Poop and You

What many people do not realize is that scatology is more abundant than they think. It is in books, music, movies and almost every other medium of communication or entertainment. It has worked its way into our language, and the traditional words associated with scatology have even evolved to have new or multiple implications. Another important detail about scatology which more people need to understand is that it is not, in most cases, used for the sake of mere obscenity. Of course, there are individuals who will use it in this tasteless way, but for the most part, there is meaning behind the utilization of scatology.

It is important to mention that scatological references do get an audience to pay attention, but its use is often less superficial than that. Behind these references there are intentions to relay a message to the audience. After all, it is a subject that none of us, as humans, can avoid. It is one of the basic elements of our existence; part of our every day lives, and people must learn to take a neutral attitude toward its usage in a work, and realize that those who employ it in their work are not to be labeled "obscene," "dysfunctional" or any of the other labels which individuals place on a person or issue which they fear or are not mature enough to address.

"Scatology as such does not make a work 'bad' or 'good' in a thematic, moral, or rhetorical sense. The author's skill and thematic purposes in handling scatology determine whether a work is 'bad' or 'good.' Once we agree to adopt a neutral attitude toward scatology, we are able to examine its literary functions in a given work and divorce them from such extraneous considerations as the author's psychology or biography." (Lee 23)

If Mr. Lee's quote is not convincing enough, then consider his list of the great scatologists throughout history. Some of the most famous authors of all time are also some of the most renowned scatologists. Aristophanes of Greece, Lucilius of Rome, Catullus, Martial, Juvenal and Dante are all credited with being the major manipulators of scatology in their works. Another common bond between these six continental authors is the fact that they all used this scatology for satirical purposes. This leads us to the man who makes use of scatology more than any other major author in English Literature, Jonathan Swift (Lee 1).

All six of these authors were well known to Swift, as well as many other English authors, who read these writers as part of the mainstream of their cultural tradition and inheritance (Lee 7).

Although some of his works were non-satirical, Swift's main purpose in using scatology was for his satire; sometimes for the pure humor of it, but mainly to emphasize the satire or moral point he is making. Similar to the scatologists in the past and to those who include scatology in their work today, Swift was misunderstood. He came under constant fire and endured tremendous abuse from critics. He was labeled obscene and even insane. Of course, considering the time period, this could be expected. "The Eighteenth Century considered Swift's sense of cleanliness odd, if not outright pathological. In habit, in personal delicacy and views of hygiene, the Twentieth Century is far closer to him than his contemporaries were." (Jaffe 120). But to label Swift insane may be taking matters a little too far. In the past, critics and the like have spent enormous amounts of time analyzing and even psychoanalyzing Swift.

In "The Excremental Vision," Norman O. Brown goes into great detail about those who attempted to criticize and analyze Swift. According to Aldous Huxley, "Swift is the excremental vision...and his sexuality was structurally abnormal from the start." P. Greenacre further elaborates Huxley's point in stating:

"Swift lost his father before he was born; was kidnapped from his mother by his nurse at age one; was returned to his mother three years later, only to be abandoned by his mother one month after his return to her at the psychoanalytically crucial Oedipal period. By psychoanalytical standards, such a succession of infantile traumata must establish more than a predisposition to lifelong neurosis." (Brown 614©615).

In addition to this, Swift has been labeled to exhibit psychosexual infantilism, coprophilia, associated with mysophilia, mysophobia, misanthropy, which evolved into misogyny, leaving many to believe that the entire excremental vision was an attempt to justify genital failure with his three lovers, Stella,Vanessa, and Varina, by indicating the filthiness of the female sex (Brown 613-614). Does an author as brilliant as Swift deserve all of this just because he refers to a little excrement every so often? The analysts may or may not be correct, but it just goes to show the impact Swift's writing has on society.

Some of Jonathan Swift's most famous scatological pieces are known as the "excremental poems." Of these "excremental poems," three are regarded as Swift's "moral satire." "The Lady's Dressing Room" (1730), "Cassinus and Peter" (1731), and "Strephon and Chloe" (1731) are commonly viewed as some of the most offensive of Swift's scatological writings.

In "The Lady's Dressing Room", which is one of two "Celia" poems, we find Strephon peeping in on the fair lady, Celia. Celia is considered to be an attractive lady, but in the process of his spying, Strephon notices otherwise. The narrator informs us that this leads him to a state of bewilderment, because Strephon discovers that his nymph is not as fair as she appears. She must go through a metamorphosis to look like she does, as well as having the same physical necessities as him. Strephon's many discoveries include:

The various Combs for various Uses,
Filled up with Dirt so closely fixt,
No Brush could force a way betwixt.
A Past of Composition rare,
Sweat, Dandriff, Powder, Lead and Hair;
A Forehead Cloth with Oyl upon't.
To smooth the Wrinkles on Her Front;
Her Allum Flower to stop the Steams,
Exhal'd from sour unsavory Stream.

As if poor Strephon has not discovered enough to shatter his image of Celia, we reach the climax of the poem:

Thus finishing his grand Survey,
Disgusted Strephon stole away.
Repeating in his amorous Fits,
Oh! Celia, Celia, Celia shits!

At this point, the narrator chimes in and defends Celia, for Strephon should not be peeping anyway. He should not hold these discoveries against her, but instead accept the Queen of Love despite her origins and respect the woman's ability to transform herself:

Such Order from Confusion sprung,
Such gaudy Tulips rais'd from Dung. (Jaffe 118).

"The Lady's Dressing Room" is viewed, in some cases, as a misogynist poem. For when Strephon discovers Celia's deception and uncleanliness, he links this discovery with all women:

His foul Imagination links
Each Dame he sees with all her Stinks;
And, if unsav'ry Odours fly,
Conceives a Lady standing by.

Aside from this, Swift exposes Celia as a creature of cunning and filth, a perfect example of the discrepancy we often find between appearance and reality (Lee 88). The second of Swift's "Celia" poems is entitled "Cassinus and Peter", and it is a venture similar to Strephon's in "The Lady's Dressing Room". Except, Cassinus is affected much more seriously by the heartbreaking news that "Celia shits!" When Cassinus is told of Celia's deception and ugliness, he is utterly heartbroken, fears that he is dying and describes his vision of Hell. We also discover that Cassinus is a hypocrite, if not worse. His motto for Celia is "Death before defecation." No natural disaster but excretion seems to faze him (Jaffe 109).
Swift's "Celia" poems put him under such a tremendous amount of criticism because the poems "so highly inflamed the whole Sex." As a result of this, he decided to write "A Modest Defence of a Late Poem (By an Unknown Author, call'd, The Lady's Dressing Room)", in 1732. In a humorous tone, but not lacking seriousness, Swift satirically attacks his critics by explaining the moral behind the poem. He concludes with "Wherefore it is manifest, that no poem was ever written with a better Design for the Service of the Sex." (Lee 91).

The third of Swift's "moral" poems, but not a "Celia" poem, is "Strephon and Chloe", a work in which Swift attacks romantic poetry and romantic forms of expression, as well as women in general. Of Swift's three "moral" poems, "Strephon and Chloe" seems to be the most scatological of the bunch.
In the poem, we find Strephon admiring the beautiful Nymph, Chloe. The narrator informs us that Strephon finds no flaws in Chloe and he wants to marry her:

By Nature form'd with nicest Care,
And, faultless to a single Hair...
No Humours gross, or frowzy Steams,
No noisome Whiffs, or sweaty Streams,
Before, behind, above, below,
Could from her taintless Body flow...
Her dearest Comrads never caught her.
Squat or Her Hams, to make Maid's Water.
You'd swear, that so a divine Creature
Felt no necessities of Nature.

As the poem continues, we find that Strephon and Chloe have gotten married, but their wedding night has become far less typical than most. Strephon is discovering that his lovely wife, Chloe, is not as flawless as she once seemed. To his misfortune, Strephon discovers that Chloe is menstruating:

Resistence on the Wedding Night
Is what our Maidens claim by Fight
And, Chloe, 'tis by all agreed,
Was Maid in Thought, and Word, and Deed.
Yet, some assign a diff'rent Reason;
That Strephon chose no proper Season.

But Strephon's discoveries that his wife is not so perfect after all keep surfacing when he realizes another of Chloe's flaws:

Twelve Cups of Tea, (with Gruf I speak)
Had now constrained the Nymph to leak.
This Point must needs be settled first;
The Bride must either void or burst...
Strephon who heard the fuming Rill
As from a mossy Cliff distill;
Cry'd out, ye Gods, what Sound is this?
Can Chloe, heav'nly Chloe piss?

At this point, Strephon realizes that Chloe is no longer a goddess. He is upset, but not to the extent as he was in "The Lady's Dressing Room" or as Cassinus was when they made similar discoveries. Instead of getting scared away, he decides to taunt his new bride. Strephon "let fly a Rouzer in her Face" as a form of retaliation against Chloe's imperfections. As the poem continues, so do these wedding night shenanigans, until the end when the narrator offers some advice. He says that if one is to get married, be sure to build that relationship on friendship, not just passion and beauty, for these things fade, but friendship, in the end, will not tarnish. Nora Jaffe concluded the following of "Strephon and Chloe": The narrator offers esteem and friendship as alternatives to an ill-founded passion. His choice of alternatives, with the confession that he has never experienced Strephon's kind of love, confirms the impression that Swift has entered the poem almost too completely. Though Swift knew another kind of love, he was never convinced, intellectually at least, by the attractions of romantic passion. He makes his position explicit in "To Stella, Who Collected and Transcribed his Poems"

Thou Stella, were no longer young,
When first for these my Harp I strung;
With Friendship and Esteem possesst,
I ne'er admitted Love a Guest.
The parallels with "Strephon and Chloe" are obvious. Swift's personal inconsistencies and his personal involvement with the themes of "Strephon and Chloe" must explain the dissipation of his satiric energy, directed here against mutually exclusive objects.

In addition to the obvious dislike of women, the three poems have other implications. The poems all have a common characteristic in dealing with reality. The characters in the poems have an unrealistic, foolish, and childish point of view toward women and life. All of the young men in the poems are devastated by their horrible discoveries of the true nymphs. These nymphs are not the storybook beings symbolic of beauty and perfection; rather they are real women with real needs and flaws.

In the case of the Celia poems, this discovery leads the men with no possibilities of joy or love; only signs of imperfection everywhere. And for Strephon, the discovery prompts him to turn his marriage into a circus, lacking civility and grace. There seems to be the implication in these poems that life is based upon delusion. Humans tend to look for and even discover beauty where it does not exist. Because of this, the result is usually disappointment or tragedy (Lee 90).

We can now see that Swift in these notorious poems employs scatology as an important devise to achieve moral didacticism. It is used for shock value as in the Celia poems where the romantic swains lose their wits; at the same time, it is used to produce disgust and nausea in us. We are appalled, as the young lover was so distressed, at the shocking discrepancy between Celia's fair exterior and her foul necessities. We are also offended at Strephon's conduct on his marriage bed and at Chloe's subsequent vulgarity. If Swift's use of scatology at times seems to be excessive, as in the catalog of Celia's belongings, his basic purpose is to emphasize his point, to provoke maximum shock, disgust, nausea, or disillusionment. Thus, just as Swift in these poems employs humor in the form of parody mainly to ridicule and deride overly romantic swains, and not for pointless laughter, so he employs scatology mainly to make us disgusted with the nymphs, and not for pointless sensationalism (Lee 90-91).

It can be safely said that Swift, like his predecessors, was somewhat a pioneer in applying scatology in his work. Many works today, including books, music and movies, employ scatology in many ways, and for many reasons; satire being one of them. And like Swift, many of these individuals are criticized, disliked or censored. Even though they are important elements of our popular culture, voices of a generation, if you will, there will always be groups of people standing in opposition to their work, usually labeling it obscene. The following are examples of individuals and works that may be the "Jonathan Swifts" of our generation.

Whether one loves them or hates them, Mike Judge's cartoon, Beavis and Butthead is one of the greatest satirical works of the nineties. In addition to this, a good forty-to-fifty percent of the cartoon's foundation is scatology. Watching one fifteen-minute episode will leave any doubting Thomas utterly convinced. From urination, to flatulation, to defecation and back again, it is hard to determine whether this work is brilliant or not. However, its use of satire is almost unmatched today. The show satirizes everything from music, television programming, media, television addicts, religion, education, and almost every type of stereotyped individuals and social classes. Although it is implied most for humor, the satire in this cartoon is abundant and obvious.

Another great satirist of the times is Howard Stern. He is another individual whose routine employs scatology as a dominating element. Aside from numerous scatological references on his daily radio show, both of his books use scatology as well. A small example would be a passage from Private Parts, Stern's first book: "Howard's Rules for a Healthier Rectum":

I used to over wipe. I would scrape and strain. But you must only take three swipes and that's it. Oh, and stay away from dyed toilet paper. Use white and you'll be alright. If you feel dirty down there, jump in the shower and scrub down. But stick to the three-wipe maximum. Also never push. Wait until that bowel movement is sliding out of your ass until you go to the bowl. If you're pushing a lot, you probably need oat bran cereal for breakfast plus three tablets of Evening Primrose oil, one with each meal. That should grease it all up. (Stern 28).

Stern equates much of his strange behavior back to his childhood, where he claimed to be "raised like veal." Whether this be the truth or exaggeration, it relates back to the psychoanalyst's view of Swift's childhood.

Another similar case would be Maynard James Keenan of the band, Tool. Allegedly molested by his father during his childhood, and coping with his mother's paralysis when he was young had a tremendous influence on his song writing. Many of his songs deal with issues of great importance in society today. However, Keenan's take on these issues is not so typical or pleasing to many people's ears. Take, for example, his song "Prison Sex", which can be easily summarized by one of its lines:

I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this, shit, blood, and cum on my hands.

His satirical take on the current state of Los Angeles as one of the worst places in the world is depicted in a song entitled "Aenima". As if the title is not revealing enough, consider these lines explaining his solution to the problem:

The only way to fix it is to
Flush it all away...
I wanna watch it all go down.
Mom please flush it all away.
I wanna watch it go right in and down...
Watch you flush it all away...
I wanna see it all come down.
Suck it down, flush it down.

Keenan's most effective satirical, scatological song is one called "Stinkfist" in which he uses anal sex as a metaphor for humans' tendency toward over-consumption:

Constant overstimulation numbs me and I wouldn't have it any other way.
It's not enough, I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy
I don't want it, I just need it
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.
Finger deep within the borderline...
Knuckle deeper within the borderline
This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to,
Relax, turn around and take my hand...
I'll keep digging
‘Till I feel something.
Elbow deep inside the borderline...
Shoulder deep within the borderline
Relax, turn around, and take my hand.

Another fine example of satirical scatology used to illustrate contemporary issues is Irvine Welsh's, neither pro nor anti heroin novel, Trainspotting. Eventually made into a film, this novel depicts a group of heroin addicts/best friends during some of their best and worst times, while simultaneously satirizing the great lengths addicts will go to indulge in their drug of choice.

One of the most memorable scenes in both the novel and the film takes place on what is dubbed "The worst toilet in Scotland." The main character, Renton, has just purchased his drugs and hidden them in a rather discreet orifice of his body. Considering that all the heroin he takes makes him constipated, he assumed this a good hiding place. But when the heroin began to wear off as he was walking home, Renton found himself in a bit of a "mess."

Ah whip oaf ma keks and sit oan the cold wet porcelain skunky. Ah empty ma guts, feeling as if everything; bowel, stomach, intestines, spleen, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs and fucking brains are aw falling through my arshole intae the bowl. (Welsh 25).

Having remembered now, where he had his stash hidden, Renton was in the middle of a dilemma, retrieving his heroin from the depths of the "Worst toilet in Scotland."

Ah fall off the pan, ma knees splashing oantae the pishy flair. My jeans crumple tae the deck and greedily absorb the urine, but ah hardly notice. Ah roll up ma shirt sleeve and hesitate only briefly, glancing at ma scabby and occasionally weeping track marks, before plunging ma hands and forearms intae the brown water. Ah rummage fastidiously and get one ay ma bombs back straight away. Ah rub off some shite that's attached tae it. A wee bit melted, but still largely intact. Ah stick it oan toap ay the cistern. Locating the other takes several long dredges through the mess and the panhandling of the shite ay many good Muirhoose and Pilton punters. Ah gag once, but get ma white nugget ay gold, surprisingly even better preserved than the first. The feel ay water disgusts us even mair than the shite. Ma brown-stained airm reminds us ay the classic t-shirt tan. The line goes right up past ma elbow as ah hud tae go right aroond the bend.

The film depicts the same scenario but adds a slight element of fantasy to enhance the satire of Renton's situation even further. While he is reaching into the toilet, scurrying around for his drugs, he gets sucked in. He then finds himself swimming in the depths of the most beautiful blue ocean, diving deep to the rocky bottom, where he discovers his stash hidden between some rocks. Renton clenches his heroin, gives a Cheshire cat-like grin and returns to the surface. This is where the audience sees the filth associated with heroin and those addicted to it.

Renton climbs back out of the toilet, soaked in urine and feces, and continues on this route back home, almost unfazed, to get high. The scene satirizes the drug abuser and the lengths he or she will go to obtain another "hit." Although the scene is almost too disgusting to watch, it is a legitimate use of scatology by the director, Danny Boyle, to get a moral point across.

As one can easily discover, scatology is used frequently in many aspects of our lives; it just takes a more mature and open-minded attitude for one to appreciate its use as a satirical device. Instead of disregarding it or censoring its use, we should appreciate it as just another observation of human nature from which we can apply to various situations or even learn from.

Most of the artists in this essay had numerous intentions in mind when applying scatology to their work. This fact should be respected and appreciated, as should Jonathan Swift, who was one of the few brave pioneers in using scatology as a device for effective satire in his work.