Blog Entry 1.3: Poetry Symbolism

GHOSTS OF A LUNATIC ASYLUM

by: Stephen Vincent Benet

HERE, where men's eyes were empty and as bright

As the blank windows set in glaring brick,

When the wind strengthens from the sea--and night

Drops like a fog and makes the breath come thick;

 

By the deserted paths, the vacant hills,

One may see figures, twisted shades and lean,

Like the mad shapes that crawl on Indian screen,

Or paunchy smears you find on prison walls.

 

Turn the knob gently! There's the Thumbless Man,

Still weaving glass and silk into a dream,

Although the wall shows through him--and the Khan

Journeys Cathay beside a paper stream.

 

A Rabbit Woman chitters by the door

Chilly the grave-smell comes from the turned sod

Come--lift the curtain--and be cold before

The silence of the eight men who were God!

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The Ghosts in Our Heads

Many people believe in the supernatural as being another dimension of reality that is not ruled by the laws of nature. However, author Stephen Vincent Benet’s poem Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum give us a different view of this issue by indicating that the supernatural is really the mind,  and it is a part of the natural world. Stephen Vincent Benet was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, into an army family. His father, Colonel J. Walker Benet, served as a commanding officer of ordinance posts in California and Georgia. Frances Neill (Rose) Benet, Stephen's mother, was a descendant of an old Kentucky military family. Because his father was an avid reader, Benet grew up in home, where reading literature was valued and enjoyed. The Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum’ was originally published by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1998. When I was reading this poem and really understood about fact of supernatural I felt like I can connect with this poem it speaks to us in more than just words we feel what Stephen is saying to us in our soul. Benet uses symbolism in order to relate the supernatural to mental phenomenon.

The first symbolic imagery the author uses is “the blank window set in glaring brick” (Line, 2) This is the way the narrator who is visiting an empty lunatic asylum describes the ghosts that he can still see lingering in that place. These men’s eyes were empty because their minds were sick and there disoriented stare made a strong impression on the visitor. When he stared into their eyes, he could not see an expression or even a soul behind them. They were just like the window which did not provide a clear view of what lies outside of it.

Another important symbol that appears in the poem refers to the “paunchy smears you find in prison walls.”(Line8). This represents the shapes of the ghosts who are almost deformed due to their mental sickness which affects even their bodies. They seem “twisted” and without form like the figures that prisoners draw on the walls of their cells. These ghosts are the only presence of the people who were kept in the asylum far away from society.  Their sick minds caused their physical deformity.

The last two powerful symbols in the poem are even strange than the others.  One is the Rabbit woman who may represent the bad, almost animal-like condition of this person whose sickness is so advanced that she does not look human at all. She appears to be more like a scared rabbit than a person. Then, there are “the eight men who were God!” This is another symbolic representation of one of the symptoms of dementia which is the illusion of grandeur. These men were so demented that they even believed that they were all powerful like the creator of the universe. Their illness damaged their minds so badly that they could not see reality anymore.

The poet’s inspiration for this poem may been his background as a child who was raised on army posts,  so he was constantly in touch with soldiers who after coming from war and seeing so much violence and many atrocities may appeared like ghosts to Benet.  This could be the basis of the theme that the supernatural is really a creation of the human mind and not another world separated from this one.

Works Cited

Benet, Stephen, V.  Encyclopedia Brittanica. Web.