Long before Oprah made on-screen confession a thing, there was the O.G. confessional artist: Allen Ginsberg. And who was he?

A young, gay Jewish man. But that's not all, of course. He was raised by a mentally ill mother, which ended up having a pretty big influence on his social philosophies—clearly, modern life drove people mad.

And, perhaps most importantly, Ginsberg was the flame that lit the fuse of the American cultural revolution. What he revealed to the world doesn't seem that shocking today. Because after the Beats came the 1960s.

We now know that some men have sex and fall in love with other men—big whoop. We know that government can be oppressive. And many of us know that singing and dancing and writing poetry and sitting still to watch a rainstorm are activities that're good for your soul.

Ginsberg was just the ultimate self-help guru… long before anybody realized they needed some self-helpin'.

But that's not all. Ginny was a jack-of-all-trades, really. For example: the dude totally reinvented epic poetry. "Howl" and "Kaddish" may not be Paradise Lost or The Iliad, but these poems cover a lot of ground. And of course, they take the reader on an adventure it will never forget.

Where'd he get the ideas for all of these adventures? Well, Ginsberg's hero was Walt Whitman—the most epic of American poets who also happened to have similar romantic interests. In his work, Whitman often explored basic topics: ordinary life, death, eating, swimming, hugging, laughing, crying.

So, while it may seem counterintuitive, Whitman's writing inspired Ginsberg to talk about what Whitman never did: people's dark sides. You know, the nastier human desires that lurk inside all of us. And he riffed off Whitman's innovative style to do it; he used free verse.

And Ginsberg was so not afraid of The Dark Side. Some of his material gets pretty spooky. The topics of mental illness, oppression, alternative sexuality, personal meditation and acceptance are all broached, in that signature Whitmanesque, no-holds-barred style.

Whitman's free verse told it like it was. No meter, rhyme, or reason required. Capital letters? Maybe, if he was in the mood. And, like him, the Beat poets understood the rules of poetry. But Ginsberg and his crew discovered that breaking the rules led to an overflow of creativity.

Perhaps even an explosion of creativity. You might say we've been picking up—and rearranging—the pieces of American poetry ever since.

"Howl"

This poem touches on skeletons, sex in public, drug-induced hallucinations, and potato salad thrown during a lecture on Dadaism.

As for us, we'd like to think it's essentially the story of one man who barks at the moon to warn post-war America trouble is brewing. Long before Larry Flint and his pornography trials, Ginsberg's "Howl" was tried for obscenity.

Ginny won. And as a result, freedom of speech got a wild boost of energy in the good ole U.S. of A. Live how you want, and write what you live, Shmoopers.

"Kaddish"

This epic poem is all about living with a mother who's going mad. Guess who lived with a mom who was going mad? Yep, boyhood Ginsberg himself. Not exactly material for a Hallmark Mother's Day card.

But Ginsberg was into that sort of thing. He was one of the pioneers of confessional poetry. You know, poetry that gets into the down and dirty parts of life. And then makes those parts art.

Even as he describes the scene of his naked mother, Naomi—she's obese and scarred, vomiting blood into a toilet—he transforms the horror of mental illness into a heart-rending tale of human struggle. The catharsis in this poem rivals the best of Greek tragedy.

Move over Oedipus. Naomi's our new tragic heroine.

Chew on This:

Many consider Ginsberg the one true guru of the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s. Next time you read "Howl"—and we know you will—look for the poetic expressions that laid the groundwork for what was to come: the free lovin', cool and groovy shenanigans that characterized hippie culture.

Ginsberg got political. Generally speaking, that was something that the Beats didn't want to concern themselves with. Most of the Beat authors thought all of American society was degraded and beyond repair. But Ginny was more complicated than that. Now, go ahead and read The Fall of America, his National Book Award-winning collection. What type of political persuasion would he fall into? (Hint: we're guessing, if you zoom out to include his whole career, you'll see Ginsberg wore many political hats.)