arallels him to the 1950's society, a culture that could build and employ the atom bomb. "Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness!" (253). This is the only section of the poem where very little spirituality is emphasized. That is the point, however. Moloch is the cities, the technology and despair, and he is not holy. He is what is left of the American dream, and it is an abomination. "Visions! omens! hallucinatons! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the/ American river!" (287-88). The poem displays the facets of conventionality, conformity and American society as evil, as Moloch. Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb! Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the mind! (262-73) Even with all this negativity in the poem, the major theme of spirituality remains. The poem "Footnote To Howl" sums up the theme of spirituality in "Howl". It reads, "The bum's as holy as the seraphim! the madman is as holy as you my/ soul are holy!" (7-8). Spirituality and the divine run through "Howl" like veins. They carry the theme throughout the piece and deliver it to the reader. ...
