Howl vs. Song of Myself

            Beginning with the obvious similarities between Whitman and Ginsberg one is instantly drawn to the structure and syntax of the pieces. Ginsberg has spaced his poem into parts just as Whitman, though not nearly as numerous. In this way he organizes his work based on the topics he wishes to address. In the first stanza he is addressing the state his generation has fallen to, in the second he comments on Moloch and the destruction that has centered round it and so on. Whitman does the very same in his piece going from a description of himself to one of a scene in a learning to “listen from all sides and filter from yourself” (3). In both poems each stanza could stand on their own, but together make a tremendous and moving piece. He also utilizes Whitman’s descriptive, non-rhyming style. His writing almost appears as prose, telling a story in sentences that repeat and describe. His excessive use of adjectives and description is also a nod to Whitman as he goes on for pages to paint a picture of what he is trying to convey.

            At the same time Whitman’s influence is undeniable there is a great deal of tension when placing the pieces together. “Howl is a deliberately upsetting poem,” (2) pushing at the blinders of the naïve and optimistic. Ginsberg is disturbing in his description of the world and the activities that have taken hold of his fellows. The wasting away of the minds of the brilliant and the discarded is traumatizing and dark. His description of the crushed lives and suppressed souls leaves the reader clawing at their own throats to awaken themselves from “the coma by our own souls” (Ginsberg 26). Whitman’s poem is filled with lighter imagery, one of rebirth and finding one’s self. Even death is viewed in a positive light “it is just as lucky to die” (3). Ginsberg, in utilizing Whitman’s style, seems almost as if to challenge the other man’s views of life and death. His view is dark and painful where Whitman rights of an airy acceptance of life and death, of finding oneself. Ginsberg seems to deny the ability of anyone to find themselves, instead emphasizing a narcotic coma that even the soul cannot release us from, save in dreams.

            In an attack of the elder man and poet Ginsberg masters a free verse style in his poem Howl to combat Whitman’s. He copies the artist in style and syntax as he expresses his very Modernist opinion and attitude in a dark and depressing poem detailing the fall of humanity and the inner turmoil of his generations psyche. He denies Whitman’s optimistic view of life and attacks it with his truer and darker vision of everyday life for his generation.