Allen Ginsberg is a person.
Irwin Allen Ginsberg ( [ ˈɡɪnzbərɡ ] June 3 , 1926 -- April 5 , 1997 ) was an American poet of Jewish origin , and one of the leading figures of both the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the counterculture that soon would follow . He was one of many influential American writers of his time known as the Beat Generation , which included famous writers such as Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs . Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that `` Howl '' was not obscene , adding , `` Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms ? '' His poem `` September on Jessore Road , '' calling attention to the plight of Bangladeshi refugees , exemplifies what the literary critic Helen Vendler described as Ginsberg 's tireless persistence in protesting against `` imperial politics , and persecution of the powerless . '' `` Howl '' is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 , published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems , and dedicated to Carl Solomon .