Howl (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Allen Ginsberg
- First Published: 1956
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: 1950’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Gay men, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Twentieth century, New York City, Art or artists, American Dream, Mental illness, Substance abuse, Drug addiction or addicts, Bohemianism
When Ferlinghetti heard “Howl” for the first time, he wrote Ginsberg a note asking for the manuscript so that he could publish it and repeated Ralph Waldo Emerson's words to Walt Whitman upon the publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855: “I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” Many others shared his enthusiasm.
The tremendous energy that Ginsberg had generated with his images and gathered with his rhythmic structure was impossible to avoid, but while those who were open to all the possibilities of “language charged with meaning” (in Ezra Pound's famous...
[The entire page is 1333 words long]
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