Howl and Other Poems

Howl and Other Poems

Company type	Poetry anthology
Industry	Literature, Poetry
Founded	November 1, 1956 (1956-11-01)
Founder	Allen Ginsberg
Products	Poetry collection including "Howl", "A Supermarket in California", "America", "Sunflower Sutra", "Transcription of Organ Music"

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First edition (part of the City Lights Pocket Poets Series published by City Lights Bookstore)

Howl and Other Poems is a poetry anthology by Allen Ginsberg, released on November 1, 1956. This volume features Ginsberg's most renowned work, "Howl", widely recognized as a cornerstone of the Beat Generation. The book also includes notable poems such as "A Supermarket in California", "Transcription of Organ Music", "Sunflower Sutra", "America", and "In the Baggage Room at Greyhound", alongside several of his earlier pieces. The publication led to the arrest of its publisher, fellow poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who faced obscenity charges. However, on October 3, 1957, Judge Clayton W. Horn acquitted Ferlinghetti, prompting the printing of an additional 5,000 copies due to heightened public interest generated by the trial. Among the poems in this collection, "Howl" and "A Supermarket in California" stand out as some of the most influential works from the Beat movement and have been featured in other anthologies, including the Norton Anthology of American Literature.

Initially, the book was dedicated to Lucien Carr, but following his request, his name was removed from all subsequent editions.

Publication history

After witnessing Ginsberg's performance at the Six Gallery Reading, Lawrence Ferlinghetti proposed publishing "Howl" through City Lights. Deeply moved by the poem, Ferlinghetti sent Ginsberg a message referencing Ralph Waldo Emerson’s praise of Leaves of Grass: "I greet you at the beginning of a great career. When do I get the manuscript?" Initially, both Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti expected "Howl" alone would fill the entire book, but they ultimately chose to supplement it with other poems Ginsberg had recently written.

The "Other Poems"

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Ginsberg's prominence attracted attention from figures like Bob Dylan. This photo captures Dylan with Ginsberg in 1975

While "Howl" remains Ginsberg’s signature poem, this collection showcases many other works that exemplify his poetic mastery and received considerable acclaim comparable to "Howl." Among these are:

"America"

The poem "America" takes the form of a dialogue between the speaker and the nation itself. When the narrator states "It Occurs to me that I am America," he immediately adds, "I am talking to myself again." The piece blends humor with sarcasm while addressing weighty themes. It references key figures and martyrs from major social movements such as labor struggles, including Leon Trotsky, the Scottsboro Boys, Sacco and Vanzetti, and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies). Personal elements also appear, such as his Uncle Max’s immigration from Russia, writer William S. Burroughs’ residence in Tangier, and memories of his mother Naomi taking him to Communist gatherings during his childhood. The poem extends Ginsberg’s exploration begun with "Howl," experimenting with combining long and short lines while maintaining breath-based rhythm. Ginsberg explained: "What happens if you mix long and short lines, single breath remaining the rule of measure? I didn't trust free flight yet, so went back to fixed base to sustain the flow, 'America'."

"A Supermarket in California"

The poem A Supermarket in California portrays a surreal meeting with Walt Whitman, a major influence on Ginsberg. Whitman's figure is juxtaposed against the ordinary setting of a supermarket, where food imagery often carries sexual connotations. Ginsberg also alludes to Federico García Lorca, whose "Ode to Walt Whitman" served as an inspiration for Howl and other works. Reflecting on his creative process with Howl, Ginsberg remarked: "Many of these forms emerged from an intense rhapsodic wail I once heard in a mental institution. Later, I questioned whether short, quiet lyrical poems could be crafted using the long line. A Strange New Cottage in Berkeley and A Supermarket in California (composed the same day) came together later that year. Not intentionally, I simply followed my muse during composition."

"Sunflower Sutra"

Sunflower Sutra recounts a journey with Jack Kerouac through a railroad yard, where they discover a sunflower coated with dirt and soot. This flower becomes a symbol for humanity as a whole: "we are not our skin of grime." The poem connects to Ginsberg’s vision or auditory hallucination of poet William Blake reciting "Ah, Sunflower": "Blake, my visions." (This echoes references in Howl, such as "Blake-light tragedies," and other poems.) The central theme aligns with Ginsberg’s original Blake-inspired insight—that all people are interconnected (also reflected in the line from "Footnote to Howl": "The world is holy!"). Structurally, the poem shares similarities with Howl, employing the long line and ending with repeated paratactical juxtapositions known as the "eyeball kick." Regarding his post-Howl experimentation, Ginsberg noted: "What about crafting a poem with rhythmic intensity equal to Howl but without relying on repetitive foundations? The Sunflower Sutra achieved that; it amazed me—one continuous who."

"Transcription of Organ Music"

Transcription of Organ Music captures a tranquil moment in Ginsberg’s new Berkeley cottage, which remains largely empty and not yet fully furnished—he was unable to afford telephone service at the time. The poem features recurring motifs of openness: open doors, vacant sockets, blooming flowers, and an open womb, culminating in the vision of the entire world being "open to receive." The reference to "H.P." denotes Helen Parker, one of Ginsberg’s early romantic partners from 1950. The poem closes with a Whitman-like confession expressing his wish for others to acknowledge him as "gifted with poetry" and having encountered the creator. While this might appear arrogant, many of Ginsberg’s bold declarations are often interpreted as playful or ironic (compare with lines like "I am America" from America or his later work Ego Confessions). This may also represent Ginsberg adopting the Walt Whitman persona—a figure who famously described himself as a "kosmos" to emphasize universal connectedness—a role that became central to Ginsberg’s identity in later years. Reflecting on his mindset while writing Transcription of Organ Music, especially after his experiments with Howl, Ginsberg explained: "What if I simply wrote in extended units and fragmented short lines, spontaneously recording everyday realities mixed with emotional surges and solitude? Transcription of Organ Music (sensual data), an unusual composition shifting between prose and poetry much like the workings of the mind."

Additional Poems

• "In the Baggage Room at Grey Hound"
• Certain editions also feature earlier works, including titles like "Song," "In Back of the Real," "Wild Orphan," and "An Asphodel," among others.

Critical Reception

In his book American Scream, Jonah Raskin examines the "conspiratorial" motifs within Howl, arguing that Ginsberg, more than any other American poet of the 20th century, leveraged his writing to express discontent with the U.S. government's treatment of its citizens and to denounce the CIA's malevolent activities during the Cold War. Ginsberg himself alleged that the CIA played a role in his difficulty securing publishers, a claim that Raskin considers potentially credible despite lacking concrete proof. After discussing this matter directly with Ginsberg, Raskin recounts:

When I asked Ginsberg in Marin in 1985 who he believed were CIA-backed intellectuals, he named Lionel Trilling, Norman Podhoretz, and Mary McCarthy. He viewed their influence as contributing to the toxic atmosphere of the Cold War just as much as the cultural enforcers behind the Iron Curtain.

In Camp Grounds, David Bergman portrays Ginsberg as a poet who, although not explicitly advocating for homosexual rights, employed a "comically carnivalesque" style to depict the social realities confronting homosexual individuals in 20th-century America. Bergman interprets the poet’s address to the grocery clerk in "Supermarket in California"—"Are you my Angel?"—as rhetorical, highlighting the interaction between poet and popular culture by using the supermarket as a metaphor for petit bourgeois society.

Gary Snyder, who accompanied Ginsberg and witnessed the initial public performances of Howl, critiqued the poem for its personal nature. In correspondence, Snyder noted that Howl contained repetitive dualities not evident in Ginsberg’s other contemporary works. Nevertheless, during a February 12, 2008 interview, Snyder acknowledged the poem’s positive qualities and its societal resonance from both Ginsberg’s and the public’s perspectives: "He was already very much at home in the text, and it clearly spoke—as everyone could see—to the condition of the people."

Literary critic Diana Trilling expressed disapproval of both Ginsberg and his readership by asserting that Howl and similar works reflected an immature perception of modern life. She argued that neither Ginsberg nor his audience engaged with literature on a serious level, claiming that the poems’ "shoddiness" indicated they were designed to appeal to a cynical popular culture rather than to offer genuine artistic merit. Alongside other Beat Generation writers, Howl attracted critique concerning its tone and style. Norman Podhoretz’s 1958 essay "The Know-Nothing Bohemians" contends that "the primitivism of the Beat Generation primarily masks an anti-intellectualism so intense that it makes ordinary Americans’ disdain for intellectuals appear mild by comparison."

See also

• Howl

External links

• Official Allen Ginsberg Website
• Allen Ginsberg at Poets.org Featuring audio recordings, poems, and essays from the Academy of American Poets