding fathers of the beat generation. Jack Kerouac is often seen as the leading pioneer of the beats. Kerouac was born in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell was a small town, and "out of the raw outline of the legend he made out of his life in Lowell is simple and uncomplicated" (Charters 23). Kerouac had wild and vivid fantasies of making his life a legend. "He was always adapting roles, always an outsider, a spectator peering into the window like a shadow" (Charters 29). Life in Lowell would be no material for a legend, but life in New York would be. It was in New York that Kerouac was introduced to William S. Burroughs. He would become the biggest influence on Jack's life at the time. Burroughs was a writer as well, but never considered himself one. He had interest in experimenting with criminal behavior, and often had contacts in the criminal "underground". However, His confidence and style awed Kerouac. Kerouac would leave New York and later return in October of 1944. Through a mutual friend, he would encounter a "spindly Jewish kid with horn-rimmed glasses and tremendous ears sticking out" (Charters 53) this kid would be Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs friendship only became stronger of the years...
Words: 1013 - Pages: 5
...Zealanders have attempted suicide with males being 3.6% more likely to commit suicide than females. This is also reflected in OECD (Organisation for economic co-operation and development) statistics, New Zealand currently has the highest rate of youth suicide, ages 15-24, in countries belonging to the OECD and 29th highest overall suicide rate. This is why I have decided to explore ‘the catalysts prevalent in established society which can be detrimental to our populations overall mental health.’ This theme is prevalent within the following combination of texts; Howl by Allen Ginsberg, Mental Cases by Wilfred Owen, Requiem for a Dream by Darren Aronofsky and Shutter Island by Martin Scorsese. These texts explore different aspects of the human psyche and of mental illness by examining these texts I hope to identify and expose which aspects of our society could be injurious to our mental health. Howl written in 1955 is Allen Ginsberg’s most famous piece of poetry to date which proved to be provocative and test the boundaries of the society which Ginsberg lived in. He pushed the boundaries of free speech writing on a range of topical issues concerning himself or that he believed were in need of denouncement....
Words: 3751 - Pages: 16
...Yiping Ni, Finance 0902 An Introduction to UK and US Course Instructor: Jiang Xiying 2011.5.29 American Dream At the very beginning of movie "The legend of 1900", several words --" He'd look up for a second. A quick glance out to sea and he'd see her. Then he'd just stand there rooted to the spot, his heart racing. And every time every damn time, I swear, he'd turn to us, towards the ship, towards everybody and scream. America!"-- was said to portray how exciting a man felt when he first saw America. It is the "American Dream", as we all know, that keeps attracting different people from different countries to chase their dreams in America. James Truslow Adams once defined the American Dream in 1931, " life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The meaning of the American Dream, however, does not remain the same over the course of history. Nowadays the American Dream, despite its contribution to building a cohesive American experience, has been blamed for over-inflated expectations, because it has done nothing to improve the situation in which the working class is hard to get ahead. Therefore a issue has been raised: Do we still need American Dream? This issue over whether the American Dream is dead is complex and controversial, and different people may hold different views due to their distinct backgrounds. As far as I am concerned, I believe...
Words: 901 - Pages: 4
...federal policy encouraging unionization, resulting in the freedom, from employer intimidation or coercion, of the right of the employees. Entry 4: The Beats The Beats were a small group of poets and writers that could be found in New York City, San Francisco, and other college towns like Madison and Wisconsin. The Beats were a non-conformist group of individuals that railed against the mainstream culture of their times and rejected the traditional artistic and social principles. There writing topics included an emphasis on a spiritual yearning, drugs, sexuality, and even coined imagery from religions including Buddhism, Judaism, and Catholicism. Some of the prevalent works involved with the Beats were Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, and William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road was considered the bible for the younger generation because they also rejected the culture of the time. These writers coined the word “beat” to describe their non-conformist was of life and their free style of writing. Entry 5: The Cuban Missile Crisis and Events that Surrounded It Occurring on October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation arose between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This conflict was the closest the world had gotten to a nuclear war. Castro and his revolutionary forces overthrew the Batista’s autocratic rule in 1959, resulting in a new leader for Cuba. Castro exploited United State properties and killed...
Words: 897 - Pages: 4
...humanity, human beliefs and values and is imbued with a sense of uncertainty and anxiety. Joseph Heller’s 1961 satirical war novel, Catch-22 and Samuel Beckett’s 1956 absurdist play Waiting for Godot all encapsulate the post-war zeitgeist that suggests a disenchantment with the political and religious structures of the time and an increasing anxiety towards the inevitability of death and the lack of humanity in the world. Each text responded to and captured the fear of mankind destroying itself and thus questions the purpose of one’s existence if death is the only certainty. These paradigms are further explored in the BBC drama- documentary The War Games that demonstrated possibilities if a nuclear war were to arise as well as Allen Ginsberg’s iconoclastic poem Howl which demonstrates the rebellion that resulted from the anxiety and tension caused by the authoritative powers during this time. Common in literature during the After the Bomb era, was the critique of everyday establishment values. These thoughts are consistent with the disenchantment many felt with governmental authorities of the time that, during WWII, compromised the well being of their people to fight for their own gain. The disenchantment and distrust many people felt with the government is further established in Heller’s unsentimental war novel Catch-22 as he heavily critiques the bureaucratic systems and their lack of reason and humanity. The world of Catch-22 is a “closed system leading only to...death,” as literary...
Words: 1084 - Pages: 5
...CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA An Interpretive History TENTH EDITION James J. Rawls Instructor of History Diablo Valley College Walton Bean Late Professor of History University of California, Berkeley TM TM CALIFORNIA: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY, TENTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2008, 2003, and 1998. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1234567890 QFR/QFR 10987654321 ISBN: 978-0-07-340696-1 MHID: 0-07-340696-1 Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Michael Ryan Vice President EDP/Central Publishing Services: Kimberly Meriwether David Publisher: Christopher Freitag Sponsoring Editor: Matthew Busbridge Executive Marketing Manager: Pamela S. Cooper Editorial Coordinator: Nikki Weissman Project Manager: Erin Melloy Design Coordinator: Margarite Reynolds Cover Designer: Carole Lawson Cover Image: Albert Bierstadt, American (born...
Words: 248535 - Pages: 995
...animal Books by Elliot Aronson Theories of Cognitive Consistency (with R. Abelson et al.), 1968 Voices of Modern Psychology, 1969 The Social Animal, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Readings About the Social Animal, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Social Psychology (with R. Helmreich), 1973 Research Methods in Social Psychology (with J. M. Carlsmith & P. Ellsworth), 1976 The Jigsaw Classroom (with C. Stephan et al.), 1978 Burnout: From Tedium to Personal Growth (with A. Pines & D. Kafry), 1981 Energy Use: The Human Dimension (with P. C. Stern), 1984 The Handbook of Social Psychology (with G. Lindzey), 3rd ed., 1985 Career Burnout (with A. Pines), 1988 Methods of Research in Social Psychology (with P. Ellsworth, J. M. Carlsmith, & M. H. Gonzales), 1990 Age of Propaganda (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992, 2000 Social Psychology, Vols. 1–3 (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992 Social Psychology: The Heart and the Mind (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 1994 Cooperation in the Classroom: The Jigsaw Method (with S. Patnoe), 1997 Nobody Left to Hate: Teaching Compassion After Columbine, 2000 Social Psychology: An Introduction (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 2002, 2005, 2007 The Adventures of Ruthie and a Little Boy Named Grandpa (with R. Aronson), 2006 Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) (with C. Tavris), 2007 Books by Joshua Aronson Improving Academic Achievement, 2002 The Social Animal To...
Words: 208005 - Pages: 833
