Foundation of Ginsberg's Poetics

rejection of academic formalism

desire to bring poetry back to lived experience, spiritual vision, and raw expression

improvisation, breath-based rhythms, prophetic speech, and personal candor

Like Walt Whitman, he used the long, open line to capture the vastness of American experience and the movement of thought. He called this his "Hebraic-Melvillian bardic breath."

He adopted Williams' principle of "no ideas but in things"—the use of concrete, everyday imagery instead of abstract, ornamental language.

From Ezra Pound's "make it new" and Charles Olson's "Projective Verse," Ginsberg took the idea of composition by breath/ear rather than strict meter.

His poetics emphasized first thought, best thought (later associated with his teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche), trusting spontaneous perception over revision, aligning with meditative awareness.

Unlike the impersonality of New Criticism, he insisted on exposing the self—its sexuality, its madness, its politics, its joy—as poetry's valid subject matter.

Process

Breath-based line: He read aloud as he wrote, letting the length of his exhalation determine the line (especially in Howl). The poem’s rhythm is literally the rhythm of his breathing and chanting.

Improvisation: He often began with raw notes, journal entries, or visions. For Kaddish (1961), for instance, he poured out a near-prose lament for his mother in one long session, then shaped it without killing the spontaneous force.

Cataloguing and repetition: Like Whitman, he used lists, accumulations, and repetitions (“who… who… who…” in Howl) to build momentum and prophetic chant.

Spontaneous vision: He sometimes wrote in altered states (under psychedelics, or in meditative clarity), aiming to transcribe the rush of perception and thought without censoring.

Minimal revision (but not none): Although he celebrated spontaneity, he did revise for clarity, rhythm, and musicality. Howl went through multiple drafts where he adjusted enjambments and word choice to sharpen sound and cadence.

Performance feedback: Ginsberg tested poems aloud in coffeehouses, small readings, and among friends like Jack Kerouac and Gregory Corso. The oral delivery was part of the composition process.

In relation to Olson

Against fixed form: Both rejected academic verse (tight rhyme/meter, New Criticism’s impersonality).

Breath as measure: Olson said “the line comes from the breath,” and Ginsberg literally used the length of his exhalation for his lines.

Energy transfer: Olson spoke of “energy transferred from where the poet got it… to the reader.” Ginsberg tried to capture immediate perception and pass on the raw, lived intensity.

Influence of Pound & Williams: Both saw Pound/Williams as ancestors of open form, the “American idiom.”

Olson: Sees poem as impersonal field of energies—poet is one object among many.

Ginsberg: Sees poem as personal chant/vision—poet’s inner life is the very fuel of the poem.

Summary

Ginsberg’s poetics = open form, breath rhythm, confessional honesty, visionary improvisation, spiritual immediacy.

He wrote by pouring out unfiltered speech aligned with breath and perception, then lightly shaping it into chant-like structures that kept the spontaneous energy intact.