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howl and spirituallity

howl and spirituallity April 3, 2002 "Howl" and Spirituality Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" is a complex and intriguing poem about the divine in the common world. The minor themes of drugs and sexuality work together to illuminate the major theme of spirituality. The poem reveals through a multitude of sharp images and phrases that everything from drug use to homosexuality to mental illness is holy, even in a world of atom bombs and materialistic America, which Ginsberg considers not to be holy and he refers to as Moloch. As it is stated in Ginsberg's "Footnote To Howl," "The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! The nose is/ holy! The tongue and cock and hand and *censored* holy! / Everything is Holy! Everybody's holy! Everywhere is holy!" (3-5). Sexuality is a theme that runs throughout the entire poem. It is not an uptight sexuality of the 1950's culture but a liberated one. And this sexual imagery, that mostly takes place in the first part of the poem, constantly refers to spirituality and the divine. The poem reads, "who let themselves be *censored*ed in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and/ screamed with joy, / who blew and were blown by those human seraphim, the sailors," (91-93). These two images contrast the common view of homosexuality in the 1950's. The sailors are "seraphim", and the motorcyclists are "saintly". They are not corrupt as the common view might see it. The combination of these images helps to uncover the true theme of the piece. The things that most people of the time would consider to be depraved, such as homosexuality, are actually divine. Images of drug-use are other tools that are used in this poem to help illuminate the major theme. Once again, even though the drug -users " …ate fire in paint hotels and drank turpentine in Paradise Alley, / death or purgatoried their torsos night after night…" (19-20), they are still spiritual. They "…bared their brains to heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan/ angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated" (9-10). Drug-use is another thing that was condemned in the 1950's and is actually still condemned today. The poem seems to suggest that, even though these people may have destroyed their bodies, and in some cases their minds, they are made aware of a higher plane of knowledge. These "angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to/ the starry dynamo in the machinery of night" (4-5) are in tune with the spiritual. This is a contradiction to popular belief. Most often, one would not associate drug use and spirituality, but it is done here and is convincing. Ginsberg, through images, brings the reader to a state of empathy for the people described in the poem. In Part III of the poem, Ginsberg discusses the plight of Carl Solomon. Concluding from the poem, Solomon had gone insane from all the things described in part one and two. He is in an institution in Rockland. In this section of the poem, Solomon is still described as a spiritual being. It is the institution that is unholy and forcing him to stay insane, not allowing him to reach his spiritual height. The poem reads: Where you bang on the catatonic piano the soul is innocent and immortal it should never die ungodly in and armed madhouse/ I'm with you in Rockland where fifty more shocks will never return you soul to its body again from its pilgrimage from across the void (326-32). Carl Solomon is still holy. It is the institution that is not. The poem is suggesting that the shock therapy and injections of medicine have made his condition worse and most likely unredeemable. Ginsberg describes the establishment in the second part of the poem where he personifies it with the name Moloch. Moloch was a deity that the Canaanites sacrificed small children to, and Ginsberg parallels 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. Bibliography: "Howol"

Word Count: 886