1. The Beat Generation Bbe
2. What Is The Beat Generation

Throughout history there have been those that have defied the normal and accepted ideals of their society. Socrates, Galileo, da Vinci, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thoreau are only a few examples of the individuals throughout history who questioned authority and humanity’s purpose, and who thought outside the box. These social dissenters have significantly impacted the world. Art, in all its forms, provides a means for nonconformists to express their ideas. The modernism movement that started in England at the end of the nineteenth century and migrated to America less than 20 years later (most notably the Armory Show of 1913) was an excellent platform for artists (writers, musicians, painters, etc…) who wanted to turn away from conventional methods of expression and subject matter (McMichael and Leonard). Two world wars and approximately 30 years later, another form of modernism developed: the beat generation. They overcame censorship, jail, lack of dependable communication, and expected norms in an effort to change this country for the better. An examination of the history and ideals of the beat generation, as well as an analysis of two influential pieces of literature from this era, will reveal the social and political impact they have had on American society and the necessity of dissidents like them to prevent our society from becoming stagnant and uninformed to the needs of all its citizens.
The beat generation, or beatniks (term to describe individuals of the beat generation), and their future counterparts (hippies, punk rockers, Goth, emo) fueled the fires of non-conformity by questioning the existing state of affairs. Through poetry and other forms of literature, certain realisms that were currently being ignored or condemned were brought into the light. These realisms included, but were not limited to, addiction, homosexuality, and the horrors of war. Their use of symbolism, metaphor, and rhyme created poetry that usually “spoke” about the underside of life and the errors in American policy (political and social). The phrase “beat generation” is identified with Jack Kerouac from a 1948 conversation with fellow beat poet and author John Clellon Holmes. The term beat referred to the downtrodden, or beaten down of spirit and estrangement many young adults were experiencing after WWII; by the early 1950s, the term was redefined to mean reaching a state of spiritual transcendence (“beatific”) “after being beaten down to the point where he or she is psychologically desolate” (Bochynski). Therefore, it was the members of society that did not fit in (beaten down) that wanted to change the existing state of affairs by bringing certain injustices into the light through their literature.
At the center of the beat movement were authors Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs; they sought to instill a “New Vision.” This New Vision was characterized by “unfettered self-expression, sensory derangement as a means of perceiving truth, sexual experimentation, and the idea that art transcends conventional morality” that was opposite the conformist views of the 1950s (Bochynski). They abandoned the conventional literary norms and experimented with free verse poetry, unstructured composition, colloquial speech, and spontaneous prose embedded with jazz rhythms to express their ideals. They used literary techniques in an unconventional manner to express unconventional ideas. Mr. Kerouac’s famous semiautobiographical novel On the Road was originally written on sheets of paper taped together forming a scroll; it is considered “one of the most famous performative writing manuscripts of the twentieth century” and in 2001 sold for 2.4 million dollars at auction (Trudeau 1). Not only is this manuscript’s content an example of the New Vision, but the scroll form it is written in screams nonconformity as it is not the normal structure of published literature. Unfortunately, unconventional medium made his book unpublishable for many years.
Problems with publication often prevented the beatniks from maintaining a forum to express their ideals through literature read by the public. Two of the most influential works of beat literature – On the Road and Naked Lunch – had differing reasons for not being accessible to the public. On the Road, as mentioned, took years to be published in a conventional form that the public could purchase and read. On the other hand, Naked Lunch was prevented from reaching the public through banning. In 1959, The Chicago Tribune printed nine pages from the book, and it was considered indecent by the powers that be; this led to a ban on any future publications of the book. In 1962, the novel reappeared in the United States and was immediately banned on grounds of obscenity. The case was appealed, and in 1966, it was overturned by the Massachusetts Supreme Court; “this landmark ruling ended literary censorship in the United States” (part of the first amendment right to free speech) (Bochynski). Although the beat movement did not gain much mobility until the 1960s when the hippie culture started to flourish, in 1967 Jack Kerouac stated that “the hippie movement was a continuation of …and better than the beats” (qtd. in Johnston 122).
One explanation for this slow movement is the beatniks’ lack of a foundation to clearly develop political and economic positions and their inability to communicate their ideals to the masses; their ideals were shared through the “social ritual of reminiscence and retelling” (qtd. in Johnston 104). In other words, their messages were spread by talking to a friend, that friend speaking to another friend, and so on; this changed when the music of the 1960s created a forum for the articulation of the beatnik philosophy.
Musicians (aka poets) who started in the 1960s, like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and Jerry Garcia, had personal ties to the beat poets; Dylan was a close friend to Allen Ginsberg and Janis’s famous hit “Oh Lord, Wont You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz” was written by Michael McClure (Bochynski). Jerry Garcia and Neal Cassady were part of a group called the Merry Pranksters who traveled America in a psychedelic bus eating hallucinogens while filming a movie whose exploits were chronicled in Tom Wolfe’s best seller The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (“Outsiders in a Conformist Society”). Following in the footsteps of Ginsberg and his supporters, Dylan and other musicians of the period continued to try to change the accepted policies of the United States throughout the 60s and early 70s by speaking out on issues like gay and religious rights, the legalization of marijuana, freedom of expression, and against the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War; many of which are still aggressively debated today. During the Civil Rights Movement, Bob Dylan wrote “Oxford Town” which contain the lyrics “He went to Oxford Town / Guns and clubs followed him down / All because his face was brown.” This song was his way to criticize the riots that occurred when the first black student was admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962 (Harks). Many of these musicians were criticized for their lyrics and some were labeled communists because their ideas did not fit in: they were beatniks as well.
Moving away from the history of the beat generation, I will briefly analyze two poems that reflect their ideals and attitudes. One of the most influential pieces of literature during the beat years was Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl.” Through his use of metaphors, symbolism, and other literary devices, Allen Ginsberg relays some of his political and social opinions in his poem “Howl.” Mr. Ginsberg read “Howl” publicly for the first time in 1955 at the San Francisco Six Gallery event mentioned previously; it quickly became the single piece of literature that encapsulated the ideals of the beat generation, their “manifesto,” and continued its influence on the hippie movement of the 1960s (Horvath). “Howl” is divided into three parts, each carrying a theme of “the personal and social consequences of trying to achieve … transcendence amid a materialistic culture” (Horvath); this can be seen in the tone, imagery, and symbolism used throughout. A brief analysis of each section will show how each part reflects this theme.
The first part of Mr. Ginsberg’s poem speaks out for those who are oppressed by the inability, or desire, to conform to society’s ideals and their self-destructive behavior to transcend this conformity (Horvath). Usually, when people refuse to or cannot conform, they are ridiculed and often abused; this often leads to social and emotional issues that can result in drug abuse, criminal activity, sexual promiscuity, and other activities that further their exclusion from conventional society. This situation can be observed in the first three lines of “Howl”:

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterically / naked / dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix (qtd. in Poetry Foundation 1-3)

These lines also set the tone of despair with their negative connotative imagery. This continues in lines 15-16 with “who got busted in their pubic beards returning through Laredo with a belt of / marijuana for New York” (symbolic for pot smugglers), and “who lit cigarettes in boxcars boxcars boxcars racketing through snow toward lonesome / farms in grandfather night” (qtd. in Poetry Foundation 45-46). This section is written as one sentence with the rhythm emphasized by the word “who”; this and the negative connotations (single words and phrases) used throughout conveys a tone of despair; i.e. “angry fix”, “darkness”, and “obscene” (qtd. in Poetry Foundation 2, 5, and 11). The tone of despair is continued in the second section.
The second section of this poem uses Moloch as a symbol for the reason for the feelings of alienation and despair endured by the outcasts in the first section. Moloch was a god from the Old Testament who, in the poem “Howl,” symbolizes “the false values, spiritual and social bankruptcy, and technological menace of the 1950’s that threatened to swallow America’s youth whole” (Bochynski). In other words, Moloch is used as a metaphor for everything the beatniks were against; for example, lines 8 – 9 read “Moloch the vast stone of war! / Moloch the stunned governments!” (Moloch is the cause of war and an unproductive government), “Moloch whose blood is running money” (Moloch is capitalism) (10), and “Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and / banks!” (Metaphors for industrialization) (qtd. in Poetry Foundation 16). In other words, Moloch is the reason for all bad things, and according to the beatniks, this included materialism, apathy towards the undesirable, industrialism, and conformity.
The third part of this poem directly addresses beat author and close friend to Mr. Ginsberg: Carl Solomon. Allen Ginsberg and Carl Solomon met while they were patients at Columbia Presbyterian Psychiatric Institute, and Mr. Ginsberg’s mother was diagnosed schizophrenic when he was younger (Bochynski); this allowed the two to build a very tight relationship based on their “craziness.” In the third section of the poem “Howl,” Mr. Solomon epitomizes “all oppressed members of his generation driven crazy by the world in which they are forced to live” (Horvath); this refers to the previously mentioned ridiculed and abused people. Throughout the third section, the phrase “I am with you in Rockland” is the beginning of every stanza; this symbolizes his solidarity with Mr. Solomon and others in similar situations. The repetition of this phrase is intended to convey the feeling of solidarity to the poem’s readers. The diction used in “Howl” is street language; this gives the poem a rough rhythm with jazz undertones which mimics the contrast between accepted and unaccepted ideals of the period. This type of language is specifically used to show this contrast, and it literally shocked the public into seeing reality without the glamour. All three sections of this poem express the sentiment of the beat generation: oppression, non-conformity, and rebellion.
Now I will briefly analyze another piece of literature from the beatniks. Another revolutionary poet was Gregory Corso who expressed his thoughts about the nuclear bomb in a very innovative manner. In his poem “BOMB” (1960), Gregory Corso uses shape, satire, metaphors, and symbolism to protest the nuclear bomb. The first thing that is noticeable about “BOMB” is its shape: a mushroom cloud. This example of concrete poetry reflects the beatniks’ anxiety towards the coming nuclear era. This is also an indication of the theme for his poem: a satirical and prophetic view of the love/hate relationship conformist America has for the nuclear bomb (Howe); e.g., “All Man hates you” (9), “They’d rather die by anything but you” (11), “That I am unable to hate what is necessary to love” (110). Lines 161 – 162, “O Bomb I love you / I want to kiss your clank eat your boom,” also emphasize this love/hate relationship (qtd. in American Poems). The theme is accompanied by a satirical tone that is revealed through connotation and metaphor. Crystal report 11 key generator. For example, line two compares the bomb to a “Toy of universe [metaphor] Grandest of all snatched sky…” putting the bomb in a positive light while line three states “Do I hate the mischievous thunderbolt [metaphor] the jawbone of an ass” which sends a negative impression using a biblical reference (qtd. in American Poems). There is also a prophetic undertone relating to man’s ability for violence. For example, the speaker mentions the earlier history of weapons using fictional and non-fictional references, in lines 4 – 7:

Still in operation today, City Lights is an important landmark of Beat generation history. Several of the surrounding streets have been renamed after Beat poets as well, commemorating their important contribution to the cultural landscape of San Francisco. Other Beat poets included Diane di Prima, Neal Cassady, Anne Waldman, and Michael McClure.

The bumpy club of One Million B.C. the mace the flail the axe / Catapult Da Vinci tomahawk Cochise flintlock
Kidd dagger Rathbone / Ah and the sad desparate gun of Verlaine Pushkin Dillinger Bogart / And hath not St. Michael a burning sword St. George a lance David a sling” (qtd. in American Poems)

• The ‘quiet Beat’, Holmes is widely considered to have written the first Beat novel. Go was the story of his friendship with Kerouac & co. Perhaps Holmes is most famous for when Kerouac used the word ‘Beat’ to describe to him the nature of their generation. Aliases: Book of Dreams – James Watson On the Road – Tom Saybrook.
• In the 1940s and 50s, a new generation of poets rebelled against the conventions of mainstream American life and writing. They became known as the Beat Poets––a name that evokes weariness, down-and-outness, the beat under a piece of music, and beatific spirituality. At first, they organized in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
• The ‘quiet Beat’, Holmes is widely considered to have written the first Beat novel. Go was the story of his friendship with Kerouac & co. Perhaps Holmes is most famous for when Kerouac used the word ‘Beat’ to describe to him the nature of their generation. Aliases: Book of Dreams – James Watson.

This undertone climaxes in the last four lines of the poem with the idea that bigger and better weapons are yet to come:

that in the hearts of men to come more bombs will be born / magisterial bombs wrapped in ermine all beautiful / and they’ll sit plunk on earth’s grumpy empires / fierce with moustaches of gold” (qtd. in American Poems)

Mr. Corso’s sarcasm is also evident in lines 126-129 where he writes “There is a hell for bombs / They’re there I see them there / They sit in bits and sing songs / mostly German songs [metaphor for Nazis implying Nazis go to hell]” (qtd. in American Poems). There are many other examples supporting the tone and theme of this poem, but now I will focus on how the rhythm and structure of this poem reflect the attitude of the beat generation. The rhythm of “BOMB” is not set; it is erratic like some jazz music, and the sentence structure helps maintain the rhythm. Although there are no punctuation marks, a line beginning a thought or statement is capitalized; that thought or statement stops at the end of a line; for example, lines 123 and 124 are written as:

I need not then be all-smart about bombs
Happily so for if I felt bombs were caterpillars (qtd. in American Poems)

Pauses where commas would normally be used are expressed with extra space between words as seen above in line 124 between the words so and for. Sometimes, but rarely, Mr. Corso uses rhyme; for example, “like the fox of the tally-ho / thy field the universe thy hedge the geo” (71-72) and lines 73-74 “Leap Bomb bound Bomb frolic zig and zag / The stars a swarm of bees in thy binging bag” (qtd. in American Poems). Mr. Corso’s use of connotation on certain stressed words adds to the fluctuation in tone and helps infuse the jazz tempo; i.e. “a child in a park [positive] a man dying in an electric-chair [negative]” (112) and in lines 119 – 120 “a man pursuing the big lies of gold [negative and positive] / or a poet roaming in bright ashes [positive]” (qtd. in American Poems). Also, the word BOOM is repeated throughout the poem adding to the jazz-like rhythm; this is unlike the first section of Mr. Ginsberg’s “Howl” with its unending monotonous rhythm only slightly interrupted by the word “who.” Even though both poems represent the voice of the beat generation, they do so in different ways.
The similarities and differences between these two poems are obvious. Although the authors both use a generous amount of metaphors and imagery to convey their meaning, and both pieces offer perspectives of the beatniks, their theme, tone, and rhythm are very different. The tone in “Howl” is one of despair, while the tone in “BOMB” is sarcastic. The rhythm used in “BOMB” is unpredictable like modern jazz (and the bomb), and the rhythm in “Howl” is less musical. Although they were deemed misfits, the beatniks continued a legacy of non-conformity that began with Socrates and endures today. Both poems helped spark the protest movement during the 1960s and 1970s and continued to be inspirational to their causes; e.g. homosexual rights, Vietnam, the love generation, anti-nuke rallies, and the Green movement (Bochynski). Thirty-five years later, the precedents set as a result of the obscenity trials regarding “Howl” and Naked Lunch helped fight censorship when, in 1990, a Florida judge banned an album by the rap group 2 Live Crew that was overturned in 1992 (Phillips).
Political and social principles changed as a result of the beat generation’s influence. An analysis of the origins of beatniks and the purpose of their literature shows the past and present influence they have had on America’s social and political ideals. They are the voice for those who feel they cannot speak, the eyes for those who cannot see, and the ears for those who cannot hear. All brands of beatniks, whether they are hippies, Emos, or Goth, stand outside society’s norms and challenge the current way of thinking; they are the dissenters and the world desperately needs them. Although certain groups among the youth of America have been deemed undesirable, or thorns in the backside, they are urgently needed. Without the constant challenge they provide, it would be easy for a society to become stagnant in its ideals, or worse: become an over-oppressive one-size-fits-all society. Unfortunately, speaking out for change is a continuous challenge in the face of the opposition, and the opposition does not hold dissenters in high regard. This quote from Mr. Ginsberg’s “Howl” sums up the establishment’s viewpoint on beatniks: they are the people “who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the / windows of the skull” (qtd. in Poetry Foundation 12-13). This describes them quite well I believe, and it is probably one of the few points on which the establishment and the beatniks would agree.

Works Cited

The Beat Generation Bbe

Eddy Wilson is in his fourth year at Ashford University, and is due to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in May, 2016. In his time at Ashford, Eddy has discovered his passion for literature, its place in history and culture, and its power to instill sociopolitical change. Upon completing his undergraduate work, Eddy hopes to pursue a Master’s degree with the goal of teaching college courses in literary analysis.

What Is The Beat Generation