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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the friend point out to Ginsberg?

2. Ginsberg hopes for the return of which of the following?

3. Ginsberg wants people to find _______________.

4. Next to which product is the character seen?

5. Ginsberg believed that his generation was being destroyed by which of the following?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Ginsberg say about the quality of the soul? Where does it fit into the theme?

2. How does the poet speak about the people of his generation?

3. What is the main theme of the poem? Why is the theme important?

4. What is Ginsberg's opinion of Whitman? How does the younger poet view the older, more famous poet?

5. According to Williams and Ginsberg, how is it possible for love to survive?

6. What kinds of things are represented by the flower? What is Ginsberg able to see that is no longer present?

7. What kinds of things, integral in Ginsberg's life, bring joy?

8. Where does Ginsberg imagine he sees Whitman just before they go separate ways?

9. What kind of experiences took place in HOWL? To what does Williams compare those experiences?

10. What types of people are noticed by Ginsberg inside the supermarket?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Although there may have been difficult times post World War I and World War II, Ginsberg speaks a lot about gratitude. Why is gratitude so important? How is it possible to be grateful in the face of poverty or war? What is Ginsberg's opinion on material possessions? Explain what Ginsberg meant by having riches beyond material things. Write an opinion on simplicity versus materialism.

Essay Topic 2

Write a biography on famed poet William Carlos Williams. Include his youth, education, personal and professional lives. Also include Williams' professional and personal relationships with Allen Ginsberg as well as other Beat Generation poets Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, and Michael McClure. Also discuss how Williams affected the New York literary scene.

Essay Topic 3

In AN ASPHODEL Ginsberg talks about lust and quenching desire. Were writers discussing this topic 100 years before? Write about the similarities and differences in the poetry of the 1850s versus Ginsberg worked in the 1950s. Do you think that there is a great difference between need and emotional connection between people given the fact that Ginsberg is gay? What are your own experiences with identifying and quelling at various desires - mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical?

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