Blog Post 5: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl

I have decided to analyze the poem written by Allen Ginsberg known as Howl. First I would analyze key themes the writer explores in his poem. One of the main themes that I have found in this poem is “Insanity.” For starters, one of his close friends, Carl Solomon, had been institutionalize because he was consider an insane person. In his poem he mentions Rockland, which refers to a psychiatric hospital, were he was accepted because he was a homosexual. He included in the poem “Carl Solomon! I’m with you in Rockland where you’re madder than I am” (Part III). because that he also mentions that his own mother was also part of this problem. He included in the poem “I’m with you in Rockland where you imitate the shade of my mother” (Part III). He would not say literally that they were insane, but when you google more about his poem you can find more information on the subject. Besides that, he would also mention that the “best minds” because insane because they were not accepted in society.

In the second part I am going to analyze the literary and rhetorical technique that Allen use in his poem. After having read Allen’s poem I saw that he would not say what he is thinking just like that, but he would use words that would relate to that. For example, he would describe in his poem “dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angel headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamos in the machinery of night,” (part I). What he was trying to point out was that “best minds” (people who are consider different) would go to the poorest neighborhood to do drugs and alcohol, on the second part he would refer to the natural world.