Howl was written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 and finished in 1956.

The poem gained wide celebrity in the Beatnik culture of San

Francisco. The poems subtitle, For Carl Solomon, dedicates the
poem to his friend whom Ginsberg met in a mental institution. Some of
Part I documents Solomons struggle with insanity, while Part II is
specifically dedicated to Solomons life and tragedy.
Ginsberg wanted Howl to express the pent up frustration, artistic
energy, and self-destruction of his generation, a generation that he felt
was being suppressed by a dominant American culture that valued
conformity over artistic license and opportunity. For a poet or the
individual to howl, meant that that person was breaking from the habit
of conformity to the virtues and ideals of American civilization and
expressing a counter-cultural vision of free expression.
The title also expresses one of the major themes in the poem - that of
madness. The artists of the Beat generation were like animals,
instinctively wild and only allowed out at night into an underground
scene of literature and jazz not accepted by more cultured members
of society.

Ginsberg begins "Howl" by describing his subjects. This is arguably

the most famous line in all of Ginsberg's poetry: "I saw the best minds
of my generation destroyed by madness...." These "best minds" are
Ginsberg's friends, literary associates, and acquaintances - all of
those that would become associated with the Beat generation, and
they are collectively the protagonists of the story that Howl attempts
to tell in a broken, stream of consciousness style.
It is worth reflecting on why Ginsberg believed these people to be the
best minds of his generation. These were still the best minds for
Ginsberg because they were outside of the group think that
characterized the domestic, militaristic, unthinking patriotism of the
time. Their minds were not captured by Americas hegemonic culture.
They were able to think outside of these restraints and were,

therefore, in Ginsbergs mind, the best of citizens in a wayward

republic.
Part II uses a great deal of metaphor and symbolism to make social
and political points. Thus, it is different from Part I, which was mainly a
fractured narrative of the lives of the Beat generation. Though one
could certainly make social and political inferences from Part I, and
Ginsberg does challenge the power authorities of institutions like
higher education, mental health, and public safety, the social forces
that cause the hardships, violence, and addiction in the lives of the
best minds are not named beyond vague references. Part II,
however, gives a very specific name for these social forces Moloch.
The use of the name Moloch, a name traditionally associated with
specific gods or rituals from ancient Middle Eastern and
Mediterranean religion, is most commonly used to denote a power or
force that demands great sacrifice. In Ginsbergs poem, it comes to
symbolize all of societys great evils: corporate power and domination,
militarization, governmental violence and oppression, just to name a
few.
Part III of Howl is the poems most direct address to Carl Solomon,
the person to whom the poem is dedicated. Ginsberg met Solomon
during a brief stay in the Columbia Presbyterian Psychological
Institute in 1949. In the poem, Ginsberg names the mental institution
Rockland, and the refrain of the third part of the poem is Ginsberg
crying to Solomon that: Im with you in Rockland!
The first half of the poem utilizes a vantage point of the author,
empathizing with Solomons condition. The pronoun you is used to
distinguish the author from Solomon. This then moves into a
perspective from within Rockland, the mental institution, and the
reader begins to understand some of the conditions that might drive a
person crazy. The last third of the poem comes from the perspective of
Solomons own insanity. Ginsberg moves from the you pronoun to a
we, meaning that both the writer and reader have entered into a

state of altered mind. The last three lines of the poem give the
intimation of an extraction from the insanity. Solomons immanent
presence is no longer assumed and Solomon becomes more of a
dream-like figure.

Narratee is confused with the receptor/reader

-Real Reader who reads the narrative, everyone here
-Virtual Reader who the author writes for the class, i.e. why I had
to explain Howl after reading it, understanding my audience needed a
background
-Ideal Reader one who hears and understands everything, and
accepts the narrative as true/reliable i.e. who the author wishes will be
his audience. Peter, I hope Peter is my ideal reader
Narratee Types and Signals
Zero Degree Narratee computer, a neutral subject who can follow a
narrative from beginning to end only making inferences and
presuppositions from the narrative itself.
Zero degree narrates cannot differentiate between fact/fiction, or
make determinations of consequences, merits, morality or positions of
a narrative, because they have no subjective values to funnel these
from.
Prince ultimately articulated that this narrate is impossible, in his
work narratee revisited because subjects cannot divorce themselves
from their values
Signals
No reference deviating from the zero degree narratee
-Places in Part I and II where Ginsberg speaks for himself or in
general for counter culture
Specific reference Carl Solomon
Questions

does this make Carl the sole naratee and Ginsberg himself and the
general Beat generation the virtual/ideal reader or are they also non
referent naratees?
Is the naratee in this poem not important?
If the naratee was just Ginsberg/Carl does Ginsberg making this
poem a movie change the naratee or just the audience?
Are people in Beat culture included as part of the naratee because of
the cries of freedom in part III, or is the naratee malleable as the
readers change through generations. This raises a larger question of
can naratees change, or do only readers change?
This lends itself to the question of what the purpose of the naratee is
Purpose of naratees
-Relay between the narrator and reader
Is that relay in most of this poem Ginsberg himself self
reflecting?
-Characterize the narrator themselves
Does that mean Carl is the naratee to identify the positioning of
madness that Ginsberg articulates that he operates from?
OR is carl simply the subject of the narration that Ginsberg uses
to convince himself the true naratee of his character
-Relations between narrative between the naratee and narrator
constantly change and often contradict so I think both of those
conclusions can be correct
-Narratives are meant to convince a narratee I think this solidifies
this claim I am with you in Rockland is meant for Carl to be
convinced and I and II are to convince Ginsberg himself