howling out loud

by mango_man

Posted to WritersAndGenres on 2002-06-06 19:48:00

Parent message is 195809
The poem was the seed crystal of the beat movement, which occurred in the supersaturated solution of literary revolt against the straight laced society of the 1950’s. I find the poem particulary interesting in this historical context.
It certainly shattered every pre-existing notion of poetry, and it’s amusing to imagine the furrowed brows of the literary “authorities”, when they first read it.

As far as a stand alone work of art, it’s brilliant in its own way, and is certainly the definitive “beat” poem. You can’t really compare this poem to more conventional poetry, as it’s altogether a different thing. Though Ginsberg didn’t feel it was his best work, nothing he did afterward compares to the raw, explosive power of this piece.
It’s insane and indulgent and utterly unconstrained, but then again, that’s what the beat movement was all about.



The Literary Kicks message boards were active from 2001 to 2004.