SHOWING WHAT IS MEANT BY A FLOW OF SPIRITS by James Russell Lowell: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
This poem is a lengthy comic segment from Lowell's satirical narrative *A Fable for Critics*, which actually comes from his *The Biglow Papers* period.
The poem
At first the ghosts were somewhat shy, Coming when none but Knott was nigh, And people said 'twas all their eye, (Or rather his) a flam, the sly Digestion's machination: Some recommended a wet sheet, Some a nice broth of pounded peat, Some a cold flat-iron to the feet, Some a decoction of lamb's-bleat, Some a southwesterly grain of wheat; 310 Meat was by some pronounced unmeet, Others thought fish most indiscreet, And that 'twas worse than all to eat Of vegetables, sour or sweet, (Except, perhaps, the skin of beet,) In such a concatenation: One quack his button gently plucks And murmurs, 'Biliary ducks!' Says Knott, 'I never ate one;' But all, though brimming full of wrath, 320 Homoeo, Allo, Hydropath, Concurred in this--that t'other's path To death's door was the straight one. Still, spite of medical advice, The ghosts came thicker, and a spice Of mischief grew apparent; Nor did they only come at night, But seemed to fancy broad daylight, Till Knott, in horror and affright, His unoffending hair rent; 330 Whene'er with handkerchief on lap, He made his elbow-chair a trap, To catch an after-dinner nap, The spirits, always on the tap, Would make a sudden _rap, rap, rap,_ The half-spun cord of sleep to snap, (And what is life without its nap But threadbareness and mere mishap?) 338 As 'twere with a percussion cap The trouble's climax capping; It seemed a party dried and grim Of mummies had come to visit him, Each getting off from every limb Its multitudinous wrapping; Scratchings sometimes the walls ran round, The merest penny-weights of sound; Sometimes 'twas only by the pound They carried on their dealing, A thumping 'neath the parlor floor, Thump-bump-thump-bumping o'er and o'er, 350 As if the vegetables in store (Quiet and orderly before) Were all together peeling; You would have thought the thing was done By the spirit of some son of a gun, And that a forty-two-pounder, Or that the ghost which made such sounds Could be none other than John Pounds, Of Ragged Schools the founder. Through three gradations of affright, 360 The awful noises reached their height; At first they knocked nocturnally, Then, for some reason, changing quite, (As mourners, after six months' flight, Turn suddenly from dark to light,) Began to knock diurnally, And last, combining all their stocks, (Scotland was ne'er so full of Knox,) Into one Chaos (father of Nox,) _Nocte pluit_--they showered knocks, 370 And knocked, knocked, knocked, eternally; Ever upon the go, like buoys, (Wooden sea-urchins,) all Knott's joys, They turned to troubles and a noise That preyed on him internally. Soon they grew wider in their scope; Whenever Knott a door would ope, It would ope not, or else elope And fly back (curbless as a trope Once started down a stanza's slope 380 By a bard that gave it too much rope--) Like a clap of thunder slamming: And, when kind Jenny brought his hat, (She always, when he walked, did that,) Just as upon his heart it sat, Submitting to his settling pat, Some unseen hand would jam it flat, Or give it such a furious bat That eyes and nose went cramming Up out of sight, and consequently, 390 As when in life it paddled free, His beaver caused much damning; If these things seem o'erstrained to be, Read the account of Doctor Dee, 'Tis in our college library: Read Wesley's circumstantial plea, And Mrs. Crowe, more like a bee, Sucking the nightshade's honeyed fee, And Stilling's Pneumatology; Consult Scot, Glanvil, grave Wie- 400 rus and both Mathers; further see, Webster, Casaubon, James First's trea- tise, a right royal Q.E.D. Writ with the moon in perigee, Bodin de la Demonomanie-- (Accent that last line gingerly) All full of learning as the sea Of fishes, and all disagree, Save in _Sathanas apage!_ Or, what will surely put a flea 410 In unbelieving ears--with glee, Out of a paper (sent to me By some friend who forgot to P ... A ... Y ...--I use cryptography Lest I his vengeful pen should dree-- His P ...O ...S ...T ...A ...G ...E ...) Things to the same effect I cut, About the tantrums of a ghost, Not more than three weeks since, at most, Near Stratford, in Connecticut. 420 Knott's Upas daily spread its roots, Sent up on all sides livelier shoots, And bore more pestilential fruits; The ghosts behaved like downright brutes, They snipped holes in his Sunday suits, Practised all night on octave flutes, Put peas (not peace) into his boots, Whereof grew corns in season, They scotched his sheets, and, what was worse, Stuck his silk nightcap full of burrs, 430 Till he, in language plain and terse, (But much unlike a Bible verse,) Swore he should lose his reason. The tables took to spinning, too, Perpetual yarns, and arm-chairs grew To prophets and apostles; One footstool vowed that only he Of law and gospel held the key, That teachers of whate'er degree To whom opinion bows the knee 440 Weren't fit to teach Truth's _a b c_, And were (the whole lot) to a T Mere fogies all and fossils; A teapoy, late the property Of Knox's Aunt Keziah, (Whom Jenny most irreverently Had nicknamed her aunt-tipathy) With tips emphatic claimed to be The prophet Jeremiah; The tins upon the kitchen-wall, 450 Turned tintinnabulators all, And things that used to come to call For simple household services Began to hop and whirl and prance, Fit to put out of countenance The _Commís_ and _Grisettes_ of France Or Turkey's dancing Dervises. Of course such doings, far and wide, With rumors filled the countryside, And (as it is our nation's pride 460 To think a Truth not verified Till with majorities allied) Parties sprung up, affirmed, denied, And candidates with questions plied, Who, like the circus-riders, tried At once both hobbies to bestride, And each with his opponent vied In being inexplicit. Earnest inquirers multiplied; Folks, whose tenth cousins lately died, 470 Wrote letters long, and Knott replied; All who could either walk or ride Gathered to wonder or deride, And paid the house a visit; Horses were to his pine-trees tied, Mourners in every corner sighed, Widows brought children there that cried. Swarms of lean Seekers, eager-eyed, (People Knott never could abide,) Into each hole and cranny pried 480 With strings of questions cut and dried From the Devout Inquirer's Guide, For the wise spirits to decide-- As, for example, is it True that the damned are fried or boiled? Was the Earth's axis greased or oiled? Who cleaned the moon when it was soiled? How baldness might be cured or foiled? How heal diseased potatoes? Did spirits have the sense of smell? 490 Where would departed spinsters dwell? If the late Zenas Smith were well? If Earth were solid or a shell? Were spirits fond of Doctor Fell? _Did_ the bull toll Cock-Robin's knell? What remedy would bugs expel? If Paine's invention were a sell? Did spirits by Webster's system spell? Was it a sin to be a belle? Did dancing sentence folks to hell? 500 If so, then where most torture fell? On little toes or great toes? If life's true seat were in the brain? Did Ensign mean to marry Jane? By whom, in fact, was Morgan slain? Could matter ever suffer pain? What would take out a cherry-stain? Who picked the pocket of Seth Crane, Of Waldo precinct, State, of Maine? Was Sir John Franklin sought in vain? 510 Did primitive Christians ever train? What was the family-name of Cain? Them spoons, were they by Betty ta'en? Would earth-worm poultice cure a sprain? Was Socrates so dreadful plain? What teamster guided Charles's wain? Was Uncle Ethan mad or sane, And could his will in force remain? If not, what counsel to retain? Did Le Sage steal Gil Blas from Spain? 520 Was Junius writ by Thomas Paine? Were ducks discomforted by rain? _How_ did Britannia rule the main? Was Jonas coming back again? Was vital truth upon the wane? Did ghosts, to scare folks, drag a chain? Who was our Huldah's chosen swain? Did none have teeth pulled without payin', Ere ether was invented? Whether mankind would not agree, 530 If the universe were tuned in C? What was it ailed Lucindy's knee? Whether folks eat folks in Feejee? Whether _his_ name would end with T? If Saturn's rings were two or three, And what bump in Phrenology They truly represented? These problems dark, wherein they groped, Wherewith man's reason vainly coped, Now that the spirit-world was oped, 540 In all humility they hoped Would be resolved _instanter_; Each of the miscellaneous rout Brought his, or her, own little doubt. And wished to pump the spirits out, Through his or her own private spout, Into his or her decanter.
This poem is a lengthy comic segment from Lowell's satirical narrative *A Fable for Critics*, which actually comes from his *The Biglow Papers* period. It follows a hapless man named Knott who is disturbed by increasingly boisterous ghosts. What starts with timid knocking escalates to a point where they ruin his sleep, crush his hat, spin his tables, and attract a circus of nosy neighbors eager to ask the dead absurd questions. Lowell uses this ridiculous scenario to poke fun at the mid-19th-century obsession with Spiritualism and the gullibility of those who believed that rapping tables could reveal life’s greatest secrets.
Line-by-line
At first the ghosts were somewhat shy, / Coming when none but Knott was nigh,
Still, spite of medical advice, / The ghosts came thicker, and a spice
Scratchings sometimes the walls ran round, / The merest penny-weights of sound;
Soon they grew wider in their scope; / Whenever Knott a door would ope,
Knott's Upas daily spread its roots, / Sent up on all sides livelier shoots,
The tables took to spinning, too, / Perpetual yarns, and arm-chairs grew
Of course such doings, far and wide, / With rumors filled the countryside,
Swarms of lean Seekers, eager-eyed, / (People Knott never could abide,)
Tone & mood
Gleefully satirical from start to finish, Lowell writes with the kind of humor that genuinely finds human foolishness amusing rather than disheartening. The tone is quick, full of puns, and unyielding — he layers rhymes six and seven deep, tosses in mock-Latin, and seamlessly transitions between slapstick physical comedy and keen social commentary. Beneath the mockery lies a sense of warmth; Knott emerges as a sympathetic figure even as the poem chuckles at the chaotic world surrounding him.
Symbols & metaphors
- The knocking / rapping — The main symbol that Lowell is mocking represents the entire Spiritualist movement. The Fox Sisters' iconic 'spirit raps' from 1848 sparked a nationwide frenzy, and Lowell exaggerates the knocking into an ever-increasing absurdity to highlight just how flimsy the evidence for the supernatural truly was.
- The spinning tables and prophetic furniture — Table-turning was a common activity during séances, where participants believed that spirits could move the furniture. By having a footstool proclaim itself the only keeper of truth and a teapoy insist it was Jeremiah, Lowell humorously highlights how easily people attributed significant spiritual authority to everyday objects.
- The decanter — In the final image, each visitor aims to pour the spirits from their private spout into their personal decanter. The decanter represents individual ego — everyone seeks the spirit world to validate their own unique anxieties and curiosities, rather than pursuing any common or real truth.
- The Upas tree — The Upas was a mythical tree in Southeast Asia believed to poison everything nearby. Lowell uses this imagery to illustrate how the haunting infiltrates and taints Knott's entire existence, as well as how a belief in the supernatural, once established, continues to grow and produce harmful outcomes.
- The mock-scholarly bibliography — The extensive list of ghost-literature authorities (Dee, Wesley, Glanvil, the Mathers, Bodin, etc.) represents a façade of intellectual legitimacy. Lowell demonstrates that simply accumulating notable names doesn’t lead to consensus or truth — all these authorities conflict, except for the shared belief that the devil should be expelled.
- Knott's hat — The hat shoved down over Knott's face serves as a recurring slapstick image of the supernatural turning the everyday man into a fool. It also symbolizes the dignity that gets repeatedly crushed — each time Knott attempts to gather himself and carry on with his day, the ghosts bring him down again.
Historical context
Lowell wrote this poem in the early 1850s, during the height of the American Spiritualism movement that began after the Fox Sisters in upstate New York claimed they could communicate with the dead through mysterious rapping sounds in 1848. Within a few years, séances, table-turning, and spirit mediums became a widespread phenomenon, drawing everyone from grieving widows to serious intellectuals. As a Harvard-educated poet, editor, and social critic, Lowell had a keen eye for American trends and self-deception. This poem fits within the same satirical tradition as his *Biglow Papers*, where he used humor to challenge inflated ideas. The poem's mock-scholarly footnotes and its list of actual ghost-literature authors (like John Dee, the Mathers, and Joseph Glanvil) reveal that Lowell had genuinely engaged with the literature he was poking fun at, which sharpens the satire. The questions the visitors pose to the spirits—ranging from theological to local gossip—offer a precise portrait of how everyday Americans interacted with Spiritualism, treating it like a supernatural advice column.
FAQ
It follows a man named Knott, who finds himself troubled by increasingly intrusive ghosts. The haunting begins with gentle knocks, grows to loud door slams and damaged hats, and culminates in the entire neighborhood showing up at his house to ask the spirits absurd questions. At its core, the story critiques the 1850s American Spiritualism fad, which Lowell viewed as a blend of deception, hopeful thinking, and widespread naivety.
Kate and Maggie Fox were two young women from upstate New York who, in 1848, said they could talk to a spirit using knocking sounds. Their claims turned them into a national sensation and kicked off the Spiritualist movement. Lowell's poem is filled with mentions of 'rapping' and 'knocking' since those were the Fox Sisters' trademark phenomena — the poem humorously responds to their rise to fame.
The bibliography (Dee, Wesley, Glanvil, the Mathers, Bodin, and others) serves as a satirical gesture. Lowell highlights the extensive learned writing about ghosts and demons, all of which contradicts one another, except for the consensus that Satan should be dismissed. This list pokes fun at the notion that having many sources guarantees strong evidence.
Table-turning was a popular parlor séance activity where participants would place their hands on a table, claiming that spirits would make it rotate or tip to spell out messages. This activity saw a surge in popularity in the early 1850s. Lowell pokes fun at it by depicting Knott's tables as 'spinning perpetual yarns' and having his armchairs appoint themselves apostles, treating the entire phenomenon as furniture with an absurd sense of grandeur.
It’s the satirical core of the poem. Lowell lists the types of questions people asked at séances: some are theological (are the damned fried or boiled?), some are historical (who really wrote Junius?), and others are just local and petty (did Betty steal those spoons? will Ensign marry Jane?). The takeaway is that people saw the spirit world as a supernatural search engine for their own trivial worries, which Lowell finds amusing yet somewhat poignant.
Knott seems to be a fictional character, and the name likely serves as a pun — 'Knott' sounds like 'not,' which fits perfectly with the idea of a man named Knott getting twisted up in knots by ghosts. This kind of wordplay was exactly what Lowell enjoyed. Instead of portraying a specific historical figure, the poem is part of a longer satirical narrative.
The Upas was a mythical tree from Southeast Asia, believed to be so toxic that nothing could survive in its shade. It often represented corruption and death during the Romantic era. Lowell employs this imagery to illustrate how the haunting has consumed Knott's life, spreading its roots and producing toxic fruit in all directions.
The poem employs extended rhyme chains—often stretching to six, seven, or even eight lines with the same ending sound—as a comedic device. This relentless use of rhyme reflects the persistence of the knocking and allows Lowell to pack in increasingly absurd examples before the rhyme scheme eventually breaks. It serves as a formal joke as well as a verbal one.