This sounds like the first recording from Reed College, 1955 or 1956. It strats rather "slow" but takes up speed after about 6 min and the towards the end. He must have read the poem a couple of hundered times in 40 years - I've heard him reading it in the seventies and eighties and it never sounded the same, he always read it different in style and pronounciation and emotion ...
The reason I copied Pound's poem here is because I see a deep connection between it and Ginsberg's Howl. Pound encapsulates in his 7 line poem the same basic idea of Howl: that sexual pleasure may lead to spiritual fulilness. I don't think Pound was insulting any particular poet. He was simply attacking the romanticism of the 19th century. The ancient Romans knew more than current-day Europeans.
@RobertLowellPoetry That is a ludicrous summary of Howl. Howl is a powerful railing against contemporary repressive culture. The full poem -- not this terribly read one-third -- would make that obvious
@SharinganMan I think your summary is somewhat simplistic. "Repressive culture"? How was Ginsberg repressed? Why must this poem be AGAINST something? The greatest struggle is always the struggle with one's own soul. "Society" or "culture" or whatever you want to call it is just background noise.
@RobertLowellPoetry How was Ginsberg repressed? How? You mean, how did they lock him up in mental institutions? How did they break his sense of self and sexuality? How did society force this great poet to pack it up and get a mind-numbing desk job?
It's not about GINSBERG's repression, though, it's about the repression of the entire generation of artists and intellectuals outlined in this, the first part, by the entire amalgamation of all society's machinations -- MOLOCH.
@SharinganMan Hate to break it to you but most poets have to get day jobs, and until he got rich I am sure Ginsberg was no exception. Our best poets today have "mind-numbing" teaching jobs.
So after society liberalized in the 1960's everyone became perfectly mentally healthy, right ?
See, blaming "society" (repressive or otherwise) is not really the answer, is it?
@RobertLowellPoetry Calling my summary simplistic when I call it a "powerful railing against contemporary culture" when your own summary is "that sexual pleasure may lead to spiritual fulilness" really can't be interpreted as anything other than a joke.
@SharinganMan Wait a minute, I may have called your analysis simplistic, but you basically called my analysis a joke. At least I am giving you credit for being partially correct, albeit simplistic. Of course we can't completely ignore the society in which we live, but to label it as the primary cause of our pain is, in a word, simplistic. I mean, maybe it was more difficult to get laid (especially if you were gay) in 50's America however it was still basically a free society . . .
With minds still hovering above their testicles/ Certain poets here and in France/ Still sigh over established and natural fact/ Long since fully discussed by Ovid./ They howl. They complain in delicate and exhausted metres/ That the twitching of three abdominal nerves/ Is incapable of producing a lasting Nirvana.
Pound was a great poet, but also a vocal Fascist. His own nerves ought to have twitched somewhat as he ventured this petty attempt at insulting more conscious and superior artists to himself.
Pound was often a great poet, but very uneven. He was also an critic of historic significance and an amazing visionary. (I see him as the father of modern poetry.) His "fascism" is a mere footnote, and most serious writers treat it as such. Basically he was incarcerated for 13 years for backing the wrong government & sharing his more controversial political views with the world during a time of war.
@dvg1985: This is 100% a genuine recording of Allen Ginsberg. This recording is most likely from the late 1950's. You can especially tell by the "Ginsberg-enthusiasm" in Part 2 (Moloch). If you are interested in more recordings of Ginsberg, type into google "Pennsound Allen Ginsberg".
If you feel that way, check out the poem NO NO MAN by Steven Jessie Bernstein... Its Genius! Its on you tube!
Steven killed himself by stabbing himself in the nec. He was a junkie and a genius, and the only poet ever to be on SUB POP records GO! Check em out now!
I find that almost everytime I've heard a poet read his famous works I've been disappointed. Listening to Eliot read "The Waste Land" is borderline hilarious.
@endersgame55 not really, I bet you're not British. Which is fine, whatever I'm not in to that conversation but still, I suppose being english myself you sort of get used to over the top sounding accents such as Eliot's reading the waste land. Just sounds old fashioned, nothing laughable, I can listen intently. Listening to howl is a bit different, not *quite* what I imagined but fairly close, though an odd reader...
@ofdarknessandlight Well, Eliot's accent might have sounded a little less strained to me if it was, in fact, his natural accent, but being an American by birth I have trouble believing he ever really talked like that.
@ofdarknessandlight In fact, I seem to remember in one of my classes a professor mentioning that several of Eliot's contemporaries poked fun at his "Speaking voice." Yeats found it particularly amusing, as I recall.
As for Ginsberg, this is less a reading voice so much as a slightly (slightly) more rythmical version of his normal voice.
Really?!!? THAT'S how he reads it??? I thought it would be so much...faster. Frenetic. Frantic. I mean...it is written in long sentences said to be just long enough to say in one breath. I'm frankly disappointed by this reading.
@batteddy He got tired of reading it saying, "I don't really feel like reading anymore. I just sorta haven't got any kind of steam" there is a much livelier reading on youtube
This video could use a bit of work. More images, you know? So you can see Ginsberg in action, maybe with some of the other beats. AKA what he really did on friday nights.
The assertion that Ginsberg was antisemitic or homophobic is blatantly ignorant. It's simply not a fact. If you read more Ginsberg, you'd see his passion for humanity on the whole. At worst, he was a drug addicted man. Regardless, he is completely brilliant. Don't tie your lack of ethics into someone else's strife for them.
Thats the first time I've heard the antisemite remark, and thats completely false. Even if it had been true, what would it matter, his writings were legendary, where are yours?
Arguing over matters that don't matter, is reserved for politicians and helluva, helluva engineers. It should not be placed in relation to my man Ginsberg.
One and two actually seem intermingled, he talks about the hardships he and his friends and colleagues endured because of what he saw as materialism and everyone being caught up in buying things and not taking the time to just observe and talk and relax.
But hey, that's my opinion, and as others mentioned poetry is what you make of it.
im an only 14 and although i have a very high realing/comprehension level for my age, i still have troubel reading this amazing poem on my own...so i read it once myself and then read along with someone who is a little more seasoned...that way i can get the full effect of the words itself...as for all the different level the words have when u think about them. well thats somthing i must do on my own.
(1/2) well you can say that but, if i were to read 9th grade books id be to bored to ever want to read anything . i read at a 124 grade level. so ill still read ginsberg bc i find it interesting and a good thing to think about in my free time.
(2/2) i also feel like mabey your jumping to a conclusion to which you have almost no knowledge about age is just a number i know many 18year olds who if you asked then about cointelpro they would just say what? so i guess im missing to point of ur comment. or at lest the truth of it.
18 is an arbitrary number in our country that denotes the general age at which a person graduates high school. By graduating high school, it would suggest that you've experienced more in life than detention, masturbation and Ramones t-shirts purchased at Target. I can also tell you aren't ready for this poem because your grammar is on about the same level as a 3rd grader. COINTELPRO is trivial. I don't know why I'm having this conversation with you, you're fucking 14, do whatever you want dude.
So how much do you understand? Poetry can be taken on hundreds of different levels. You seem to think that you have to have liked old bands, felt lust for a girl, and get caught doing something wrong in order to move on through to this higher calling. This place of milk and honey that gives you the all power to interperate and be master of great works of the written art. Im starting to doubt your personal understanding of any writtings.
how stupid are you? you just said im a 'kid' and then you said 'when you WERE a child' (just incase you didnt know 'were' is past tense) damn your stupid. how could i have been raped in the PAST and still be in the PRESANT. man your just pathetic.
HAHA. Yeah, I know nothing about past and present (not PRESANT, fucking idiot) tense. You fucking pathetic, pile of shit, you were molested weren't you? Quit trying to act like you're better than everybody else because you have a "very high realing/comprehension level" for your age. You're fucking worthless and stupid. Drop out of school and get a job at Denny's. You comprehend that you little bitch?
you and that other guy/girl are so messed up. you go looking for a argument and then throw around a lot of bullshit. damn. 'act like im better' do ur reserch you stupid cunt. look at my original comment that that fuck thought he had to jump in on. they when he and i are having a discussion you jump in. man you are so messed up, like and whats with 'work at dennys' thats all you could come up with? sad...just sad/
see thats what i wanted to hear 'do whatever you want' blahblahblah that what every 14 year old boy wants to hear, isnt that right? you older generations are so into your own self, you think that once you have had or done something that other ppl cant that you should hold on to that thing with the the strongest of beliefs. its kinda sad u attack my grammer. its not like im writting a formal letter, how i spell, how my grammer is, none of that stuff makes any difference.
im writting this on a ps3 so please excuse my grammer, but for what my oppinion is worth, i believe hotdog has voiced some strong points, how he writes or how old he is, knowledge and wisdom are not handed out with a diploma, he has as much right to his oppinion as anyone and could have more real experiences than someone 3 times his age
I love his poem... but Ginsberg himself reading it, takes away it's power.. well this reading anyway.. he has no flow, the Beat, i can't feel as he reads it. Maybe he's over it... i don't feel the passion at all, especially when it's such a emblazoned piece. Anyone agree?
No. Ginsberg has one of the best reading voices of all time. 'Howl' was never meant to be reduced to a childish idea of passion. Its how the imperfection of his voice explores the subtleties of the language that makes this reading great.
I am a fan of most types of art, but unfortunately poetry is something I've always struggled with. Ginsberg seems like an interesting Character though and I would like to understand his poetry and learn more about it. Could someone please explain this to me? What is it about? (etc)
well i cant explain what Ginsberg was thinking when he wrote this but alot of it is about his friends, fellow scholars & his surroundings in new york. the grittiness of everything, not just the city. he "saw the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness" (probably from LSD & barbituates but i wasnt there, just speculation).
BTW: if you like this one, check out "Hadda be playin on the Jukebox". RATM covered it. its killer. =)
It sounds to me like maybe you aren't as big a fan of poetry because of its opaqueness, which is totally cool, i'm not as big a fan of the dense obscure T.S.Eliot kind of stuff. I would suggest trying Charles Bukowski, he's my favorite poet but its relatable and funny. Let it enfold you, be kind and the history of one tough motherfucker are my favorites of his There is all different types of poetry tho so even if you've struggle with it before its just a mater of finding what you conect with
Howl was written to one of Ginsberg's best friends Carl Solomon. In the 1st part he is speaking about how he is watching his generation go mad, the 2nd he is speaking about the evils of materialism and conformity and the 3rd part is him speaking directly to Carl. The thing with poetry is you give it your own meaning, and Howl is very much "stream of consciousness" so it's like a trip into Ginsberg's mind. It helps if you know about the beat generation and then you just go with the flow.
where have all the artists of britain of the 20th century gone????? where are they - the only ones i can think of are that one who wrote harry potter and john betjamen. and they are both crap.
and Ginsberg was deeply involved in the anti-war protests in the 1960's, which also supports his nonviolence and love for people. unlike the KKK who hated anyone who was not a White Protestant and agreed with their views, which Ginsberg didn't and plus he was Jewish, a Buddhist, and a man who had ties to communism, all of which the KKK hated.
I would like to fix my post. unlike the KKK who hated anyone who was not a white protestant who agreed with their views. Ginsberg was someone who did not agree them so they wouldn't like him.
again with the attempt of Character assassination I see. Well Allen Ginsberg was not a supporter of the KKK for many reasons. one: he was Jewish. two: he had ties to communism (like I stated in my earlier posts). three: they were a group of hate. and as a man who was involved with Buddhism and Krishnaism, he would not support a group who did violent things to innocent people (or violent things to any people for that matter) and had an intense hatred of people which Buddhists would not support.
so in conclusion do more research on people before you just blurt things out on the internet, but I doubt you'll do that because it seems that you just want to commit character assassination.
also I highly doubt Allen's favorite book was mein kampf seeing as how he was born to parents who were communists and he himself was a young communist and highly active in the communist party as a young man. and yet again he would not have beat up homosexuals on the weekend because he did not hat gay people seeing how he was gay. Now he did join NAMBLA, but not because he loved boys but because of free speech and he left the group when he felt that his point was made.
by reading comments that were written by people to cause trouble here on you tube, I can tell that these people have no clue about Allen Ginsberg's life or work. Allen was not Antisemitic because he was Jewish and never once expressed self hatred of his heritage. he was not Homophobic because he was himself openly gay and he was proud of it. also he was never in the Hitler Youth seeing as how he was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Paterson.
id just like to point out that most of germanys youth at the time was part of hitler youth because no one knew that he was a monster, and he was an amazing leader. secondly mein kampf is an amazing book whether you support hitler or not simply for its historical value.
well in his biography it says his was a member of the hitler youth and faviourate book was mein kampf.On the weekends he used to go around with a gang and bash up gay people.
yeah i agree, he was very anti establishment. just finished doing my second year dissertation on him and im certain i didn't read about him bashing up gay people. beautifully put by the way
I don't know where the fuck that came from you antisemtic cunt. Ginsberg was as Jewish as they come, and that is a goddamn motherfucking compliment you nazi motherfucker.
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so your calling me a fucking liar you black cunt.Ginsberg was extremely anti semitic and homophobic his faviourate book was mein kampf.His faviourate hobby was also bashing gays on the weekend with the kkk.
Leave my website please, there are enough negative people around and Allen was trying to keep the world sane. You really are not helping..Bye bye!!!!!!!!!
Ginsberg was Buddhist. He was using sarcasm saying that maybe he could be a catholic and become president because it was something that was scary to Americans, having a Catholic as their leader.
As far as my understanding and bit o' research on Howl, Ginsberg in part I talks about specific events and artists of his time. Part II 'Moloch' was written after taking peyote and having a dream/vision of a large city hotel. Part III 'Rockland' deals with his experience as a mental patient. Researching the verses makes the poem even more fascinating. Ginsberg use of timbre and meter really add to the visuals he so ably portrays.
He really did HOWL! When I first read this poem, I thought he was high as a kite when he wrote it, but then I remembered that Ginsberg had been institutionalized and the numerous references to psychiatric and psychological treament in the poem.
Allen Ginsberg was born into a jewish family and it is unlikely he would be a holocaust denier. Perhaps you have read something where he defends the right of people to deny the holocaust? I read that he joined NAMBLA just to make a point about free speech once!
As 'ahdwright' asked - what evidence do have to back-up the statement that Allen Ginsberg was a holocaust denier? - I find that entirely IMPLAUSIBLE!!! not only was he jewish , he was a highly intelligent person & a great poet! - it's been 2 weeks since you said that, - & have not replied with any info to support that statement - which does not give it much credibility. So if you have some 'credible' info, fine post it. - And where are you coming from anyway? what's your point??
For those of you who are poets and writers who have listened to this and/or read it, how has it influenced your writing?
Even though I didn't get it initially from Ginsberg, but from D.H. Lawrence, I love the long lines with the subjunctive clauses where the flowing effect is to start you off at one point and leave you in some place wholly different than what you expected or could expect. This poem blew open -- again -- every door of expectation of what poetry could do.
The honour of blowing the door open for me actually goes to Ginsberg's contemporary Kerouac, but this poem was the blasting cap to that. I read it and was so struck by the imagery and the way it created rhythm from words alone that it propelled me towards the Beats and their creations.
Nice!where did U get that collage picture got a link .by the way, a movie may be coming out soon about the publishing of Howl and how it when to court for being obscene!
Communism is an ideal, the ussr is a state there is a big difrence the ussr is not Communism in its fullness nor allmost at all it can hate gay people and Communism can not care at all.
Communism dose not hate gay people, just as bush hates gays and he runs the USA but that dose not mean that democracy hates gay people unless the ideal is self hates gay people
I've heard this hundreds of times over many years . I still can't focus on it long enough to understand fully . but I can't help but love it like a beautiful bird singing
Ginsberg openly was gay and supported international Communism in 1958. How were Jews who were openly gay treated in the U.S.S.R. and Red China in 1958?
Allen Ginsberg is a God in his own right. All the Beats were. Kerouac is my favorite, but they all knew what Life is about. Life is the best and most important right we have. Please know that. Fuck money, fuck the government. Long live LIFE!
It took me a long time to see HOWL for the epic transtional poetic obect that it is [ see Various Useless Excuses] but years ago I recognized him for the Person He Was, in Fidels Cuba Monday Morning [ kicked out for being a pot smoking fag] and the King of the Parade in Prague still later that same day and always loyal and preternaturally kind, a bonafide American saint inclned to reject all such notions.
Love the poem. Can't really fault Ginsberg for reading it the way he felt it, but I always imagined it being screamed in a sort of frenzy. Nevertheless, top stuff.
yo fuck you antibeater, ginsberg is the most influential poets of our or anyones time, hes a fuckin prophet for the contsant change in the nations drug and poverty stricken world and if you dont understand your a fuckin yuppie scumbag, he's advocating change in america for the better of mankind, he wrote what he knew, and you should respect that. until you write a poem or monologue that brings tears to anyones eyes, stop talking shit
it's not a "pretty" reading, but then again it's not a "pretty" poem. i mean if he read it like a sonnet i'd be a little suspicious. i think the reading works very well with the poem.
IT CUTS OUT
OldPizzaForBreakfast 3 months ago
Check out my electronica instrumental with samples from the reading. It's in the responses ;)
LukePluto 6 months ago
Allen Ginsberg is timeless...this sounds as brilliant now as it did the 1st time I heard/read it!!
mfMsher0ne 8 months ago
speechless ....
LIKAkutateladze 9 months ago
This sounds like the first recording from Reed College, 1955 or 1956. It strats rather "slow" but takes up speed after about 6 min and the towards the end. He must have read the poem a couple of hundered times in 40 years - I've heard him reading it in the seventies and eighties and it never sounded the same, he always read it different in style and pronounciation and emotion ...
beatnik1953 1 year ago 2
This isn't how Ginsberg usually read it.
pacifica(.)org/program-guide/op,segment-page/segment_id,469/
SharinganMan 1 year ago
ramble on the FUCKING RAGE of man - BEAT IT ! great stufff
desire7201 1 year ago
Howl - so bad it's good!!!
AllBobsAllTheTime 1 year ago
The reason I copied Pound's poem here is because I see a deep connection between it and Ginsberg's Howl. Pound encapsulates in his 7 line poem the same basic idea of Howl: that sexual pleasure may lead to spiritual fulilness. I don't think Pound was insulting any particular poet. He was simply attacking the romanticism of the 19th century. The ancient Romans knew more than current-day Europeans.
RobertLowellPoetry 2 years ago
@RobertLowellPoetry That is a ludicrous summary of Howl. Howl is a powerful railing against contemporary repressive culture. The full poem -- not this terribly read one-third -- would make that obvious
SharinganMan 1 year ago
@SharinganMan I think your summary is somewhat simplistic. "Repressive culture"? How was Ginsberg repressed? Why must this poem be AGAINST something? The greatest struggle is always the struggle with one's own soul. "Society" or "culture" or whatever you want to call it is just background noise.
RobertLowellPoetry 1 year ago
@RobertLowellPoetry How was Ginsberg repressed? How? You mean, how did they lock him up in mental institutions? How did they break his sense of self and sexuality? How did society force this great poet to pack it up and get a mind-numbing desk job?
It's not about GINSBERG's repression, though, it's about the repression of the entire generation of artists and intellectuals outlined in this, the first part, by the entire amalgamation of all society's machinations -- MOLOCH.
SharinganMan 1 year ago
@SharinganMan Hate to break it to you but most poets have to get day jobs, and until he got rich I am sure Ginsberg was no exception. Our best poets today have "mind-numbing" teaching jobs.
So after society liberalized in the 1960's everyone became perfectly mentally healthy, right ?
See, blaming "society" (repressive or otherwise) is not really the answer, is it?
RobertLowellPoetry 1 year ago
@RobertLowellPoetry Everything you said is true, and none of it has the slightest significance when discussing this poem and Ginsberg's intent.
SharinganMan 1 year ago
@RobertLowellPoetry Calling my summary simplistic when I call it a "powerful railing against contemporary culture" when your own summary is "that sexual pleasure may lead to spiritual fulilness" really can't be interpreted as anything other than a joke.
SharinganMan 1 year ago
@SharinganMan Wait a minute, I may have called your analysis simplistic, but you basically called my analysis a joke. At least I am giving you credit for being partially correct, albeit simplistic. Of course we can't completely ignore the society in which we live, but to label it as the primary cause of our pain is, in a word, simplistic. I mean, maybe it was more difficult to get laid (especially if you were gay) in 50's America however it was still basically a free society . . .
RobertLowellPoetry 1 year ago
@RobertLowellPoetry And if you feel so strongly that Ginsberg's world was a-okay, argue with his poetry, not me.
SharinganMan 1 year ago
"Fratres Minores" by Ezra Pound
With minds still hovering above their testicles/ Certain poets here and in France/ Still sigh over established and natural fact/ Long since fully discussed by Ovid./ They howl. They complain in delicate and exhausted metres/ That the twitching of three abdominal nerves/ Is incapable of producing a lasting Nirvana.
RobertLowellPoetry 2 years ago
Pound was a great poet, but also a vocal Fascist. His own nerves ought to have twitched somewhat as he ventured this petty attempt at insulting more conscious and superior artists to himself.
NuXta 2 years ago
Pound was often a great poet, but very uneven. He was also an critic of historic significance and an amazing visionary. (I see him as the father of modern poetry.) His "fascism" is a mere footnote, and most serious writers treat it as such. Basically he was incarcerated for 13 years for backing the wrong government & sharing his more controversial political views with the world during a time of war.
RobertLowellPoetry 2 years ago
@dvg1985: This is 100% a genuine recording of Allen Ginsberg. This recording is most likely from the late 1950's. You can especially tell by the "Ginsberg-enthusiasm" in Part 2 (Moloch). If you are interested in more recordings of Ginsberg, type into google "Pennsound Allen Ginsberg".
jkasprzak1 2 years ago
This doesn't sound like Allen Ginsberg...
dvg1985 2 years ago
If you feel that way, check out the poem NO NO MAN by Steven Jessie Bernstein... Its Genius! Its on you tube!
Steven killed himself by stabbing himself in the nec. He was a junkie and a genius, and the only poet ever to be on SUB POP records GO! Check em out now!
calico992 2 years ago
droll delivery.
mullingman 2 years ago
"J'ai vu les plus grands esprits de ma génération détruits par la folie, affamés hystériques nus,
se trainant à l'aube dans les rues nègres à la recherche d'une furieuse piqure,..."
guiraymond 2 years ago
this makes me wanna fart out my ears or neck. all grand, disciple like.
Yusef100 2 years ago
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he was a paedophilic genus jew drug addict. talk amongst urselves
bkltd 2 years ago
He sounds ill... Was his soul mad at that moment? That man is a whole guru...
LASERPENTA 2 years ago
he's a genius.
he just reads it very annoying. :/
Pavignon 2 years ago 7
I find that almost everytime I've heard a poet read his famous works I've been disappointed. Listening to Eliot read "The Waste Land" is borderline hilarious.
endersgame55 2 years ago
@endersgame55 not really, I bet you're not British. Which is fine, whatever I'm not in to that conversation but still, I suppose being english myself you sort of get used to over the top sounding accents such as Eliot's reading the waste land. Just sounds old fashioned, nothing laughable, I can listen intently. Listening to howl is a bit different, not *quite* what I imagined but fairly close, though an odd reader...
ofdarknessandlight 1 year ago
@ofdarknessandlight Well, Eliot's accent might have sounded a little less strained to me if it was, in fact, his natural accent, but being an American by birth I have trouble believing he ever really talked like that.
endersgame55 1 year ago
@endersgame55 ok having not known that I will rethink my opinion, thanks!
ofdarknessandlight 1 year ago
@ofdarknessandlight In fact, I seem to remember in one of my classes a professor mentioning that several of Eliot's contemporaries poked fun at his "Speaking voice." Yeats found it particularly amusing, as I recall.
As for Ginsberg, this is less a reading voice so much as a slightly (slightly) more rythmical version of his normal voice.
endersgame55 1 year ago
Oh my... when there are seven pages, this video ends halfway down the third! Severe!
Chainslaw4 2 years ago
Really?!!? THAT'S how he reads it??? I thought it would be so much...faster. Frenetic. Frantic. I mean...it is written in long sentences said to be just long enough to say in one breath. I'm frankly disappointed by this reading.
batteddy 2 years ago 16
me too
mullingman 2 years ago
@batteddy I am starting to think it was just age- what year was this recorded?
PyreOMania 1 year ago
@batteddy He got tired of reading it saying, "I don't really feel like reading anymore. I just sorta haven't got any kind of steam" there is a much livelier reading on youtube
davlon0 10 months ago
@batteddy
youtube.com/watch?v=wo48zV6NiZo&feature=channel_video_title
Check this out,HOWL starts at 2:05 ; )
Alaneq93 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
youtube.com/watch?v=wo48zV6NiZo&feature=channel_video_title
Check this out,HOWL starts at 2:05 ; )
Alaneq93 9 months ago
@batteddy
/watch?v=wQTAogrc6T8&feature=youtu.be so check this out, howl' starts 2:30
Alaneq93 1 month ago
This video could use a bit of work. More images, you know? So you can see Ginsberg in action, maybe with some of the other beats. AKA what he really did on friday nights.
The assertion that Ginsberg was antisemitic or homophobic is blatantly ignorant. It's simply not a fact. If you read more Ginsberg, you'd see his passion for humanity on the whole. At worst, he was a drug addicted man. Regardless, he is completely brilliant. Don't tie your lack of ethics into someone else's strife for them.
sarahgillsays 2 years ago 4
who know poetry fans were so belligerent?
TheHSFT 2 years ago 2
are you fucking stupid, he openly spoke for gay rights and civil rights. read a fucking book you empty headed hipster fuck
iceax3000 2 years ago 2
hahah
iRBody 2 years ago
the man was a conduit
not AC
not DC
this is the arcing of UI
Universal Intelligence
blown out
blown out
nuclear prose
bpyrad 2 years ago
Thats the first time I've heard the antisemite remark, and thats completely false. Even if it had been true, what would it matter, his writings were legendary, where are yours?
Super8StrikesBack 2 years ago
This is such a fine piece of work.
Super8StrikesBack 2 years ago
Arguing over matters that don't matter, is reserved for politicians and helluva, helluva engineers. It should not be placed in relation to my man Ginsberg.
jmaycare 2 years ago
Both of you angry people shouldjust shut up. Enjoy this poem for fucks sake! Would Ginsberg encourage this kind of shit?
Granola462 2 years ago 4
Comment removed
Blackbolt4prez 2 years ago
It's okay, but ya can't dance to it.
tastyhorses 2 years ago 3
As Mr. Ginsberg says:
Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
Anghdhpstr 2 years ago
One and two actually seem intermingled, he talks about the hardships he and his friends and colleagues endured because of what he saw as materialism and everyone being caught up in buying things and not taking the time to just observe and talk and relax.
But hey, that's my opinion, and as others mentioned poetry is what you make of it.
asskahn 2 years ago
Wow it's so much better listening to it; the emotion you can tell he put into it. It's just so much more stale and un-emphatic when you read it.
asskahn 2 years ago
im an only 14 and although i have a very high realing/comprehension level for my age, i still have troubel reading this amazing poem on my own...so i read it once myself and then read along with someone who is a little more seasoned...that way i can get the full effect of the words itself...as for all the different level the words have when u think about them. well thats somthing i must do on my own.
thathotdog95 2 years ago
Put it down and come back to it when you're at least 18 years old. This poem will mean nothing to you if you're only 14.
louiejack6 2 years ago
(1/2) well you can say that but, if i were to read 9th grade books id be to bored to ever want to read anything . i read at a 124 grade level. so ill still read ginsberg bc i find it interesting and a good thing to think about in my free time.
thathotdog95 2 years ago
(2/2) i also feel like mabey your jumping to a conclusion to which you have almost no knowledge about age is just a number i know many 18year olds who if you asked then about cointelpro they would just say what? so i guess im missing to point of ur comment. or at lest the truth of it.
thathotdog95 2 years ago
18 is an arbitrary number in our country that denotes the general age at which a person graduates high school. By graduating high school, it would suggest that you've experienced more in life than detention, masturbation and Ramones t-shirts purchased at Target. I can also tell you aren't ready for this poem because your grammar is on about the same level as a 3rd grader. COINTELPRO is trivial. I don't know why I'm having this conversation with you, you're fucking 14, do whatever you want dude.
louiejack6 2 years ago
for a person who seams to have some relative intelligence, your kinda of pathetic. its sad.
thathotdog95 2 years ago
'you're' not 'your'
CraigM1990 2 years ago
So how much do you understand? Poetry can be taken on hundreds of different levels. You seem to think that you have to have liked old bands, felt lust for a girl, and get caught doing something wrong in order to move on through to this higher calling. This place of milk and honey that gives you the all power to interperate and be master of great works of the written art. Im starting to doubt your personal understanding of any writtings.
thathotdog95 2 years ago
You're a fucking idiot kid, were you sexually abused when you were a child?
VeronicaSawyerSmokes 2 years ago
how stupid are you? you just said im a 'kid' and then you said 'when you WERE a child' (just incase you didnt know 'were' is past tense) damn your stupid. how could i have been raped in the PAST and still be in the PRESANT. man your just pathetic.
thathotdog95 2 years ago
HAHA. Yeah, I know nothing about past and present (not PRESANT, fucking idiot) tense. You fucking pathetic, pile of shit, you were molested weren't you? Quit trying to act like you're better than everybody else because you have a "very high realing/comprehension level" for your age. You're fucking worthless and stupid. Drop out of school and get a job at Denny's. You comprehend that you little bitch?
VeronicaSawyerSmokes 2 years ago
you and that other guy/girl are so messed up. you go looking for a argument and then throw around a lot of bullshit. damn. 'act like im better' do ur reserch you stupid cunt. look at my original comment that that fuck thought he had to jump in on. they when he and i are having a discussion you jump in. man you are so messed up, like and whats with 'work at dennys' thats all you could come up with? sad...just sad/
thathotdog95 2 years ago
see thats what i wanted to hear 'do whatever you want' blahblahblah that what every 14 year old boy wants to hear, isnt that right? you older generations are so into your own self, you think that once you have had or done something that other ppl cant that you should hold on to that thing with the the strongest of beliefs. its kinda sad u attack my grammer. its not like im writting a formal letter, how i spell, how my grammer is, none of that stuff makes any difference.
thathotdog95 2 years ago 2
im writting this on a ps3 so please excuse my grammer, but for what my oppinion is worth, i believe hotdog has voiced some strong points, how he writes or how old he is, knowledge and wisdom are not handed out with a diploma, he has as much right to his oppinion as anyone and could have more real experiences than someone 3 times his age
dubconor 2 years ago
I love his poem... but Ginsberg himself reading it, takes away it's power.. well this reading anyway.. he has no flow, the Beat, i can't feel as he reads it. Maybe he's over it... i don't feel the passion at all, especially when it's such a emblazoned piece. Anyone agree?
TripZinga 2 years ago 3
No. Ginsberg has one of the best reading voices of all time. 'Howl' was never meant to be reduced to a childish idea of passion. Its how the imperfection of his voice explores the subtleties of the language that makes this reading great.
rainbowater1 2 years ago
I am a fan of most types of art, but unfortunately poetry is something I've always struggled with. Ginsberg seems like an interesting Character though and I would like to understand his poetry and learn more about it. Could someone please explain this to me? What is it about? (etc)
NeoDjang 2 years ago 2
well i cant explain what Ginsberg was thinking when he wrote this but alot of it is about his friends, fellow scholars & his surroundings in new york. the grittiness of everything, not just the city. he "saw the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness" (probably from LSD & barbituates but i wasnt there, just speculation).
BTW: if you like this one, check out "Hadda be playin on the Jukebox". RATM covered it. its killer. =)
SSSlappy138 2 years ago
not lsd and babituates.... Moloch, friend. Moloch.
whateva1983 2 years ago
It sounds to me like maybe you aren't as big a fan of poetry because of its opaqueness, which is totally cool, i'm not as big a fan of the dense obscure T.S.Eliot kind of stuff. I would suggest trying Charles Bukowski, he's my favorite poet but its relatable and funny. Let it enfold you, be kind and the history of one tough motherfucker are my favorites of his There is all different types of poetry tho so even if you've struggle with it before its just a mater of finding what you conect with
Cholin63 2 years ago
It's called a fucking search engine dude. Look up "Howl Allen Ginsberg Analysis" or something to that effect.
tmesch 2 years ago
Howl was written to one of Ginsberg's best friends Carl Solomon. In the 1st part he is speaking about how he is watching his generation go mad, the 2nd he is speaking about the evils of materialism and conformity and the 3rd part is him speaking directly to Carl. The thing with poetry is you give it your own meaning, and Howl is very much "stream of consciousness" so it's like a trip into Ginsberg's mind. It helps if you know about the beat generation and then you just go with the flow.
andyclaire 2 years ago
where have all the artists of britain of the 20th century gone????? where are they - the only ones i can think of are that one who wrote harry potter and john betjamen. and they are both crap.
muuuungo 2 years ago 2
and Ginsberg was deeply involved in the anti-war protests in the 1960's, which also supports his nonviolence and love for people. unlike the KKK who hated anyone who was not a White Protestant and agreed with their views, which Ginsberg didn't and plus he was Jewish, a Buddhist, and a man who had ties to communism, all of which the KKK hated.
jlnemath 2 years ago
You learn something new every day :D I did right now.
BraedenX 2 years ago
I would like to fix my post. unlike the KKK who hated anyone who was not a white protestant who agreed with their views. Ginsberg was someone who did not agree them so they wouldn't like him.
jlnemath 2 years ago
again with the attempt of Character assassination I see. Well Allen Ginsberg was not a supporter of the KKK for many reasons. one: he was Jewish. two: he had ties to communism (like I stated in my earlier posts). three: they were a group of hate. and as a man who was involved with Buddhism and Krishnaism, he would not support a group who did violent things to innocent people (or violent things to any people for that matter) and had an intense hatred of people which Buddhists would not support.
jlnemath 2 years ago
so in conclusion do more research on people before you just blurt things out on the internet, but I doubt you'll do that because it seems that you just want to commit character assassination.
jlnemath 2 years ago
also I highly doubt Allen's favorite book was mein kampf seeing as how he was born to parents who were communists and he himself was a young communist and highly active in the communist party as a young man. and yet again he would not have beat up homosexuals on the weekend because he did not hat gay people seeing how he was gay. Now he did join NAMBLA, but not because he loved boys but because of free speech and he left the group when he felt that his point was made.
jlnemath 2 years ago
by reading comments that were written by people to cause trouble here on you tube, I can tell that these people have no clue about Allen Ginsberg's life or work. Allen was not Antisemitic because he was Jewish and never once expressed self hatred of his heritage. he was not Homophobic because he was himself openly gay and he was proud of it. also he was never in the Hitler Youth seeing as how he was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Paterson.
jlnemath 2 years ago
id just like to point out that most of germanys youth at the time was part of hitler youth because no one knew that he was a monster, and he was an amazing leader. secondly mein kampf is an amazing book whether you support hitler or not simply for its historical value.
sneza33 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Don't feed the troll. :)
lilyinak 2 years ago
allen ginsbergs poetry is extremely anti semitic and homophobic.
67675656565655656565 2 years ago
um... he was jewish and gay...
technopirate 2 years ago
well in his biography it says his was a member of the hitler youth and faviourate book was mein kampf.On the weekends he used to go around with a gang and bash up gay people.
67675656565655656565 2 years ago
lololol deeeeewd
powerpillfogel 2 years ago
yeah i agree, he was very anti establishment. just finished doing my second year dissertation on him and im certain i didn't read about him bashing up gay people. beautifully put by the way
NottBeve 2 years ago
well he did he also was a strong supporter of the ku klux klan and was often seen in newark getting his ku klux klan uniform dried clean.
67675656565655656565 2 years ago
Yeah, the world's first Jewish KKK member.
carciar 2 years ago
he pretended to be jewish to get attention he was actually white prodestant
67675656565655656565 2 years ago
I don't know where the fuck that came from you antisemtic cunt. Ginsberg was as Jewish as they come, and that is a goddamn motherfucking compliment you nazi motherfucker.
Allocator2008 2 years ago
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so your calling me a fucking liar you black cunt.Ginsberg was extremely anti semitic and homophobic his faviourate book was mein kampf.His faviourate hobby was also bashing gays on the weekend with the kkk.
67675656565655656565 2 years ago
Leave my website please, there are enough negative people around and Allen was trying to keep the world sane. You really are not helping..Bye bye!!!!!!!!!
jar1945 2 years ago
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go fuck allen ginsbergs rotting cadaver
67675656565655656565 2 years ago
I'll fuck your live cadaver.
Super8StrikesBack 2 years ago
in america he says he's catholic. unless he converted
soursopsoup 2 years ago
Ginsberg was Buddhist. He was using sarcasm saying that maybe he could be a catholic and become president because it was something that was scary to Americans, having a Catholic as their leader.
citadelcommando 2 years ago
you cut it off before it got to the part where he gets fucked in the ass by a motorcyclist
johnamble 2 years ago 2
does not sound like Ginsberg...if it is, def. not his best reading, i recommend other ones for more emotion/power
LTcrew 2 years ago
As far as my understanding and bit o' research on Howl, Ginsberg in part I talks about specific events and artists of his time. Part II 'Moloch' was written after taking peyote and having a dream/vision of a large city hotel. Part III 'Rockland' deals with his experience as a mental patient. Researching the verses makes the poem even more fascinating. Ginsberg use of timbre and meter really add to the visuals he so ably portrays.
lycosa2000 2 years ago
i thought he was on "bennys" (benzedrine)when he wrote this poem ... not peyote
laziboy20 2 years ago
Comment removed
thirdeye192 3 years ago
Isn't this only part I? Where's all the Moloch and Rockland? Still great though.
CaptainKrakatoa 3 years ago
EXCEPTIONAL! Viva Ginsberg!
bundangbear 3 years ago
He really did HOWL! When I first read this poem, I thought he was high as a kite when he wrote it, but then I remembered that Ginsberg had been institutionalized and the numerous references to psychiatric and psychological treament in the poem.
shan4short 3 years ago
actually part of the inspiration for Howl (the part when he starts ranting about Moloch) is cuz he was high off peyote
syrensoundz 3 years ago
Like the poem
but love more
the pic
montage
foto frame.
Wonder in stop-motion
puking words
in every hollyhall? BASPATO
-i really love the pic(may = places it on 20inch screengroundsaver),got my copie of HOWL but
sad lie! didn't get ot read it from the A two Z.........
baspato 3 years ago
He is one man that could accept chaos and his beauty. Listen to the insanity. Beautiful.
contortedfinger 3 years ago
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allen ginsberg was a massive holocaust denier.
67675656565655656565 3 years ago
What evidence do you have to support that?
Allen Ginsberg was born into a jewish family and it is unlikely he would be a holocaust denier. Perhaps you have read something where he defends the right of people to deny the holocaust? I read that he joined NAMBLA just to make a point about free speech once!
ahdwright 3 years ago 3
"I read that he joined NAMBLA just to make a point about free speech once!"
He was a pederast, actually.
Craigmin 3 years ago
No. He was a gay man. There*is* a difference.
duckmonsterX 3 years ago
the word you are referring to to is Pedophile and no, he was not.
he joined to support there right to freedom of speech.
Ginsberg was, more or less, married to Peter Orlovsky up till his death.
ggcpres 2 years ago
As 'ahdwright' asked - what evidence do have to back-up the statement that Allen Ginsberg was a holocaust denier? - I find that entirely IMPLAUSIBLE!!! not only was he jewish , he was a highly intelligent person & a great poet! - it's been 2 weeks since you said that, - & have not replied with any info to support that statement - which does not give it much credibility. So if you have some 'credible' info, fine post it. - And where are you coming from anyway? what's your point??
sirdoug3 3 years ago
he said it in page 57 of his biography and also said his faviourate book was mein kampf.
67675656565655656565 3 years ago
can you show me these quotes?
as of now, my numerical friend, you come off as an internet tough guy taking a swing at dead, canonical writer.
ggcpres 2 years ago
cock and endless balls 2:00 lmao
mirrastyle4524 3 years ago
For those of you who are poets and writers who have listened to this and/or read it, how has it influenced your writing?
Even though I didn't get it initially from Ginsberg, but from D.H. Lawrence, I love the long lines with the subjunctive clauses where the flowing effect is to start you off at one point and leave you in some place wholly different than what you expected or could expect. This poem blew open -- again -- every door of expectation of what poetry could do.
bigtallcubsfan 3 years ago
The honour of blowing the door open for me actually goes to Ginsberg's contemporary Kerouac, but this poem was the blasting cap to that. I read it and was so struck by the imagery and the way it created rhythm from words alone that it propelled me towards the Beats and their creations.
ShamanMick 2 years ago
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PISH.
Certex 3 years ago
Is this the famous first reading that recently surfaced?
simonpenum 3 years ago
Highly doubtful.
morelikewar 3 years ago
In fact, Ginsberg was drunk when he was reading his poem for the first time and he only had part of the poem written.
morelikewar 3 years ago
No, but I own the first known recording if anyone is interested.
joshgibson 3 years ago 2
Ya hadda be there....!!! and i was lucky enuf to be...
smlvk43 3 years ago
Probably not the best reading of this poem. But it is a great poem anyway.Ginsberg sang the beauty and the danger of madness in an incomparable way.
cm8722 3 years ago
great poem
cm8722 3 years ago
Love it
Lucyrunnigwild 3 years ago
this is where poetry lost its flowery scented
ridiculousness and became as explosive as a machine-gun report...as awakening as a scream
or might i say,a howl?.............where poetry grew a lions mane and a lion's roar
bpyrad 3 years ago
Bull shit, havent you read Baudelaire, or Rimbaud? They came a whole 100 years before Ginsberg's howl.
Gotta read before you speek.
Seanradical 3 years ago
...or even Rochester in the 17th century. Some of his work is still effectively "banned" from schools.
negatingreality 3 years ago
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shut the fuck up
parallaxengine 3 years ago
Nice!where did U get that collage picture got a link .by the way, a movie may be coming out soon about the publishing of Howl and how it when to court for being obscene!
baspato 3 years ago
Communism is an ideal, the ussr is a state there is a big difrence the ussr is not Communism in its fullness nor allmost at all it can hate gay people and Communism can not care at all.
Communism dose not hate gay people, just as bush hates gays and he runs the USA but that dose not mean that democracy hates gay people unless the ideal is self hates gay people
maggiesfarm92 3 years ago
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I'm an anarchist. Communism doesn't really work in practice ever, not in the way anarchism could in any case.
jjay75 3 years ago
Nor does Capitalism - Financial Crisis and the next recession case in point.
90nomads 3 years ago
I've heard this hundreds of times over many years . I still can't focus on it long enough to understand fully . but I can't help but love it like a beautiful bird singing
Brushnumber1 3 years ago 7
after "song of myself"...yes i would say so
weteyemoon 3 years ago
The greatest American poem
PulseCzar101 3 years ago 10
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You never read Kaddish obviously....
trevorduvall 3 years ago
Oh I did.
P.S. Kill yourself
PulseCzar101 3 years ago 10
dyou think kerouac ever walked in on burroughs + ginsberg getin it on? probably like "oo, errr... i'll just get my mesc..." and hitch hiked somewhere
geckoremmington 3 years ago
Ginsberg openly was gay and supported international Communism in 1958. How were Jews who were openly gay treated in the U.S.S.R. and Red China in 1958?
Neutraleyes66 3 years ago
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how he found them to be, namely oppresive. Ginsberg was the best poison the US injected into the commies
pueblonative 3 years ago
ginsberg admitted he loved kerouac when they were youths lol, but later he found his soulmate.
loveupskirts 3 years ago
peter orlovsky
smlvk43 3 years ago
yeah,,,he was a ..phtographer?..or an artist i forget.
loveupskirts 3 years ago
Ginsberg's 'significant other' for about 30 years...raving poet...
smlvk43 3 years ago
Allen Ginsberg is a God in his own right. All the Beats were. Kerouac is my favorite, but they all knew what Life is about. Life is the best and most important right we have. Please know that. Fuck money, fuck the government. Long live LIFE!
X1xGummyBearx1X 3 years ago 4
I guess everyone gets something different from Ginsbergs poems.
BRIANisBALLIN 3 years ago
I could not find the Hungarian translation of it. I had it once, but many years ago I have lost the casette.
Jeszenszkyzoltan 3 years ago
howl is one of the greatest poems i´ve ever read!!
maid22 3 years ago 8
Is tis till thoght to be a great poem?
Itzik Basman
vergeharget 3 years ago
It took me a long time to see HOWL for the epic transtional poetic obect that it is [ see Various Useless Excuses] but years ago I recognized him for the Person He Was, in Fidels Cuba Monday Morning [ kicked out for being a pot smoking fag] and the King of the Parade in Prague still later that same day and always loyal and preternaturally kind, a bonafide American saint inclned to reject all such notions.
dinnerbucket9 3 years ago 2
Love the poem. Can't really fault Ginsberg for reading it the way he felt it, but I always imagined it being screamed in a sort of frenzy. Nevertheless, top stuff.
Tafkas54531 3 years ago
Who? Never heard of them, sorry.
KafkaCrow 3 years ago
yo fuck you antibeater, ginsberg is the most influential poets of our or anyones time, hes a fuckin prophet for the contsant change in the nations drug and poverty stricken world and if you dont understand your a fuckin yuppie scumbag, he's advocating change in america for the better of mankind, he wrote what he knew, and you should respect that. until you write a poem or monologue that brings tears to anyones eyes, stop talking shit
oiboots88 3 years ago
Ginsberg, oilboots, would never have indulged in that kind of reptillian rage.
dinnerbucket9 3 years ago
moloch!
tagomago91 3 years ago
Good poem, poor reading.
KafkaCrow 3 years ago
it's not a "pretty" reading, but then again it's not a "pretty" poem. i mean if he read it like a sonnet i'd be a little suspicious. i think the reading works very well with the poem.
omedefirouz 3 years ago
I didn't want a pretty reading. He just sounds a little lazy with it at the beginning. It gets better though.
KafkaCrow 3 years ago
This is a great poem. Whether you like Ginsberg or not, he brought light with this poem.
outworldarts 3 years ago