ABSTRACT
In this article, I take the trial of the work Howl by Allen Ginsberg – which took place in the USA, in 1957 – as a starting point to discuss issues concerning language that were raised throughout the legal proceedings. During the trial, matters were questioned ranging from the organization and functioning of the poetic language to what can be said or not according to the impositions of a society. Therefore, the aim of this text is to discuss some of these matters, based on the reflections and ideas of the linguist Émile Benveniste and some of the readers of his work, such as Gérard Dessons and Henri Meschonnic.
KEYWORDS:
Howl; Ginsberg; Benveniste; Poetic Language; The Ethical and the Political