Which 1956 poetry collection by Allen Ginsberg was the subject of an obscenity trial in San Francisco?

The 1956 poetry collection by Allen Ginsberg that became the subject of an obscenity trial in San Francisco was Howl and Other Poems. Published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti through City Lights Books, the collection is built around “Howl,” a long, forceful poem about madness, alienation, sexuality, drug use and the pressures of postwar American society. It also includes poems such as “A Supermarket in California,” “Sunflower Sutra” and “America.”

The controversy began after customs officials seized copies of the book and San Francisco police arrested Ferlinghetti, charging him with publishing obscene material. The 1957 trial centered on whether the poem had literary value and whether its explicit language should be judged as obscenity. Judge Clayton W. Horn found Ferlinghetti not guilty on October 3, 1957, ruling that the work had redeeming social importance.

The verdict helped establish Howl as a landmark of Beat Generation literature and led City Lights to print 5,000 additional copies to meet demand created by the publicity. A common mix-up is saying that Ginsberg himself was prosecuted; the defendant was Ferlinghetti, the publisher. The trial also helped make literary merit a central consideration in later obscenity cases.