This blog serves as a public forum for you to post your reactions to a broad range of texts--from Shakespeare's really uncomfortable early play Titus Andronicus to Alan Ginsberg's "obscene" poem "Howl" to the latest album from Kendrick Lamar. The conversation revolves around notions of cultural influence and how popular "products" get us to react to them and to the things they endorse.
To me, Allen Ginsberg’s poem was really strange. I had to read it a couple times to try and understand what he was saying. However, after doing this, I began to understand his objective. In this poem, Ginsberg is talking about his fellow artists and what has happened to them throughout the course of time. By beginning every little section with ‘who’, he keeps them anonymous, at the same time classifying them as a whole. I thought it was really interesting that he did this, because although each sentence may only apply to one individual he met in his life, he is looking at the bigger picture and bringing things together for the poem. Drugs, music, art, poverty, and even insanity are common themes here. Noting that the poem was written in the mid-1950s, it is interesting to see how some of these things were appalling social behaviors at the time, and now, some of them seem like ‘the norm’. It is interesting because most people automatically think of the 1960s as the decade of rebellion, but the Beatniks in the ‘50s were doing a lot of the same things, as can be read in the poem. I also like the fact that Ginsberg wasn’t afraid to use bad language in his poem, it was kind of refreshing to read something that wasn’t so ‘posh’, if you will. It will definitely be interesting to see what Ginsberg has in store for Parts II and III of this poem, I look forward to finding out.
This reading was definitely different! I did have to read it twice to grasp the concept a little better. What I have noticed from reading it the first time was his repetition of “who” throughout part 1. I believe that the “who’s” attribute to the fellow artists in his generation that do these outrageous things, but do not depict who the individuals are, but look at them as a whole. I noticed the many outrageous comments that were made in the poem, with the poem being a run-on sentence. The only thing that I believe that would make the author want to make part 1 into a run-on sentence is that these are continuous ideas and thoughts that are running through his head. The title “Howl” expresses the pent up frustration, artistic energy, and self-destruction of his generation. He felt the generation was being suppressed by a dominant American culture that valued conformity over artistic license and opportunity. For an individual to howl means that the person is breaking from the habit of conformity to the virtues and ideals of American society and expressing a counter-cultural vision of free expression. We need more individualism in society, because those are the people that think abstractly in different ways.
This story was very weird and provocative but makes sense to me. It talks about how everyone in the world, especially his peers, are starting to lose it by stating that he “saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness” and that they’re taking drugs or doing this absurd and disgusting activities now. He goes on by telling about all the different things that are happening, but doesn’t once state who he’s referring to. He uses “who” in the beginning in every new incident to protect the identity of his friends. I can relate to this story because it seems like most people have probably stated in some point in their life that their generation is a mess and will burn this world to the ground. This is said a lot today whenever someone does something that is frowned upon by the majority of the generation. But don’t all generations have problems? Over the last 100 years, so many terrible things have happened and mostly the youth of our society decides to go and attack it by saying that we’re not good enough or that everyone’s a drug or sex addict. I don’t really know why Ginsberg decides to exploit his generation like this but it’s probably because he decided to take only the bad things out of his generation rather than the good.
This reading I would have to say was more depressing than messed up like all the other readings. The first thing that it starts off saying is “I saw the best of minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked…” I mean just the beginning sentence alone describes how the rest of this story is going to go. It is pretty much saying how the author has seen people go from sky high to rock bottom, even the best of people, even people who are the most successful. The reading tends to use the word “who” a lot and providing various situations of how people have gone so far under into nothing practically. Each of the sentences that start with the word “who” end with that person at the bottom; the lowest of the low or sometimes with a sad and upsetting ending. The author made this poem to sound like each sentence was a different person who went down to rock bottom in different ways. It’s actually a really sad poem and makes you think because he listed so many different ways and possibility’s that a person, even the smartest of people can go down and under.
Allen Ginsberg’s poem, “Howl,” was interesting. After reading through the first part a few times I began to understand that he is referencing different people that he has met throughout his life, and the terrible things that have happened to them or that they have done. He starts the poem by saying, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness..”. He goes on to describe the worst part of the lives of each person that he has met. It seems strange to me that he would exploit all the worst moments in his friends lives, even though he does keep them anonymous. Most people try to focus on positive things in their, and their peers, lives. The stories and moment that he mentions are the exact opposite and it makes me wonder how he even got all of these people to reveal such horrible moments of their past. The fact that Ginsberg mentioned only people of his generation, it contradicts the theory that our generation is one of the worst. All you seem to hear about from people of the generations before us is that we are the worst generation and that we seem to do everything wrong or immorally. This poem shows that every generation contains people who have some sort of problem, even the smartest of them, and no generation is better than the next.
Howl was a very interesting read. I had to read it several times to clear up everything that was being said. The first line “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” seemed to set the tone for the rest of part one. The author used heavy parallelism with starting so many sentences with who. There is a large amount of examples of how someone can mess up their lives. Many examples have to do with drugs and alcohol. The poem does not seem to be about doctors or lawyers but poets and musicians. This shows the authors views of who the brightest minds of his generation were. Many of the people seem to be experiencing hallucinations which goes with the first line of them being mad. Also drug addictions are shown with the line “dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix.” The poem is sad to read once you think about the amount of lives and great talents that have been lost because of drugs. The story seems to encompass many sins and the poem has a religious feel. The author mentions religious structures such as angels or in one line a Synagogue. The 1950s are often referred to as a very happy time in America. This poem shows that there were also things that were very negative of that decade.
To me, Allen Ginsberg’s poem was really strange. I had to read it a couple times to try and understand what he was saying. However, after doing this, I began to understand his objective. In this poem, Ginsberg is talking about his fellow artists and what has happened to them throughout the course of time. By beginning every little section with ‘who’, he keeps them anonymous, at the same time classifying them as a whole. I thought it was really interesting that he did this, because although each sentence may only apply to one individual he met in his life, he is looking at the bigger picture and bringing things together for the poem. Drugs, music, art, poverty, and even insanity are common themes here. Noting that the poem was written in the mid-1950s, it is interesting to see how some of these things were appalling social behaviors at the time, and now, some of them seem like ‘the norm’. It is interesting because most people automatically think of the 1960s as the decade of rebellion, but the Beatniks in the ‘50s were doing a lot of the same things, as can be read in the poem. I also like the fact that Ginsberg wasn’t afraid to use bad language in his poem, it was kind of refreshing to read something that wasn’t so ‘posh’, if you will. It will definitely be interesting to see what Ginsberg has in store for Parts II and III of this poem, I look forward to finding out.
ReplyDeleteThis reading was definitely different! I did have to read it twice to grasp the concept a little better. What I have noticed from reading it the first time was his repetition of “who” throughout part 1. I believe that the “who’s” attribute to the fellow artists in his generation that do these outrageous things, but do not depict who the individuals are, but look at them as a whole. I noticed the many outrageous comments that were made in the poem, with the poem being a run-on sentence. The only thing that I believe that would make the author want to make part 1 into a run-on sentence is that these are continuous ideas and thoughts that are running through his head. The title “Howl” expresses the pent up frustration, artistic energy, and self-destruction of his generation. He felt the generation was being suppressed by a dominant American culture that valued conformity over artistic license and opportunity. For an individual to howl means that the person is breaking from the habit of conformity to the virtues and ideals of American society and expressing a counter-cultural vision of free expression. We need more individualism in society, because those are the people that think abstractly in different ways.
ReplyDeleteThis story was very weird and provocative but makes sense to me. It talks about how everyone in the world, especially his peers, are starting to lose it by stating that he “saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness” and that they’re taking drugs or doing this absurd and disgusting activities now. He goes on by telling about all the different things that are happening, but doesn’t once state who he’s referring to. He uses “who” in the beginning in every new incident to protect the identity of his friends. I can relate to this story because it seems like most people have probably stated in some point in their life that their generation is a mess and will burn this world to the ground. This is said a lot today whenever someone does something that is frowned upon by the majority of the generation. But don’t all generations have problems? Over the last 100 years, so many terrible things have happened and mostly the youth of our society decides to go and attack it by saying that we’re not good enough or that everyone’s a drug or sex addict. I don’t really know why Ginsberg decides to exploit his generation like this but it’s probably because he decided to take only the bad things out of his generation rather than the good.
ReplyDeleteThis reading I would have to say was more depressing than messed up like all the other readings. The first thing that it starts off saying is “I saw the best of minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked…” I mean just the beginning sentence alone describes how the rest of this story is going to go. It is pretty much saying how the author has seen people go from sky high to rock bottom, even the best of people, even people who are the most successful. The reading tends to use the word “who” a lot and providing various situations of how people have gone so far under into nothing practically. Each of the sentences that start with the word “who” end with that person at the bottom; the lowest of the low or sometimes with a sad and upsetting ending. The author made this poem to sound like each sentence was a different person who went down to rock bottom in different ways. It’s actually a really sad poem and makes you think because he listed so many different ways and possibility’s that a person, even the smartest of people can go down and under.
ReplyDeleteAllen Ginsberg’s poem, “Howl,” was interesting. After reading through the first part a few times I began to understand that he is referencing different people that he has met throughout his life, and the terrible things that have happened to them or that they have done. He starts the poem by saying, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness..”. He goes on to describe the worst part of the lives of each person that he has met. It seems strange to me that he would exploit all the worst moments in his friends lives, even though he does keep them anonymous. Most people try to focus on positive things in their, and their peers, lives. The stories and moment that he mentions are the exact opposite and it makes me wonder how he even got all of these people to reveal such horrible moments of their past. The fact that Ginsberg mentioned only people of his generation, it contradicts the theory that our generation is one of the worst. All you seem to hear about from people of the generations before us is that we are the worst generation and that we seem to do everything wrong or immorally. This poem shows that every generation contains people who have some sort of problem, even the smartest of them, and no generation is better than the next.
ReplyDeleteHowl was a very interesting read. I had to read it several times to clear up everything that was being said. The first line “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” seemed to set the tone for the rest of part one. The author used heavy parallelism with starting so many sentences with who. There is a large amount of examples of how someone can mess up their lives. Many examples have to do with drugs and alcohol. The poem does not seem to be about doctors or lawyers but poets and musicians. This shows the authors views of who the brightest minds of his generation were. Many of the people seem to be experiencing hallucinations which goes with the first line of them being mad. Also drug addictions are shown with the line “dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix.” The poem is sad to read once you think about the amount of lives and great talents that have been lost because of drugs. The story seems to encompass many sins and the poem has a religious feel. The author mentions religious structures such as angels or in one line a Synagogue. The 1950s are often referred to as a very happy time in America. This poem shows that there were also things that were very negative of that decade.
ReplyDelete