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The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later
A tribute to Ginsberg's signature work, which stirred a generation of angel-headed hipsters to cultural rebellion.
In 1956, City Lights, a small San Francisco bookstore, published Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems with its trademark black-and-white cover. The original edition cost seventy-five cents, but there was something priceless about its eponymous piece. Although it gave a voice to the new generation that came of age in the conservative years following World War II, the poem also conferred a strange, subversive power that continues to exert its influence to this day. Ginsberg went on to become one of the most eminent and celebrated writers of the second half of the twentieth century, and "Howl" became the critical axis of the worldwide literary, cultural, and political movement that would be known as the Beat generation.
The year 2006 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of "Howl," and The Poem That Changed America will celebrate and shed new light on this profound cultural work. With new essays by many of today's most distinguished writers, including Frank Bidart, Andrei Codrescu, Vivian Gornick, Phillip Lopate, Daphne Merkin, Rick Moody, Robert Pinsky, and Luc Sante, The Poem That Changed America reveals the pioneering influence of "Howl" down through the decades and its powerful resonance today.
In 1956, City Lights, a small San Francisco bookstore, published Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems with its trademark black-and-white cover. The original edition cost seventy-five cents, but there was something priceless about its eponymous piece. Although it gave a voice to the new generation that came of age in the conservative years following World War II, the poem also conferred a strange, subversive power that continues to exert its influence to this day. Ginsberg went on to become one of the most eminent and celebrated writers of the second half of the twentieth century, and "Howl" became the critical axis of the worldwide literary, cultural, and political movement that would be known as the Beat generation.
The year 2006 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of "Howl," and The Poem That Changed America will celebrate and shed new light on this profound cultural work. With new essays by many of today's most distinguished writers, including Frank Bidart, Andrei Codrescu, Vivian Gornick, Phillip Lopate, Daphne Merkin, Rick Moody, Robert Pinsky, and Luc Sante, The Poem That Changed America reveals the pioneering influence of "Howl" down through the decades and its powerful resonance today.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 14, 2010
Five stars for the poem itself; three stars for essays ranging from brilliant to coma-inducingly boring. There were about a hundred more pages than a book like this truly needed.
March 4, 2021
The Poem That Changed America is a collection of criticism of "Howl", and personal anecdotes and memories of it, which has perhaps suffered from marketing that makes it out to only be the former.
I thought I would get more out of the criticism than the anecdotes, but that turned out not to be the case. Though one or two of the critical essays are terrific and (as far as I know) say new, important things about "Howl", most are middling and plod along. They analyze the same lines in the same way, and one wonders why Shindler bothered including so many essays that say exactly the same thing. Most of the anecdotes get repetitive too, and as with the essays only a handful are real standouts, but at least the vagaries of personal experiences and writing style keep things fresh.
Ultimately I don't think I'd say that owning this is essential, even for a Ginsberg devotee, and if you just want to learn more about "Howl" there are better places to start (e.g. Howl: Original Draft Facsimile, Transcript & Variant Versions, Fully Annotated by Author, with Contemporaneous Correspondence). But if that doesn't see you through to the end of your interest, there are a few tidbits in here that are at least worth a trip to the library.
I thought I would get more out of the criticism than the anecdotes, but that turned out not to be the case. Though one or two of the critical essays are terrific and (as far as I know) say new, important things about "Howl", most are middling and plod along. They analyze the same lines in the same way, and one wonders why Shindler bothered including so many essays that say exactly the same thing. Most of the anecdotes get repetitive too, and as with the essays only a handful are real standouts, but at least the vagaries of personal experiences and writing style keep things fresh.
Ultimately I don't think I'd say that owning this is essential, even for a Ginsberg devotee, and if you just want to learn more about "Howl" there are better places to start (e.g. Howl: Original Draft Facsimile, Transcript & Variant Versions, Fully Annotated by Author, with Contemporaneous Correspondence). But if that doesn't see you through to the end of your interest, there are a few tidbits in here that are at least worth a trip to the library.
June 2, 2022
this 2 star rating has nothing to do with howl itself (which i adore!! to the moon and back!!) and everything to do with the absurd amount of personal anecdotes collected in this book that are all saying the same thing: howl is great, howl is monumental, howl changed my life and america’s youth subculture.
when i pick up a book that promises to recount how the poem changed America, how a poem is perceived 50 years later, i am expecting anecdotes yes, but primarily i am expecting detailed literary analyses and a rigorous study of the poem’s cultural impact. however, it seems that shinder and I are at a disconnect, because there are perhaps 3 out of a few dozen essays in this book that conduct that kind of inquiry. consequently, this book feels like scrolling through a subreddit - and not a very entertaining one at that.
when i pick up a book that promises to recount how the poem changed America, how a poem is perceived 50 years later, i am expecting anecdotes yes, but primarily i am expecting detailed literary analyses and a rigorous study of the poem’s cultural impact. however, it seems that shinder and I are at a disconnect, because there are perhaps 3 out of a few dozen essays in this book that conduct that kind of inquiry. consequently, this book feels like scrolling through a subreddit - and not a very entertaining one at that.
July 21, 2022
I rarely finish books I don’t really enjoy, but this was quick because it’s mostly personal anecdotes from some random people I’ve never met. I guess they know Ginsberg…cool? Most of it is their stories…
I read George Saunder’s “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain”, and that shit ruled because it was essentially a college literature course in a book. This book I had hoped to be similar in increasing my appreciation for the Howl poem. I do appreciate it, but this book wasn’t a huge reason why. It got me to read the poem again, and I know the first few lines pretty well cuz most of the authors speak on the first strophe.
Not worth a read unless you desperately wish to hear what some randos think about this poem
I read George Saunder’s “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain”, and that shit ruled because it was essentially a college literature course in a book. This book I had hoped to be similar in increasing my appreciation for the Howl poem. I do appreciate it, but this book wasn’t a huge reason why. It got me to read the poem again, and I know the first few lines pretty well cuz most of the authors speak on the first strophe.
Not worth a read unless you desperately wish to hear what some randos think about this poem
June 21, 2013
My number #1 gripe with this book is that he has incorrect info on PAGE ONE of the Introduction. I didn't realize he was dead and went online for some contact information. But alas...
So I'll post it here:
He says that in the original draft of "Howl," Ginsberg titles it "Strophes" (commentary on line structure). He cites the original facsimile book (HIGHLY worth reading, by the way, unlike the majority of this book). I was intrigued-- and writing a paper for a class-- and decided to go the source, hoping I would find even more information about the poem, especially the naming aspect.
False alarm.
"Howl" was never called anything other than "Howl." Ever.
On the second draft of the poem Ginsberg wrote in caps across the top: STROPHES. But as an annotation in the book points out, he was specifically COMMENTING on the fact that THERE ARE STROPHES. I don't know if this guy had a reading problem or what, but we both read the same source material, and he got something very different out of it.
Now, on to the content of the book. Maybe a third of it is worth reading. This third is beautiful. It's insightful, appreciative, even exaltory. Some of these individuals had personal relationships or personal contact with Ginsberg (one of my favorites was Amiri Baraka's), some simply reflected on or presented a brief critique.
The other two-thirds are a self-promoting, self-aggrandizing mass of BS commentary on either their random perceptions of Ginsberg, "Howl," or their perceptions of their own persons somehow barely related to "Howl."
I recommend it to skim. At the library. For maybe an hour.
So I'll post it here:
He says that in the original draft of "Howl," Ginsberg titles it "Strophes" (commentary on line structure). He cites the original facsimile book (HIGHLY worth reading, by the way, unlike the majority of this book). I was intrigued-- and writing a paper for a class-- and decided to go the source, hoping I would find even more information about the poem, especially the naming aspect.
False alarm.
"Howl" was never called anything other than "Howl." Ever.
On the second draft of the poem Ginsberg wrote in caps across the top: STROPHES. But as an annotation in the book points out, he was specifically COMMENTING on the fact that THERE ARE STROPHES. I don't know if this guy had a reading problem or what, but we both read the same source material, and he got something very different out of it.
Now, on to the content of the book. Maybe a third of it is worth reading. This third is beautiful. It's insightful, appreciative, even exaltory. Some of these individuals had personal relationships or personal contact with Ginsberg (one of my favorites was Amiri Baraka's), some simply reflected on or presented a brief critique.
The other two-thirds are a self-promoting, self-aggrandizing mass of BS commentary on either their random perceptions of Ginsberg, "Howl," or their perceptions of their own persons somehow barely related to "Howl."
I recommend it to skim. At the library. For maybe an hour.
March 30, 2014
Writers writing about a writer who wrote about writers. After finishing it a second time, I think I can safely recommend that you just perennially pick up the original poem and interpret it on your own; it will change with you. Your story is the best story.
On the back cover, Ferlinghetti says "Let's hope that this book, too, might change America." It didn't. It won't. It might have had a larger impact - inspiring a new generation of burning babes - had it not been lost in a morass of writerly writing. What I would have given to read someone's account of the original event, or of the saxophonist who wailed and sparked, or of Carr's confused wife, or of a confrontational west-coast feminist, or of Allen's teacher. The essays assembled here, however, are mostly uninspired and distant; not exactly the collection of residual passions you might imagine upon buying the book.
On the back cover, Ferlinghetti says "Let's hope that this book, too, might change America." It didn't. It won't. It might have had a larger impact - inspiring a new generation of burning babes - had it not been lost in a morass of writerly writing. What I would have given to read someone's account of the original event, or of the saxophonist who wailed and sparked, or of Carr's confused wife, or of a confrontational west-coast feminist, or of Allen's teacher. The essays assembled here, however, are mostly uninspired and distant; not exactly the collection of residual passions you might imagine upon buying the book.
November 9, 2011
Somehow, I've managed to put off reading Ginsberg until now. As I mentioned to a friend, "I just finished reading 'Howl' for the first time & now my brain's short-circuited." "Howl" is itself truly a watershed poem, a landmark of 20th-century American literature, with the most indelible opening line ever written. I'd have to echo another Goodreads reviewer by awarding five stars to the poem itself & three stars to the essays analyzing different aspects of the poem's impact over the 50 years between its publication & this book's publication. The reviewer I mentioned described the essays as ranging from brilliant to coma-inducingly boring--I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment. Overall, though, the book is still worth reading.
March 20, 2013
You might think Howl is dated and no longer relevant in our age of technological wonder. You would be wrong, though. Not only is such a thought incorrect, but oddly enough it's just possible that Howl has yet to take its full affect. This book opened up the meaning of Howl, not just by explaining its prose, but by setting the poem in context to our society over half a century after it was first published. This book ensures that Howl will be --and indeed should always be-- fresh and poignant in our lives.
April 8, 2013
The basic idea of the book is wonderful (in a perfect world we would have this format for every important piece of literature), but the execution is lacking. As a few other reviewers have noted, there's a pretty large imbalance between the anecdotal and academic essays. This in and of itself isn't a problem, but almost all of the anecdotes are the same (shock, awe, inspiration) and seem dull and vacuous when compared with the more critical works.
Of course, when I look at the title now it seems silly to complain about the emphasis of the poem's social impact. D'oh!
Of course, when I look at the title now it seems silly to complain about the emphasis of the poem's social impact. D'oh!
October 14, 2016
So far it's good, but not great; it's a series of essays about the poem, "Howl", by Allen Ginsberg, on the fiftieth anniversary of its publication. Some of the essays are ground-breaking, wonderful; others are forced, technical...as if the authors wanted us to know how smart they are, and how much thought they put into their essay.
January 18, 2009
A collection of short essays about Ginsberg and his great poem. Many are of the "I was a teenager living in a small town and I didn't know you could write about things like that" variety, but there are also several good pieces that examine the composition of the poem, study Ginsberg's influence (and influences) and encourage you to read it a few more times.
February 4, 2015
Some the essays were quite good, some less and some I entirely did not understand and the last I just did not read (I realized that it wasn't necessary for me to use them in my SSO), but I quite liked most of them and it was quite interesting to hear other people's opinion about Howl, especially the ones who read it around the time it was published.
June 30, 2008
There were some illuminating and fascinating essays here. And a few that were boring too. Jason did a good job of trying to include different angles though. Overall a worthwhile read. Nice to get some historical perspective.
October 15, 2009
OK, this one will have to sit on the night stand for a while. It's not that it's poorly written, just that it's a collection of "essays" on the topic and not v so there's no need to read more than one at a time, and nothing compelling me to.
I'm done for now...
I'm done for now...
March 24, 2013
liked the poem " Howl", which I'd never read. didn't know Ginsberg was born on my birthday. all in all, i think a good cross-section of writers were gathered here giving the book good and varied perspectives.
May 26, 2008
I accidentally added this book while looking for the old school cover of HOWL. Now I can't delete it. Help!
September 1, 2008
Excellent reintroduction to the classic. A collection of essays and remembrances, but the poem sings out of it.
October 17, 2012
Great poem-comments were just ok.
April 22, 2016
Good and informative
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews