Allen Ginsberg began writing “Howl” circa 1954, a time when homosexuality (and sexuality in general), profanity, vulgarity, and illicit drug use were so tabu that even writing about such subjects was considered illegal and warranted arrest. Ginsberg’s poem should be read with the understanding of how progressive, revealing, and dangerous it was within the contexts of society. It shattered walls, gave a voice to the vagabonds, free-spirits, artists, and erotic people of not only America but the…
Baal worship became profuse throughout the ancient Middle East. Prevalently, Baal often acquired other god’s identity, such as the horned Molech, well-known for child sacrifices depicted in the Babylonian seal impression presented here. In addition, Moloch oftentimes coincides as a rebel angel, counted among the fallen angels. Conspicuously, in the majority of early societies Baal contains an extensive history…
Everyday people are basing their actions off the opinions of their peers. Everything from the clothes a person wears to the music they listen to is picked apart by society. People would rather blend in with everyone else than stand out and risk being judged; those who do stand out in society are individuals. As Allen Ginsberg, a Beat Generation member, believes “ Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness”. One may suggest that individualism is madness. However, like a werewolf, only…
We start the chapter with Laurie being Teleported by Jon to Laurie’s mom to catch up while Jon, Veidt, and Dan attend Edward Blake’s funeral in New York. Outside the cemetery gates, we see the redheaded doomsayer again. His constant appearance makes me believe that he has some significance to the story later. Meanwhile, Laurie and her mother get in an argument for her forgiving the Comedian’s attempted rape forty years back. Sally (her mother) begins think of the past and with the flash of a…
John Milton’s Paradise Lost is one of the most monumental and celebrated works in English literature. Often described as an “epic to end all epics”, it is renowned for its grandiose scale, unique manipulation of epic conventions, and the complexity of its narrative, characters, and language (Stallworthy et al. 1830). Among these distinctive features, one of them is quickly recognisable to the reader: its unconventional portrayal of Satan and the Fallen Angels. Departing from traditional Medieval…
“In Bacchic glee they file toward Fate, Moloch’s uninitiate” in this line he is comparing the young soldiers who are happily march to their death. Moloch is an Old Testament god of the heathen’s who children were sacrificed to. Melville also uses other religious terms that come from Greek and roman mythology. The term “Bacchic” means anything that relates to the Roman god Bacchus, who was the god of…
The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, forcing Germany to pay reparations for World War I, catalysing hyperinflation and accentuating class divisions. Lang establishes this social hierarchy through the juxtaposition of the triumphant music of the Eternal Gardens, with the melancholy music and darker lighting of the underground. Hence, he employs mise-en-scene in the long shot of the workers drudging, their slumped body language manifesting the extent of their oppression; yet Lang reveals…
Allen Ginsberg was born in Jewish family in New Jersey. His father Louis Ginsberg was a published poet and a high school teacher. Ginsberg's mother, Naomi Livergant Ginsberg, was suffered from mental illness which often manifested as paranoid delusions. His experiences with his mother’s mental illness are also frequently referred to in Howl. For example, “Pilgrim State, Rockland, and Grey Stone's foetid halls” is a reference to institutions frequented by his mother and Carl Solomon, ostensibly…
Hinnom Valley is a deep, narrow ravine separating Mount Zion from the so-called Hill of Evil Counsel. It forms the southern border of ancient Jerusalem and is mentioned several times in the Bible. It's original Hebrew name is Gei ben-Hinnom which means Valley of Son of Hinnom. Nobody really knows who Hinnom or his son were but the name stuck through the ages. The earliest mention of the valley of Hinnom is in the Book of Joshua 15:8, where the boundary line between the tribes of Judah and…
Symbolism adds meaning and requires readers to think more deeply about the story along with the characters and objects in the story. Symbolism can take an object that is just any other ordinary thing and turn it into the author’s entire purpose for writing the story. The Great Gatsby is a magnificent example of this literary technique, because of how well this story utilizes symbolism. If Fitzgerald had not included symbolism in his work, the story would seem to have no meaning at all, because…