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Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Kerouac was Ginsberg’s close friend, and his writing influenced Ginsberg’s use of long lines and frank language throughout “Howl.”

Whitman’s Poetry

Ginsberg’s use of the long line in “Howl” owes a great deal to Whitman’s experimentation with long-lined verse in Leaves of Grass. It’s also worth noting that Whitman was a poet whose major subject was, arguably, America itself. Ginsberg also offers a vision of America in his poetry, albeit a vision that’s radically different from Whitman’s.

William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience

Ginsberg famously had a mystical experience one summer in Harlem, when an “auditory vision” came to him in which the British Romantic poet William Blake recited some of his poems, including “The Sick Rose” from Songs of Innocence and Experience. Ginsberg references this experience in “Howl” when he mentions a “Blake-light” tragedy in line 6. Aside from this reference, though, Ginsberg takes much influence from Blake’s use of long lines as well as his frequently apocalyptic tone.

Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Kesey’s novel appeared in 1962, at a time when the influence of the Beat Generation had folded into the larger counterculture movement of the 1960s. Nonetheless, Kesey’s work owes much to works by writers like Ginsberg. With respect to “Howl” in particular, Kesey’s novel shares an interest in the theme of madness.

Previous section Historical and Literary Context

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