Howl: Symbols | SparkNotes

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Madman, the Bum, and the Angel

The first part of “Howl” is dominated by three symbolic figures, whom the speaker identifies in line 76 as “the madman bum and angel.” Although this moment of explicit identification comes near the end of part 1, the speaker does implicitly introduce these three figures in the poem’s opening lines. The speaker mentions those “destroyed by madness” in line 1, which corresponds with the madman. In line 2, the speaker introduces the bum as a figure who drags themselves through the streets looking for a drug fix. Finally, the speaker invokes the angel in line 3, where he remarks on “angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection.” These figures appear repeatedly throughout part 1, and they do so in numerous guises. In this regard, the madman, the bum, and the angel serve as archetypes for the different ways in which the best minds of the speaker’s generation have been destroyed. Conformity to mainstream culture and its calcified moral values has had oppressive effects on many artists, intellectuals, and activists, degrading them and reducing them to one of these archetypes. Taken together, then, the madman, the bum, and the angel symbolize the decay of the American imagination.

Moloch

Part 2 of “Howl” centers on a figure called Moloch, which an annotation in the facsimile edition of the poem identifies as “a Canaanite fire god.” According to references made to the Canaanite pantheon in the Hebrew Bible, Moloch was a malign deity who demanded that parents burn their children as a sacrifice. In “Howl,” the speaker first utters Moloch’s name in response to a question he poses at the beginning of part 2 (lines 79–80):

What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?
Moloch!

From this point on, the speaker opens nearly every line in the rest of part 2 with Moloch’s name. At times, the speaker seems to be castigating Moloch for his destructive capacity: “Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless!” (line 81). At other times, the speaker seems to be praying to the god: “Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks!” (line 85). Taken together, part 2 performs a kind of tortured worship of this evil god. This tortured worship suggests that Moloch is responsible for the degeneration described in part 1, but only because he has many contemporary worshippers. In this sense, Moloch’s presence in the poem symbolizes the way mainstream America worships and sacrifices its children to destructive ideals like consumerism and conformity.

Rockland

Rockland is the name of the psychiatric center where Ginsberg’s friend, Carl Solomon, was institutionalized. The two met while they were both incarcerated in the Columbia Psychiatric Institute in 1949, and many of the details in “Howl” come from stories related by Solomon. In addition to dedicating the whole of the poem to his friend, Ginsberg also devotes all of part 3 to him (lines 94–95):

Carl Solomon! I’m with you in Rockland
where you’re madder than I am

The rest of part 3 continues with each pair of lines beginning with the same phrase: “I’m with you in Rockland.” Through his repetition of this phrase, the speaker expresses a sense of camaraderie with Solomon. Rockland thus becomes an imaginative center for solidarity with all those who have gone mad or who have otherwise suffered under the oppressive mainstreaming of American society. For the speaker, Rockland also symbolizes the personal toll the decay of the American imagination has taken on him and his loved ones. Not only does the speaker indicate that he suffers from his own kind of madness, but he also mentions his mother’s struggle when he tells Solomon that he “imitate[s] the shade of my mother” (line 99). Rockland is thus a symbol that simultaneously mourns collective madness and expresses solidarity with the mad.

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