The Use of Religion in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl

This essay explores the famous poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1945-1955 titled Howl, also known as Howl for Carl Solomon, and more specifically how he uses and portrays the theme of religion within this poem. Ginsberg was a Buddhist who studied Eastern religious disciplines, hence it’s no surprise that religion would play a factor in his works such as Howl. This essay will acknowledge the sizable role religion plays in Howl and the impact it has on its readers, argue that Ginsberg was a “mystic” poet, as well as claim that the use of this theme was ultimately to challenge orthodox and traditional religion itself, as Ginsberg is widely known for stirring controversy and challenging social norm.

To offer a little more context and specification: Ginsberg while could be very likely be considered a religious poet, could be even more distinctly considered a mystic poet. A mystic is defined as a person who claims to attain, or believes in the possibility of attaining, insight into mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge, as by direct communication with the divine or immediate intuition in a state of spiritual ecstasy. Ginsberg challenges the traditional dogma, wanting communion with a higher power. He explores this by humanizing divine concepts. This can be seen in line 89 of Howl, ‘They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven! Pavements, trees, radios, tons! lifting the city to Heaven which exists and is everywhere about us!’ Moloch is the name of an ancient Hebrew god, seen in scripture. It essentially backs the concept of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), while expressing the notion that Heaven is not superior to humans and implies that Heaven is everywhere around us.

To further emphasise this point, Ginsberg marries and associates religion with politics, a clearly mundane concept with higher power. This is present in line 107, ‘I'm with you in Rockland where you accuse your doctors of insanity and plot the Hebrew socialist revolution against the fascist national Golgotha’. The poet associates the political concept of socialism with Judaism, and contrastingly, fascism and nationalism is associated with Golgotha: the site of Christ's death.

One of the most explicit arguments for Ginsberg being a mystic poet is seen in line 24 ‘who studied Plotinus Poe St. John of the Cross telepathy and bop kabbalah because the cosmos instinctively vibrated at their feet in Kansas’. Kabbalah is a form of Jewish mysticism, and St. John of the Cross was a Christian mystical writer. Ginsberg does not seem to display a vast amount of in-depth knowledge regarding religious traditions, but instead specifically take interest in the believers of the more radical concepts of various faiths.

Ginsberg also takes a more abstract approach seen in line 20, ‘who vanished into nowhere Zen New Jersey leaving a trail of ambiguous picture postcards of Atlantic City Hall’. Ginsberg seems to suggest that New Jersey is Zen: a concept seen in Buddhism, while also challenging orthodox Buddhism by implying that Zen is “nowhere”. It makes the reader question if the poet truly has faith in any form of religion or if he simply believes in a general higher power.

Ginsberg creates a parallel between himself as a mystic poet and other mystics in line 25 by referencing spiritual Native Americans, ‘who loned it through the streets of Idaho seeking visionary indian angels who were visionary indian angels’. This is concept is further explored in line 13, ‘Peyote solidities of halls’ as Native American tribes used peyote, a hallucinogenic plant, at religious ceremonies.

Ginsberg uses metaphor to put a twist on the traditional tale of Christ's resurrection from the dead, instead preaching about the resurrection of poor poets into jazz musicians as seen in lines 76-78, ‘the madman bum and angel beat in Time, unknown, yet putting down here what might be left to say in time come after death, and rose reincarnate in the ghostly clothes of jazz in the goldhorn shadow of the band and blew the suffering of America's naked mind for love into an eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani saxophone cry that shivered the cities down to the last radio with the absolute heart of the poem of life butchered out of their own bodies good to eat a thousand years.’ When Ginsberg uses the phrase 'eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani,' (meaning roughly 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?') to reference the Hebrew bible in which were Christ’s last words when he was crucified. The poet implies that jazz musicians (and implicitly, poets) are messiahs who sacrifice riches for the sake of art. On a larger scale it can even be argued that Ginsberg compares the Beats and its impact it has to the resurrection of the Christ due to this implication, and perhaps even himself as a messiah, not only furthering but exemplifying the argument that he is a mystic poet.

In line 5, ‘who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated’, Ginsberg not only personifies divine beings but depicts them as flawed seen through the poet’s choice of “staggering” diction. There is no indication that the angels can actually be identified as Mohammedan, but again Ginsberg was less interested the orthodox dogma.

Ginsberg challenges orthodox tradition in the third section of Howl focuses solely on Carl Solomon, of whom heavily influenced Howl; a writer Ginsberg met during the eight months he spent at the Colombian Presbyterian Psychiatric Institute. He learnt that Solomon had endured shock therapy in order to ‘treat’ his depression. Ginsberg pays homage to Solomon by immortalising his exploits, mentioning in line 108 ‘I'm with you in Rockland where you will split the heavens of Long Island and resurrect your living human Jesus from the superhuman tomb’. Line 108 implies how Solomon (hence, implicitly, Ginsberg) values the more humane Jesus before death, whom was crucified for his love of mankind, over Jesus being known as the Son of God. This viewpoint contrasts with traditional Christian theology, hence proving that Ginsberg wasn’t interested in remaining true to the dogmas of Christianity.

Furthermore, Ginsberg expresses almost a nonchalant attitude toward religion in line 62 ‘who fell on their knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for each other's salvation and light and breasts, until the soul illuminated its hair for a second’ through insinuating that visiting cathedrals are 'hopeless”. Although, this can be easily countered due to the poet conveying to the reader that eventually their “soul(s)” can be illuminated, even if only for a second.

Ginsberg seems to put aside his own Buddhist religion and belief for his artistry, this calls to question what his purpose of referencing the religions he did was, and therefore what reactions he might have been expecting or even hoping for.

In conclusion, Ginsberg wrote Howl with the already set expectation of controversy, and possibly outrage from the wider known public. Ginsberg mentions and occasionally explores the concept of various religions within the poem, such as Islam, Kabbalah, Judaism and Christianity; while readers can only assume and question his choice of alluding to the religions he did, the fact that he jumps from religion to religion shows his disregard for the traditional dogmas of said religions and hence challenges orthodox religion, faith and belief.