The Use of Profanity in Allen Ginsberg's Works The Beat poets were the voice of a generation. Uncontaminated honesty and truth are the primary goal of the Beat poets, and for them this honesty and truth is best achieved with crude, often vulgar language that may make some readers uncomfortable. In this excerpt from his book, Allen Ginsberg, Thomas Merrill comments on the truth displayed by the poet:...such a commitment to inner truth not only permits but requires uninhibited confessions that tend to make conventional readers squirm. Many Beat writers, especially Ginsberg, flaunt their most intimate acts and feelings... in aggressive street language (2). In Ginsberg's poetry collection, Reality Sandwiches, 1953-1960, "The reader gets a good taste of Ginsberg's mouth...which, as usual, is uninhibitedly and often conspicuously honest (Merrill 88). The unabashed honesty in this collection often concerns sex and drugs, important topics for this generation of rebellion fantasy journey enjoyed by Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, his one-time lover, Ginsberg features images of a sexual nature. Two of the images follow: I would honk at his manly gate, inside his wife and three children lying naked on the living room floor (Ginsberg, Reality Sandwiches 11) Neal, now we will be real heroes in a war between our dicks and time: (15) Although some readers pay little attention to the allusions to homosexuality, one of the images, the one concerning Cassady's children, may make some readers uncomfortable. The images here are strong, it is this strength of the images that... in the middle of the paper... in “Howl” and “On Neal’s Ashes” profanity is used not just for effect, but to truly convey the feeling he wishes to express. Although some feel uncomfortable, the true nature of the poet is to convey feelings, and this is done extremely skillfully. Works Cited Ginsberg, Allen. Reality Panini 1953-1960. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1963.- - - . "Scream". Contemporary American Poetry-5th Edition. Ed. A.Poulin Jr.. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. 175-182.- - - . "America". Contemporary American Poetry-5th Edition. Ed. A.Poulin Jr.. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. 182-184.- - - . "On Neal's Ashes." Contemporary American Poetry-5th Edition. Ed. A.Poulin Jr.. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. 188.Merrill, Thomas. Allen Ginsberg. Boston: Twayne, 1988.