The decade of the 1950's was a time of change. America and the world was experiencing a transition from innocence to a more knowledgeable society. Revolutions in all aspects of life were going on: civil rights, sexual, rock and roll and the introduction of new experimental drugs in the communities of San Francisco and Greenwich Village. Out of all of these revolutions came the beat generation, a group of young Bohemian writers who wrote and thought about the things that Americans used to "throw under the rug". Names can be mentioned: Jack Kerouac, Philip Whalen, Lawrence Felinghetti. Perhaps the most famous and most criticized of these "beatniks" is Allen Ginsb

After being dismissed from Columbia University, he joined the merchant marines and sailed to the West Coast. In San Francisco he befriended young men just like himself: angry, pessimistic about the future, confused about their sexuality, and not knowing what their place in life really was. After he was released from the merchant marines, he went back to the Bay Area. These young men began to hold meetings where they would read poems and share ideas. They also formed a sense of friendship, because they were all that they really had.

"Howl" is a three part poem written in 1955 to his friend Carl Solomon. In it he talk about the "best minds of my generation destroyed by madness" "It destructively catalogues evils of our time from physical deprivation to madness" (Eberhart, Page 25). The first part of "Howl" is a list of the atrocities that have allegedly been endured by Ginsberg and his friends. These atrocities accumulate to form a desperate critique of a civilization that has set up a power structure that determines everything people do. This power structure is dictated by the conservative society of America. The theme of the poem is given in the first part: it is one of question, seeing the things going on and hoping things get better. By "burning their money in wastebaskets" he shows that anyone who does not fit into societies mold is made to feel that life is hopeless. The imagery used here is very well placed- dark "Negro" streets give a picture of gloominess, "angry fix" deals with the consumption of drugs. He really blames society for his friends going "mad" when in fact they are not, they are just different. So much pain and pressure is put on them that they are "demanding instantaneous lobotomy" Ginsberg is also aware of the fact that these atrocities are not just occurring in San Francisco and New York but in all of America, big and small. He mentions Houston, Chicago, Denver, North Carolina, etc. No one is excluded from the changes that are happening.

The first part of the poem, is basically a meditation-one where Ginsberg asks many rhetorical questions. The subject of an after life comes up, Ginsberg is pondering what his mother is doing after she died. It ends with part of a Jewish plsam. Their is one line in the first section that sticks out "All the accumulations of life- that wear is out-clocks, bodies, consciousness, shoes, breasts, begotten sons, your communism, "paranoia" into hospitals". This is a list of all the things that Ginsberg says aided to the death of his mother-time, age, awareness, fatigue, womanhood, childbearing, personal views, and society's beliefs. In saying this, Ginsberg partly blames himself for the death of his mother. This thought ties the first to the second part, which details a trip to the metal hospital and Allen taking his mother to New Jersey where she believes that the spies will not get to her.

Ginsberg, Allen Kaddish and other Poems City Lights Books San Francisco 1961

Hyde, Lewis (Editor) On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg The University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor, MI 1984

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2513
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)