The Beat Movement in

Ginsberg’s “Howl”
Students: Accastello, Lucas; Cagnolo, Gustavo; di Pietro, Alejandra
Instructors: Ancarani, Marta; Mussetta, Mariana
2016
Outline

• Historical Context
• Cultural Context
• Allen Ginsberg’s Biography
• Main Works
• Analysis of “Howl”
• Works Consulted
 Historical context

• World War II (1939–1945)

• Post World War II (1945–1970s)
• Cold War (1945–onwards)
• Capitalism vs. Communism
• Vietnam War (1955–1975)
 Cultural Context
• The Beat Generation/ Movement
• a rejection of mainstream American values
• experimentation with drugs and sexuality
• an interest in Eastern spirituality
• alienation from conventional values
• The Hippie Movement
• not directly engaged in politics
• against a culture dominated by materialism and repression
• communal or cooperative living arrangements
• The Second Wave of Feminist Movement
 Allen Ginsberg’s Biography
• was born on June 3, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey
• graduated from high school in 1939
• was a leader of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the counterculture
• was admitted to Columbia University in the 1940s
• joined the Marines in 1945 after being suspended from Columbia
• cofounded and directed the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at
the Naropa Institute in Colorado
• traveled throughout the world and continued writing poetry
• became a distinguished professor at Brooklyn College
• died on April 5, 1997
 Analysis of “Howl”
• The poem is divided into three sections.
• Use of allusions to exemplify cases of discrimination, distressful events
• Resorting to anaphora to enumerate different situations and cases
• Repetition to emphasize the cause of disconcerting environment
• Use of free verse (influenced by Walt Whitman)
 Works Consulted
• Beck, Roger; Black, Linda; Krieguer, Larry; Naylor, Phillip; Shabaka, Dahia. World History.
McDougal Littell, 2007. Print.
• Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Norton and Company. 2007.
Print.
• Harmon William, Holman C. Hugh . A Handbook to Literature. Prentice Hall, 2000. Print.
• Slide Serve. “Allen Ginsberg”. 2016. online. Retrieved from:
http://www.slideserve.com/maegan/allen-
ginsberg/?utm_source=slideserve&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=auto+related+l
oad
• Editors of The Literature Network. “Beat Generation”. 2016. online. Retrieved from:
http://www.online-literature.com/periods/beat.php
• Slide Serve. “Beat Generation”. 2016. online. Retrieved from:
http://www.slideserve.com/Audrey/the-beat-generation
• Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Hippie”. 2016. online. Retrieved from:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/hippie