Sunflower Sutra (1955). Summary and Description

“Sunflower Sutra” appeared in Howl and Other Poems (1956); critics often link it thematically to the title piece because of their shared focus on the corruption of human life. Composed in only 20 minutes, “Sunflower Sutra” embodies the Beat ideal, advanced by Jack Kerouac, of spontaneous flow of perception in poetry. Like “A Supermarket in California,” the poem is set in an unconventional space for inspiration: a rundown and grimy train yard near the docks on the river. Equally out of place is the sunflower that Jack Kerouac spots, growing from the littered ground with “a dead fly in its ear.”

The flower itself is an allusion to William Blake’s 18th-century poem “Ah! Sun-flower” but more importantly relates to Ginsberg’s own experience: “it was my first sunflower, memories of Blake— / my visions—Harlem.” In 1948 in his East Harlem apartment, Ginsberg had an apparition that profoundly affected him for the rest of his life. After reading Blake poems in bed, Ginsberg heard the voice of Blake reciting several poems to him, among them “Ah! Sun-flower.” Ginsberg’s vision forced him to question his place as a poet in the universe, and he concluded that poetry could transcend space and time to pass on universal truths.

Appropriately, Ginsberg deemed this poem a sutra, referring to Buddhist scripture derived from the oral teachings of the Buddha. As does ancient wisdom literature, this poem has the power to bestow its message to readers for eternity. And Ginsberg in the poem takes on the role of priest, as he grabs the sunflower and stands, to “deliver my sermon to my soul, and Kerouac’s soul, and anyone who’ll listen.” Furthermore, Ginsberg moves freely though time and space, responding directly to an encounter with Blake, long dead.

This poem deals with the victimization of natural beauty at the hands of humankind. The sunflower represents the pristine earth, whereas the locomotive represents the destructive industrial power that leaves us all with a “skin of grime.” In the wake of World War II, Ginsberg had seen what the results of technological advances could be, particularly the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the atomic bomb.

The sunflower is not just nature but also contemporary culture, which is made utterly gray and dead by “that sooty hand or phallus or protuberance of artificial worse-than-dirt—industrial—modern.” Still, the message of “Sunflower Sutra” is not hopeless. In the last stanza, Ginsberg reminds us, “We’re not our skin of grime, we’re not our dread bleak dusty imageless / locomotive, we’re all golden sunflowers inside.” As Blake and Ginsberg celebrate the lives of sunflowers, so should we celebrate our own lives.

For Discussion or Writing
1. The critic Richard Eberhart called this work “a lyric poem marked by pathos.” Pathos refers to a quality in art that arouses emotion. Do you agree with Eberhart’s statement? If so, where is your sympathy directed? If not, why does Ginsberg fail to effect emotion? What aspects of this poem could be changed to invoke genuine sentiment?

2. Read William Blake’s poem “Ah! Sun-flower.” Discuss how Blake’s “weary of time” sunflower compares to Ginsberg’s, which seems to be already dead. Discuss how each of the poems deals with the passage of time, particularly as it applies to moving closer to death.