"howl" Footnote-Spirituality

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“Howl” by Allen Ginsberg Footnote-Spirituality Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" is a complex and intriguing poem about the divine in the common world, The theme of drugs and sexuality work together to make clear 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 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). The sailors are "seraphim", and the motorcyclists are "saintly". 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 accepted in today’s society. Images of drug-use are other tools that are used in this poem to help illuminate the major theme; 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
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