To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
– Polonius to Laertes in Hamlet
Howl is a poem by Allen Ginsberg, first published in 1957, and Howl is, also, more recently, a film, directed by Bob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, about the poet and his work. One of its source inspirations, (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174745) "Song of Myself", by Walt Whitman, invites stylisic and thematic comparison as autobiographical free verse poem written in long lines, many including catalog elements, and a narrator intent on laying bare the cultural and natural, physical experience of being human, and of exploring/celebrating the sexual dimension of our lives and the diverse quality of human identity. The poet's uninhibited, challenging voice is central to both, and both draw attention to the importance of authentic self-expression and relationships built on candor and openness.
In the film Howl, James Franco portrays the poet Allen Ginsberg, whose life and work illustrates the tensions of mid-century America, between the haves and have not, between conservative elites and the disaffected, educated and uneducated alike, searching for more transparency and candidness in national life, more tolerance and compassion, amid an increasingly corporatized and militarized order that proved an obstacle to simple human happiness. Ginsberg, like Walt Whitman, and like many black writers of the Harlem Renaissance and after, wrote of and for a more democratic, open, peaceful America.
Having you watch the film Howl (starring James Franco in the role of the poet Allen Ginsberg, author of the poem “Howl”) I will be interested in your response to the content of the poem and the film, the poet’s explanations of his work and why he wrote it, and the critical responses expressed during the trial scenes. If you owe a short response, or want to focus on Howl as a final project: In your own words, relate what the poem is about, what you thought of Ginsberg’s discussion of the work, and the opinions aired in court on the matter of its obscenity or no, its artistic merit, the advisability of censoring its publication, etcetera (350 words, short response).
Several links posted here may be useful:
http://www.dhs.fjanosco.net/Documents/HowlOnTrial.pdf
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"Icarus" –by Henri Matisse
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A Supermarket in California by Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997)
What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.
In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, García Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?
I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.
Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in a hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.
Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?
--Berkeley, 1955
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