He experimented with a syntactic subversion of meaning called parataxis in the poem 'Dream Record: June 8, 1955' about the death of Joan Vollmer, a technique that became central in 'Howl'. Philip Hicks, encouraged him to realize his desire to quit his market-research job and pursue poetry full-time and to accept his own homosexuality. A short time before the composition of 'Howl', Ginsberg's therapist, Dr. Many factors went into the creation of the poem.

In late 19, in an apartment he had rented at 1010 Montgomery Street in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, Ginsberg worked on the poem, originally referring to it by the working title 'Strophes.' Some drafts were purportedly written at a coffeehouse called Caffe Mediterraneum in Berkeley, California Ginsberg had moved into a small cottage in Berkeley a few blocks from the campus of the University of California on September 1, 1955. As was his wont, Ginsberg took notes on his vision, and these became the basis for Part II of the poem. Ginsberg had the terrifying experience of seeing the façade of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in the San Francisco fog as the monstrous face of a child-eating demon. This occurred on the evening of October 17, 1954, in the Nob Hill apartment of Sheila Williams, Ginsberg's girlfriend at that time, with whom he was living. Writing Īccording to Ginsberg's bibliographer and archivist Bill Morgan, it was a terrifying peyote vision that was the principal inspiration for Howl. Horn ruled that the poem was not obscene. Upon the poem's release, Ferlinghetti and the bookstore's manager, Shigeyoshi Murao, were charged with disseminating obscene literature, and both were arrested. This myth was perpetuated by Ferlinghetti as part of the defense's case during the poem's obscenity trial.

It is not true that 'Howl' was written as a performance piece and later published by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books. It came to be associated with the group of writers known as the Beat Generation. 'Howl' is considered to be one of the great works of American literature. In the Paul Blackburn Tape Archive at the University of California, San Diego, Ginsberg can be heard reading early drafts of his poem to his fellow writing associates. ' Howl', also known as ' Howl for Carl Solomon', is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1954–1955 and published in his 1956 collection Howl and Other Poems.

Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books.

Howl by allen ginsberg