A Literary Analysis Of Allen Ginsberg's Howl Of Religion

A Howl Observed through the Eyes of Angels:

A Literary Analysis of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl of Religion Darkness loomed over the poet as he strolled past a cathedral down the streets of New York. The tall shadows of buildings hid the open sky of wondrous views. Horns blared, smoke from factories polluted his every breath, and wiry images danced along the sidewalk. The shadow of a crucifix appeared at the poet’s feet. He looked up to see a Christian church. So many churches, so many religions. Post World War II brought along not only capitalism, but a rise in different religions. Through the contemplation and exploration of various religions in Howl, Allen Ginsberg correctly concludes that dedication to one religion is pure insanity and

While fixed, their “brilliant eyes” (19) saw “roofs illuminated” (5), “souls illuminated” (62), and “bop kabbalah” (24); they dreamt of the trapped “archangel of the soul,” “gaps between Time & Space,” and “images” (74). “Bob kabbalah” refers to Judaism’s spiritual mystics and the “archangel” denotes a strong figure in Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, and Islam. The “gaps between Time & Space” speaks of the words and books society tries to create that condenses what Zen Buddhism is, but those words only dilute its absolute meaning. These expressions that Ginsberg uses portrays how the Beats were enlightened by all the faiths. He intertwines spirituality and the soul with his free-versed poetry to rouse a holy emotion and to reflect the escalated deranged thoughts that went through their minds. They never wanted to be conscious except for brief moments of sensations from “Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus” (Ginsberg 74; Stephenson 52). They heard the empty melodies of “eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani” through the crying saxophone (77). The suffering words “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” reaffirmed their belief in the nonexistence of God and religion as an