1. What
common qualities do the beats share, why were they so named?
The beat generation, or beat
movement, was a social and literary movement in America, which was prominent
throughout the 1950’s. The beat generation was associated with bohemian artist
communities, which had three major locations throughout the US, including San
Francisco’s North Beach, Venice Beach in Los Angeles, and Greenwich Village in
New York City. The term ‘beat’ came from Jack Kerouac, who is none to be the
pioneer of the beat movement. ‘Beat’ at first meant weary, but also adopted a
connection to musicality and sonic interpretations, beat poetry becoming the early
predecessor to rap music. The artists of the movement began calling themselves ‘beatniks’
as a way to separate themselves from the conservative conventions of society, and
enjoyed a life filled with jazz, psychedelics, and freely expressed sexuality.
In terms of how the beat poets were similar, there are many things which unite
these artists who formed the movement. Their writing was crafted through a
contemporary style of vernacular, so that it was easily interpreted and
accessible to all, this was also a way of rebelling against societal and
literary norms. The beats all shared a inhibition for rebellion, and wrote
about the broken down and disillusioned world post world war two. They experimented
with eastern religions and philosophies, identifying with the peaceful
teachings of Buddhism, which was a way of rejecting the idea of fast paced
capitalism and dreaming of a world that is detached from greed and desire. They
wrote poetry to jazz music and spent time in bars where they only played jazz
music, a way of immersing themselves in a more hip, modern and musical way of
life. A lot of the beats identified as gay or bisexual, advocating the
importance of sexual liberation during a time when such things were out of the
question
2. On
what grounds was Ginsberg’s HOWL accused of being obscene, on what grounds was
it defended?
Allen Ginsberg was one of the most
prominent figures of the beat movement besides Jack Kerouac and was also a greatly
acclaimed American poet of his time. He was originally from Newark New Jersey,
but attended Columbia University in New York, where he met Jack Kerouac and
William Burroughs, which lay down the foundation of becoming apart of the beat
movement. His move to San Francisco was the true catalyst to his success, where
he was initiated into the flourishing of bohemia. Ginsberg first received major
attention and recognition for his poem Howl, which he wrote in the style of
Walt Whitman, producing a lengthy, monologue style poem. Howl is an outcry
against oppression and destruction within society, and is written very
powerfully, becoming of a vehicle of revolution. Kevin Sullivan describes it as
:
“an angry, sexually explicit poem” and added that
it is “considered by many to be a revolutionary event in American poetry.’’ Because of the graphic language and sexual
references, the poem was deemed to be obscene at the time, as it didn’t follow
the traditional regime of how poetry is written. People believed that literary
language had to be pristine, elevated and aesthetically pleasing to be
critically acclaimed, but this is where the beats and post modernists proved them
wrong. Richard Eberhart said this about Howl : a powerful work, cutting through
to dynamic meaning…It is a howl against everything in our mechanistic
civilization which kills the spirit…Its positive force and energy come from a
redemptive quality of love.” Many came
to Ginsberg’s defence when it came to allegations about obscenity. It was apparent
to them because of the revolutionary nature of this poem, the blunt use of
modern vernacular were necessary in order to gain attention and convey the
importance of Ginsberg’s message.
References