Howl’s Explicit Language and Revolution
“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.” Allen Ginsberg believed this wholly and based his means of poetry by what he said in this sentence. One cannot censor thoughts, just as one can’t censor expression. Ginsberg faced controversy for sexual content and profanities that he used in his poetry, but those were merely his private thoughts that he brought to the public. His poetry fueled a whole generational revolution in the 1950s. In times of cookie cutter uniformity Allen Ginsberg went against norm and wrote explicit poetry for the sake of expressing a
The third part presents a picture of an individual who is a specific representation of what the author conceives as a general condition. (“Howl on trial” pg. 197.)” The poem’s redeeming social importance kept it from being obscene, even when using graphic language.
The poem “Howl” is a homage to the archetypal group that Ginsberg defines through their battle against modern societies preconceived ideals. “Howl” is divided into three parts, the first of which Ginsberg describes, “The best minds of my[his] generation (“Howl” part I).” He describes the situations they are in and what they are doing, some of the situations may be marked with sexual innuendos and drug and alcohol filled stupors, but it is these scenarios that describe the true nature of the people Ginsberg is revering. The individuals that Ginsberg depicts are not the wealthy, the morally pure, or the figureheads of the generation, they are the opposite. Ginsberg illustrates “angleheaded hipsters (“Howl” part I,)” the misfits, the drugees, homosexuals, the sexually promiscuous, the nonconformists to the rigid society Ginsberg speaks against. This language he uses to describe them may be seen as inappropriate to some, cannot be avoided with social niceties because the core point of the argument would be missed. These generational