Howl dare you ?

Résumé 0

This paper will assess the beauty, the art and the debate on the poem Howl, written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955. I kept the poem’s structure – 3 parts and a footnote – in order to comment the poem, the obscenity trial against Howl’s publisher and the societal evolution surrounding the Beat generation. Starting with a historical background on the society Allen Ginsberg and his fellow Beats lived in (Part One) ; this essay will guide you through Howl’s chaotic journey in court and Ginsberg’s search for liberation (Part Two). Things were not so bad after all, as the trial made Howl more famous than it would ever have been (Part Three). Finally, the Howl for Freedom of Speech had been heard once and for all … or not (Footnote to Howl).The post-war era had been stirred up by a shocking poem written by an unknown writer. Government’s measures led to an obscenity trial that would mark the whole decade and even years beyond. How can a court possibly judge the content of a poem ? What is obscenity ? How can society evolve from conformism to the complete opposite ? Things changed. Plenty of things had changed. Law had changed. Judges listened to society’s need for (r)evolution. The only way for law to survive is to adapt. Eventually evolution wins, it always does.