6/23/2023 0 Comments Howl part 1 by allen ginsberg![]() ![]() ![]() The figure has been used in a variety of modern artistic settings, including John Milton’s “ Paradise Lost” and Fritz Lang’s pioneering film “Metropolis.” In Ginsberg’s poem, it comes to symbolize all of society’s great evils: corporate power and domination, militarization, governmental violence and oppression, just to name a few. The use of the name “Moloch,” a name traditionally associated with specific gods or rituals from ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean religion, is most commonly used to denote a power or force that demands great sacrifice. Part II, however, gives a very specific name for these social forces - “ Moloch.” Though one could certainly make social and political inferences from Part I, and Ginsberg does challenge the power authorities of institutions like higher education, mental health, and public safety, the social forces that cause the hardships, violence, and addiction in the lives of the “best minds” are not named beyond vague references. ![]() Thus, it is different from Part I, which was mainly a fractured narrative of the lives of the Beat generation. Part II uses a great deal of metaphor and symbolism to make social and political points. ![]() Ginsberg writes that Part I “names the monster.that preys on the Lamb.” The Lamb, in this case, are the “best minds” and “angel headed hipsters” of Part I. Part II of Ginsberg’s “Howl” was written separately from Part I, but within the same period of Ginsberg’s life in San Francisco. ![]()
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