rted all in the fifties; it was a harsh reaction to harsh conservative times, and it set a platform for the liberal sixties."Howl" was Allen first and most successful. Written in 1955-1956, it had obscene jesters and language for the time, and so the poem and the author went on an obscenity trial. The majority of the contemporary writers of America supported Allen and his poem went on trial. William Carlos Williams, whom Allen admired greatly, testified saying that the words used were used in a literary way and not a blatant immature excuse to assert himself. Thanks to the confessions and support of other authors, Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlengetti, the publisher, won the trial. Because of the trial the Beats were labeled as sinners and a threat to the united states. So in 1959, at the height of the beat movement, J. Edgar Hoover declared the beats as one of the most threatening groups in the United States, and Allen was one off the top 100 people who were a threat to the United States."Howl" became the basis and standard of Allens style of writing. He used adjectives and adverbs incorrectly, and he often used run-on sentences. Here is a clear example of Ginsbergs style: Who chained themselves to subways for the endless ride from Battery to holy Bronx on Benzedrine until the noise of wheels and children brought them down shuddering mouth-wracked and battered bleak of brain all drained of brilliance in the drier light of Zoo,Allen, when he reads, makes this whole poem sound like a run-on sentence; he tries not to take breathes at the end of every line. Much to the dismay of orthodox poets, Allen influenced a generation of poetry that still is present today. Allen Ginsberg wrote "Howl" in dedication to Peter Orlovsky, a close friend and lover of Allen, to show how society ruined a good man. He filled each line with passion and anger, but some critics think that due to his style, the poem loses its power. Quote in on the ...
