Howl Visions of America Quotes Page 3

Page (3 of 3) Quotes: 1 2 3

How we cite the quotes:
(line)

Quote #7

Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the American river!
Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!
Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions! gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! Despairs! Ten years' animal screams and suicides! Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on the rocks of Time!
Real holy laughter in the river! They saw it all! the wild eyes! the holy yells! They bade farewell! They jumped off the roof! to solitude! waving! carrying flowers! Down to the river! into the street! (lines 90-93)

The "American river" is fed by lost hopes and dreams. It represents the passage of time and hints at the fast-moving currents of capitalism.

Quote #8

I'm with you in Rockland where we hug and kiss the United States under our bedsheets the United States that coughs all night and won't let us sleep (line 110)

Ginsberg, Carl Solomon, and America are all in bed together. But America sounds pretty sick and also moderately pesky. We're trying to get some rest here!

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