When I went to San Francisco last year, I knew nothing about the beat generation. My father did, though, and he took me to the Beat Museum. From then on I was hooked, particularly on Ginsberg's poetry. He often found inspiration in the poetry of Walt Whitman who was then my favorite poet. I chose 'Howl' to be my artifact because of my sentimental connection to it and also because it was innovative in both a literary and a societal sense.
Click the above links for my essay, bibliography, and other supplements.
I thought that this paper about conformity was very interesting. The writer of this paper did a very good job of relating the artifact to the time period and the future of America. Also, the title is very original and "zippy". I thought that everything in the paper was appropriate and only helped to support the thesis statement. When the writer spoke about Allen Ginsberg's life, it helped to explain and understand where this poem came from. Furthermore, understanding the conformity that was taking place during the 50s shows how Allen Ginsberg's poem was so brave and individualistic at the time. The quotes were also very appropriate. Overall this paper was well organized and well done.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I found this paper particularly interesting given my topic which was the Chicago Eight Trial case in which Ginsberg was a defendant. I actually used Howl as one of my sources to better understand the mentality of one of the most outspoken defendants. The poem represents the mentality of a clearly disturbed man. The question which I think this essay does a good job of answering is to what extent was Ginsberg simply in turmoil about his own sense of self as opposed to alarmed about the social trends of the 1950s which he challenged in his poem. Howl attacks many of the issues which emerged in the Chicago Eight trial such as racism, poverty and the Vietnam War. My one critique would be that I wish the essay had focused more on some of those issues. I think the essay did a great job of describing what role Howl played in the creation of the counterculture which focused on those issues, however. The essay was extremely interesting to me because it delved into the mentality of Ginsberg, a disorienting, chaotic and fascinating environment.
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