Allen Ginsberg: "Howl" and "The Shrouded Stranger"
Allen Ginsberg?s ?The Shrouded Stranger? (1949) and ?Howl? (1955-56) have very similar themes, but their style and structure are very different. They both have very sexual parts to them, not necessarily homosexual, but just a general sexuality. Both poems make mention of homelessness and poverty numerous times. There are mythological allusions in ?The Shrouded Stranger? while there are religious references in ?Howl,? in addition to hallucinatory drug references. The structure of ?The Shrouded Stranger? is in very conventional verse, while ?Howl? runs on and on endlessly, like a rant. Ginsberg is known for the blatant sexuality that is in his poetry, and neither of these poems are exceptions. In ?The Shrouded Stranger,? it is particularly clear in the last verse: ?Who?ll come lay down in the dark with me/Belly to belly and knee to knee/Who?ll look into my hooded eye/Who?ll lay down under my darkened thigh?? There is a certain desperation about these lines, it makes one feel pity for Ginsberg; he is lonely and wants sex for companionship more than anything else. He had not yet met Peter Orlovsky, and he had no love (or anything like it) to speak of. In ?Howl,? the sexuality is much more graphic and physical, i.e. ??Who howled on t
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Shrouded Stranger, Atlantic Caribbean, Peter Orlovsky, Peyote LSD, Greek God, Ugliness Ashcans, shrouded stranger, Moloch Moloch, Lewis Carroll, Angel Death, Ginsbergs Howl, moloch moloch, actually homeless, religious references,
Approximate Word count = 1031
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
