Imagery and metaphors

Imagery is essential in the poem “HOWL” by Allen Ginsberg, as the text is meant to provide a very vivid and accurate description of a certain category of people in America, those who are creative and looking for their identity in ways which contradict society norms. Consequently, the poet created very powerful visual images with people playing jazz, doing drugs, walking the streets of New York and even jumping off bridges. Each new ‘who’ clause creates a new visual image. Here is just one such example:

who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg,
who threw their watches off the roof to cast their ballot for (p. 78, ll. 24-25)

Imagery is also created through a series of specific figures of speech, of which the most important we outline below:

Allusions

The poem abounds in allusions to personal experiences of the poet and socio-historical events related to the US and not only.

A first allusion is that to Islam and the Quran (p. 77, ll. 10-12). Then, the poet makes a reference to a hallucinatory experience he had, envisioning the poet ...