The writers and poets who changed America

Everything you need to know about the Beat Generation

Stars Insider

22/04/22 | Noah Schmeling

LIFESTYLE History

Allen Ginsberg's iconic poem 'Howl' begins, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical...." This was unfortunately the inevitable end for many members of what is now called the Beat Generation, a group of authors and poets in the 1950s who fought monotony and conformity with all of their hearts and souls. Plagued by crisis, addiction, and poverty, these freewheeling, sad, mad geniuses traveled the United States from one end to the other, took road trips through South America, holed up in the squats and slums of Paris and Tangiers, and dedicated themselves to experience and art, for better or worse. In the often tragically short lives of these literary outlaws, they graced the country with some of the most important, powerful, and revolutionary works of literature and poetry to ever be produced. Their influence on modern poetry and long-form written word can still be felt strongly today, and will continue to be felt for decades to come.

Read on to learn about the members of the brilliant but doomed Beat Generation.

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