Jim Morrisons: The Ghost Song in the Light of Surrealism Existentialism Absurdism and Sigmund Freud

 

Frente a los clichés, más allá del poderío sexual o de la esotérica imagen del Rey Lagarto, hay un Jim Morrison auténtico y profundo, más real. Detrás de esa apariencia o máscara existe un literato, un poeta de alta graduación que fue engullido por el personaje público y por la maldición de los suicidas. Porque una muerte sobrevenida a los 27 años es un baldón tan oscuro como quitarse la vida, y a Morrison, de cuyo final se cumplen mañana 3 de julio 50 años, se le adeuda un reconocimiento como autor de algunas de las letras -y versos, aunque encuadernados como poesía- más destacadas de la literatura americana de la segunda mitad del pasado siglo. 

Su altura literaria y sus ideas sobre la dimensión escénica de la música popular quizá no hayan sido reconocidas convenientemente, pero las llevó tan hasta las últimas consecuencias que Morrison creía que el rock era deudor de la tragedia griega y convirtió su propia vida en la encarnación de Dioniso. ¿Y qué mayor vena literaria cabe que dejar una muerte tan incierta? 

“Muchos años más tarde, la gente todavía se pregunta: ¿está realmente muerto Jim Morrison? Y ¿cómo murió?”, se cuestiona a su vez Alberto Manzano, poeta, traductor de canciones y autor de “Jim Morrison. Cuando la música acabe apaga las luces” (Libros Cúpula), un libro que trata de hacerle justicia, poética al menos, a un artista total. “Poca gente se interesa por saber lo que dicen los grandes poetas del rock en su obra”.

Ulises Puente La Razón 2.7.21

To step into the world of James Douglas Morrison (Jim Morrison), and attempt a psychoanalytical study of his poetry would mean diving into a dimension defined by lucid images, mostly lewd and obscene but also rich in allusions and description. They provide a visual treat, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes existential and largely absurd. His poetry appears absurd and surreal owing to the images he painted under the influence of drugs such as LSD (Acid), Heroin, and Marijuana. The result is an array of images, feelings and emotions usually vague and ambiguous and barely coherent. This adds to the beauty of the writing rather than hampering it since it is a slice of the writer’s genius mind. Morrison’s writings serve as study material for psychologists and students of literature alike. This essay will critically analyse the poem The Ghost Song by Jim Morrison in the light of the surrealist movement, counterculture, existentialism and a few theories of Sigmund Freud.

It would be ineffectual to study Morrison’s poetry without understanding the era he lived in and his influences. He was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Arthur Rimbaud and William Blake. He was also inspired by Native American culture. He considered himself to be a shaman. William Cook in his article Jim Morrison: A Serious Poet? calls Morrison’s poetry “surreal” and “symbolic” (Cook). He says that

“…there is a pervading sense of the irrational, chaotic and the violent; an effect produced by startling juxtapositions of images and words.” (Cook).

Cook elaborates on the “ambiguity of meaning” which he claims, expresses “subconscious thought and feeling.” This statement will be studied later, with reference to Sigmund Freud and psychology. Cook analyses Morrison’s poetry with reference to the various schools of philosophy and thought that the poet has touched upon.

Morrison’s era housed the counterculture which spread across the United States in the 1960s. It was a movement of rebellion and flouting societal customs. It saw the rise of college students protesting against the Vietnam War and violence. Students also began trying to spread the message of peace and love, which simultaneously included the use of drugs and alcohol. Apart from the counterculture, Morrison’s inspiration was rooted in poets and philosophers as mentioned earlier. 

In The Ghost Song, Morrison whimsically drifts into a subconscious reverie pulling the reader into his world. The languid lines slowly merge into a dreamy image, evoking a sense of intoxication and a feeling of loneliness.

 

The Ghost Song

Awake.

Shake dreams from your hair

My pretty child, my sweet one.

Choose the day and choose the sign of your day

The day's divinity

First thing you see.

A vast radiant beach in a cool jeweled moon

Couples naked race down by it's quiet side

And we laugh like soft, mad children

Smug in the wooly cotton brains of infancy

The music and voices are all around us.

Choose they croon the Ancient Ones

The time has come again

Choose now, they croon

Beneath the moon

Beside an ancient lake

Enter again the sweet forest

Enter the hot dream

Come with us

Everything is broken up and dances.

("10 Poems By Jim Morrison That Will Turn Your World Upside Down")

To conclude, it has been studied how the poem encompasses ideas from surrealism, absurdism, and existentialism. It goes on to show how the poet’s mind was not just one fuelled by drugs and alcohol, but also one rich in poetic sense. To observe the poem from a different perspective, it could be argued that the poem is a dialogue between the two factions of the mind, the pleasure seeking side and the one filled with restraint and control, or, in Freudian terms, the ‘id’ and the ‘super-ego’. While he seems to be enjoying the sights on the beach, the interlocutor clearly doesn’t seem to be engaged completely in the setting, but rather is guided by the poet through the various things happening on the beach. Hence to observe it from this perspective would mean that the poem is an interior monologue where the poet is talking to his own self, who is possibly half awake. It goes to show how the poem cannot be interpreted in a single way. Morrison’s poetry, much like his personality proves to be multi-dimensional.

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