Worksheet 11

Worksheet 11

Worksheet 11: What’s Your Moloch?

Overview:

This is an exercise in taking “Howl” seriously as a piece of art that hopes to liberate you. It isn’t an exercise in textual analysis, but it is still an exercise in critical thinking. It asks you to notice, reflect on, and respond to your world and how it affects your inner life .

Whether or not Ginsberg’s poem is your cup of tea, we can all appreciate its central concern that there is an aspect of ourselves—

something questioning, dreamy, creative, desiring, wild, oddball, offbeat, ecstatic, hungry, visionary, insane, longing for freedom as well as connection—

that is essential to us and yet which we (or others) work to:

normalize, keep a lid on, tame, contain, discipline, silence, and starve in order to fit in with our peers and get ahead in “the world,” in order to “grow up” into “normal” and “respectable” people.

This exercise asks you to take an honest look at that struggle in you. In order for you to feel free to say what’s really on your mind, we have devised a system for these assignments to be ANONYMOUS.

STEP ONE: brainstorm reflections ( you don’t need to write these down)

Part 1 of “Howl” describes the “greatest minds” that Ginsberg knew—philosophical seekers, non-conformists, visionaries and creators—and describes the several methods (reading, music, drugs, travel, sex, and writing poems) that they sought to satisfy their hunger for experiences of intense illumination, heavenly connection, meaning, and joy. Looking at yourself, and/or at the people you know around you, how would you describe what (if anything) you and your generation is hungry for beyond material success? Also, what kinds of things (if anything) does your generation do to try to satisfy this hunger?

Part 2 of “Howl” tries to describe the “Moloch”—the system of expectations, norms and rules, the economic and governmental demands, and the social values and conventions—that cause Ginsberg to be filled with fear and shame, and that stand in the way of these “angelheaded hipsters” and their fulfillment. Looking at your own social world, what expectations and norms weigh heavily on you? What (if anything) do you feel ashamed of or anxious about that you wish you didn’t have to feel ashamed or anxious about? What aspects of yourself do you feel you have had to silence in order to fit in?

STEP TWO: write the howl of you/your generation

Please write 6 lines of poetry, inspired by the poetic style of Ginsberg’s “Howl ” (i.e. try to write lines that sound like his) that describes the state of your generation’s soul and what oppresses it

· What are you all secretly hungry for, what do you all do to seek out experiences that satisfy that hunger?

· How would you describe what you’re up against right now—what (if any) conventions and expectations work against you, here and now at UM, that pressure you to silence parts of yourself?

You can model your lines on specific lines of “Howl,” or you can depart from its model, but do use Ginsberg’s long line (i.e. it takes about one breath to read each line) and chanting structure (“I saw… who… who… who….” “Moloch who… Moloch who….”).

Please type out your poem as well as your interpretive paragraph (step 3 below) at the bottom of this assignment.

STEP THREE: interpret your poem for us

Please write a paragraph close reading your own howl, above.

· Why have you chosen the words and images you chose?

· How would you flesh out and elaborate the thoughts, ideas, and feelings that are contained in your lines?

· What insights about your social world and your inner life would you like us to draw from your poem?

Grading Rubric:

50: If you do not complete the assignment or submit an assignment that does not follow these instructions

85: Solid but safe: If your poem and observations show some reflection but do not do much original or creative thinking.

100: Insightful and sincere: If your poem and observations show a serious effort to critically and creatively analyze your world, avoiding clichés and truisms. Teach us something!