"with mother finally ******, and the last fantastic book flung out of the tenement window..."
~"Howl" by Allen Ginsberg
In class on Thursday, the topic came up about how there's a segment on a talk show (Jay Leno I think it was) in which perfectly innocent words were bleeped out. I wonder if that's what Ginsberg was trying to do here? If it was a swear word that he censored out, I wonder why he chose to sensor it here when he didn't sensor any of the other ones. I guess this is an artistic way to get the reader to fill in the blanks.
"Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the American river!"
Another thing I noticed in the second part of this poem was that it reminded me of a song from a musical--go figure. It's the song "La Vie Boheme" from Rent. It uses this same listing structure. It even mentions Ginsberg in the song. I have to wonder if Jonathan Larson chose to model "La Vie Boheme" after this part of "Howl." I don't know. Just a thought.
Comments (2)
Howl also has the tendency for repetetion and the use of long lines. Maybe we should look at the structure itself rather than the message because we will get the same result. An urge to resist!
Posted by Kevin "Kelo The Great" Hinton | November 20, 2007 12:07 PM
Posted on November 20, 2007 12:07
"La Vie Boheme" was a song prasing the bohemians, the unsung heroes who went against society. Ginsberg definately fits the unsung hero category. His style of writing was unabashed and real, which scared the critics, ne conformists. Ginsbgerg was one of the beatniks, the early bohemian counterculture.
Posted by Daniella Choynowski | November 20, 2007 1:05 PM
Posted on November 20, 2007 13:05