Editing Howl (poem) (section)

==Performance and publication==
Part I of "Howl" was first performed at the [[Six Gallery reading]] in [[San Francisco]] on October 7, 1955.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Iorio |first1=Paul |title=A `Howl' That Still Echoes / Ginsberg poem recalled |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/a-howl-that-still-echoes-ginsberg-poem-2699554.php |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=10 May 2025}}</ref><ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/04/DDGKPF12031.DTL Heidi Benson, "''Howl''", ''San Francisco Chronicle'', October 4, 2005]</ref> Ginsberg had not originally intended the poem for performance. The reading was conceived by [[Wally Hedrick]], a painter and co-founder of the Six Gallery, which was a [[co-op]] art gallery and meeting place for the [[Bay Area]] [[avant-garde]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Earliest "Howl" Recordings |publisher=The Beat Museum |url=https://www.kerouac.com/the-earliest-howl-recordings/ |date=5 October 2020}}</ref> Hedrick approached Ginsberg in mid-1955 and asked him to organize a poetry reading at the venue: "At first, Ginsberg refused. But once he'd written a rough draft of ''Howl'', he changed his 'fucking mind', as he put it."{{sfn|Raskin|2004|p=14}}

Ginsberg was ultimately responsible for inviting the other readers—[[Gary Snyder]], [[Philip Lamantia]], [[Philip Whalen]], and [[Michael McClure]]—and crafting the invitation. [[Kenneth Rexroth]] served as [[master of ceremonies]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=The Allen Ginsberg Project |url=https://allenginsberg.org/2015/10/october-7-anniversary-of-the-six-gallery-reading/ |title=October 7 – Anniversary of the Six Gallery Reading |date=7 October 2015}}</ref> "Howl" was the second-to-last reading (before "A Berry Feast" by Snyder) and was considered by most in attendance the highlight of the evening. Many regarded it as the beginning of a new movement, and the reputation of Ginsberg and those associated with the Six Gallery reading spread throughout San Francisco.{{sfn|Raskin|2004|p=19}} In response to Ginsberg's performance, McClure wrote: "Ginsberg read on to the end of the poem, which left us standing in wonder, or cheering and wondering, but knowing at the deepest level that a barrier had been broken, that a human voice and body had been hurled against the harsh wall of America...."<ref>{{cite web |title=Allen Ginsberg |url=https://poets.org/poet/allen-ginsberg |website=Poets.org |publisher=The Academy of American Poets}}</ref>

In his 1958 novel ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'', Jack Kerouac gave a first-hand account of the Six Gallery performance (in which Ginsberg is renamed "Alvah Goldbrook" and the poem becomes 'Wail'):<blockquote>Anyway I followed the whole gang of howling poets to the reading at Gallery Six that night, which was, among other important things, the night of the birth of the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance. Everyone was there. It was a mad night. And I was the one who got things jumping by going around collecting dimes and quarters from the rather stiff audience standing around in the gallery and coming back with three huge gallon jugs of California Burgundy and getting them all piffed so that by eleven o'clock when Alvah Goldbrook was reading his poem 'Wail' drunk with arms outspread everybody was yelling 'Go! Go! Go!' (like a jam session) and old Rheinhold Cacoethes [Kenneth Rexroth] the father of the Frisco poetry scene was wiping his tears in gladness.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kerouac |first=Jack |title=[[The Dharma Bums]] |publisher=Flamingo |year=1994 |orig-date=1958 |isbn=0586091580 |location=Great Britain |page=15}}</ref></blockquote>Within hours, [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]]—who ran [[City Lights Bookstore]] and its associated publishing house, City Lights Books—sent Ginsberg a [[Western Union]] telegram requesting the "Howl" manuscript.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/a-howl-that-still-echoes-ginsberg-poem-2699554.php |last=Iorio |first=Paul |website=[[SFGate]] |date=28 October 2000 |title=A 'Howl' That Still Echoes / Ginsberg poem recalled}}</ref> Two months later, Carl Solomon gave Ginsberg permission to publish the poem.<ref name=Beat_timeline>{{cite web |title=Beat Generation Timeline |url=https://www.beatdom.com/beat-generation-timeline/ |date=17 September 2024 |publisher=Beatdom}}</ref>

On October 1, 1956, ''Howl and Other Poems'' was published by City Lights as number four in its [[City Lights Pocket Poets Series|Pocket Poets Series]].<ref name=Beat_timeline/>{{sfn|Raskin|2004|p=187}} Ginsberg had finished Part II and the "Footnote" after Ferlinghetti promised to publish. Since "Howl" and its "Footnote" were not sufficient to make an entire book, Ginsberg supplied additional poems to fill out the volume.{{sfn|Charters|1973|p=261}} He selected several recently written works in which he had continued experimenting with "breath-length" lines and a fixed base{{Snd}}the technique he began using during the composition of "Howl". Some of the "other poems" in ''Howl and Other Poems'', such as "[[America (poem)|America]]", "Sunflower Sutra", and "[[A Supermarket in California]]", would become among Ginsberg's most anthologized poems.<ref>Allen, Donald M., ed. (1960). ''The New American Poetry, 1945–1960''. Grove Press. pp. 179–182.</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Pockell |editor-first=Leslie |title=The 100 Best Poems of All Time |year=2001 |location=New York |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=0446676810}}</ref>

The earliest extant recording of "Howl" was thought to date from March 18, 1956, but in 2007 an earlier recording was found.<ref name=Suiter_article>{{Cite web |last=Suiter |first=John |date=1 December 2008 |title=When The Beats Came Back |website=Reed Magazine |url=https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2008/ginsberg-howl-reed.html}}</ref> Ginsberg had read his poem at the Anna Mann dormitory at [[Reed College]] on February 13 and 14, with the second of those dates recorded. The tape was in excellent condition and was released by Omnivore Recordings in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Allen Ginsberg: At Reed College: The First Recorded Reading Of Howl & Other Poems |url=https://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/at-reed-college/ |website=Omnivore Recordings}}</ref> In this recording, Ginsberg performs Part I of the poem. In the March 18 reading, in Berkeley, he performed all three parts.<ref name=Suiter_article />