Echoes of Whitman
The endless lists, the use of long lines and free verse, the exclamation marks, the repetition, the expressions of brotherly solidarity: it's Walt Whitman, resurrected from the grave in the mid-twentieth century! Except we don't think Whitman knew every slang term for drugs. In fact, we don't think Whitman ever used drugs. The speaker of Howl, on the other hand, clearly has.