Allen Ginsberg’s 1955 poem “Howl” is a social commentary and revolutionary manifesto that brought a political voice of the Beats generation widespread to a larger audience. Ginsberg relies on great linguistics, ramblings, and occasionally obscene references that demands to be heard in a catalog technique, the long list form in which the poem follows. The poem is presented in somewhat of a lamenting, mournful tone. The title “Howl” itself indicates a cry, a crying out for protest and change. “Howl” paved the way for American youth to stand up and use their voices in protest as the counterculture movement was really beginning to set in. Ginsberg asks his audience to join him in crying out against all the capitalism, tyranny, exploitation, and…show more content… This madness came in different forms and afflicted many people, scholars, soldiers, laborers. This madness outlines what is to be perceived as a counterculture, perhaps the Beats, more explicitly. The counterculture is not the choice of these minds, it is their obligation of straying away from the social normalcy’s and ideals, especially in response the war. In “Howl”, Ginsberg perfectly describes the desperation, suffering and discrimination of a group of outcasts, himself including, who are seeking for more than just the wreckage of a post-war society, but hoping for an uplifting, transcendent reality. This poem is a counterculture reaction to a normalized society in…show more content… Who dragged themselves through the negro street and looked with furious anger, signifying an expression of hatred against American culture. They looked with frustration toward the society that they were born into, yet, distorted their lives. So they challenged that society which gave them life, but not the accommodation to live. The reason there is such references to narcotic things in the poem is because they wanted to forget the pain given by that normal, mainstream culture and to challenge it. They wanted to challenge the mainstream culture through “obscene odes” of vulgar poetry filled with spontaneity and stream of consciousness, writing whatever comes to