Lily Allen

Honors American Literature – 29 Danielle Dresen Leslie Lee Illusions Have you ever heard the phrase, “be thankful for what you have?” Or perhaps, “never judge a book by its cover.” It is most likely that you have, seeing as these are both popular phrases with which we use to convey the importance of gratitude and understanding. Whether you agree with these phrases or not, Edgar Lee Masters and Edwin Arlington Robinson do; so much so that they have incorporated them into the themes of their…

Obscene America: An Analyzation of Howl In 1955, beat writer Allen Ginsberg produced a free-verse poem titled Howl. Ginsberg’s Howl is a poem that embodies the conditions of America, specifically how Ginsberg viewed them to be. Being a beat writer, Ginsberg was completely aware of the unjust and superficial ideals America was projecting. Not only, but Ginsberg’s poem was completely uncensored, real, and raw while addressing these issues. For instance, his poem was so uncensored, real, and raw…

The Formation of the Beat Generation Through “Howl” Poetry is usually seen as a “pretty” form of writing. For the Beat poets of the 1950s and Allen Ginsberg, that is not the case. Their works signify a period of anti-censorship in poetry––a time of criticism for mainstream society. Ginsberg’s “Howl” is one poem of particular significance from that time period. On a superficial level, Ginsberg’s three part poem “Howl” appears to be his own adaption of the Beat era in which certain people are…

In the years following the dramatic events of the Second World War, America went through several social upheavals. The first change came when GI’s returned from the battlefield, wanting to go back to the normal life they had previously upheld. This need for a return to traditional gender and societal roles led to an appraisal of mass conformism and to make matters worse, a new suburban class was on the rise. Around the same time, literary and cultural activists broke the mold of rampant…

Naomi Clark J. Lindberg English 1101 22 August 2015 Slang in America The essay Slang in America, written by the early 1800s American poet named Walt Whitman, was an interesting essay to read. It really made me stretch my mind as to try to comprehend and understand what the 1800s poet was trying to say. Throughout his work he was trying to portray the distinctive American language; which introduces new words and the unique qualities of American life. Whitman believed that our language; the way…

What America means to someone is a greatly personal matter. With “I Hear America Singing” and “I, Too”, two artists give their views, and the poems, written years apart, pair well together. Whitman celebrates those who can sing, while Hughes speaks for those who are silenced. Whitman sails over flowing description, showing the tales of Americans in lush colors. Their calls spring from the text. Quilted together, the voices of ordinary America form a tapestry, made of workers. Idols are not…

In "I, Too," Langston Hughes is obviously in conversation with the earlier poem, Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing." Both poems explore the idea of American identity -- who and what is an American? What characterizes the people of this nation? The two poets, however, reach somewhat different conclusions in response to these questions. Whitman is known as the quintessential American poet, in part due to poems like this one. Whitman's "Song of Myself" positions the individual at the center,…

The poem “Song of Myself” is to deliver the idea of the self and its individuality. Both are conveyed through Whitman’s words and even questions the reader about their own individuality. Whitman’s poetry is supposed to convey that the reader is not alone, it is important to find one’s self, and their challenges of working on one’s mind. In the poem, “Song of Myself” there is significant amount of detail. Whitman’s writing in this poem is creative because he is talking about himself directly at…

“Beat Generation” included authors who wrote many great essay’s, short stories, and poems. Although this starting group was small, they had an incredible impact on literature. The four people who are the “founders” of this movement are Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal…

“Howl” by Allen Ginsberg: Holy! Holy! Holy! Once in a great while, a poem comes along, that has so many hidden meanings you get lost in the spaces. There are an abundant amount of ways to interpret Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.” To me, “Howl” depicts the five stages of loss and grief in an attempt to deal with Ginsberg’s emotional fallout from the loss of his friends. In 1969, Elizabeth Kubler Ross and David Kessler defined the five stages of loss and grief as 1.) Denial, 2.) Anger, 3.) Bargaining, 4)…