A reaction to the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg

First of all, my first impression of the poem how made me view it as a social

commentary and a revolutionary manifesto with the poem highly relying on linguistic grandeur,

and operatic catalogs. The author also does a good job at using obscene reference and rambling

digressions in building up his poem. Reading the poem, I felt like the tone brought about by the

author was more of an elegiac tone which simply means a mourning feeling that the author

brings about with the choice of his words and expressions. With Ginsberg presenting a long list

of activities the poem can also be referred to as a catalog or having taken a cataloging technique.

Right from the title used by the author "Howl," it is clear that the author may be

protesting or expressing protests with a cry for all the exploitation repression and subjugation

that is going on. Ginsberg is requesting people to protest against the issue of capitalism where

people get exploited, repressed and subjugated by leaders. I believe Ginsberg uses this poem to

present a picture of a nightmare world. The howl movement the author is talking about originates

from the pain and suffering people are going through bundled with outage and lamentation over

the lack of acceptance love and affirmation. Ginsberg in his poem has descended into a world

that is filled with darkness, isolation and lots of suffering. From there, the poet appears to ascend

by gaining spiritual knowledge, becoming blessed, achieving the vision and a greater sense of

union with the human community and with God.

There are certain sections of the poem that were of interest to me especially where

Ginsberg is talking about how people have become naked as a way of challenging the

mainstream culture. He talked about how some people's culture was not well accepted, and here

he expresses that anger towards this new culture was nothing but hatred towards the American

culture as a whole. Ginsberg expresses how frustration developed in these rejected individuals
because of a society that gave birth to them but was not prepared to accommodate them and this

caused them to start migrating all over to try and find places where they can find peace. This is

because they could not simply go back to where they were taken from considering some of them

do not even understand their roots.

Furthermore, Ginsberg expresses how the growth of these frustrations led them into

engaging in things like narcotics because some of them were looking to forget the harsh

conditions that they had to survive through. Also, Ginsberg explains how people developed

vulgar art as a way of challenging the mainstream culture and wanting to change the way the

society in general operated. After expressing the development of these abnormal behaviors and

tendencies, Ginsberg is hopeful and optimistic about social acceptance. He expresses that the

purpose of people who have gone against the mainstream culture is to create a different society

that is willing to accommodate these people with peace and tranquility. He acknowledges that at

the moment the society is denying such people a chance, but it will accept them in the near

future.