On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry

    Carl Gustav Jung proposed and develops the concept of ‘extrovert’ and ‘introvert’ personality, ‘archetypes’ and the ‘collective unconscious’. Through he was a disciple of Freud; he broke with the master when he concluded that Freud's system was excessively reductive and monolithic in referring neuroses to experiences of childhood especially sexual experiences. Jung had a considerable influence on critic interested in the relation of myth and ritual to literature and on critics concerned with establishing literature as the provider of a special mode of knowledge.

    Jung's most important criticism was his theory of archetypes, which depends on his theory of the collective unconscious. He defines archetype, as a primordial image… be it a demon, a human being or a process that constantly recurs in the course of history, culture and civilization and appears wherever creative fantasy is freely expressed. Thus images have been a part of our consciousness and the writer is bound to express them while creating literary texts.

    Actually, archetypes are the symbols and images, which are shared universally in every culture and community. Archetypes are recurrent patterns having universal validity. E.g., sea is the symbol used in every community as the image of peace and calmness. Similarly, ‘God’ is in center and people worship him in every community. Jung takes archetypes as the recurring pattern obtained from jungle ancestors. They are inherited ideas and racial memories acting as the energy source for the artistic creative.

    Jung classifies archetypes as; persona, anima animas, shadow and self. Persona is different role type in our life that operates in disguise form (using mask). He introduces animus as male whereas ‘anima’ as female. In all human being both male and female qualities are present with one as dominant. Our self is the central organization principle of psyche but shadow is the dark side or negative force in our mind. The task if self is to give cohesion to our thinking and behavior. It also gives direction and purpose to life. Collective unconscious is inborn. It lies beyond the domain of unconscious. In this domain of collective unconscious, collective experience of race, racial memory, primitive common experience and impulse for artistic creation exist. Freud takes unconscious as personal and erotic but Jung takes unconscious as collective where not only sexual but also social elements are also equally present.

    The archetype exists in collective unconscious, which behaves as the source of artistic creation. Such unconscious does not differ from person to person. All person with in the same culture share it. E.g. the idea of Bhaitika is present in the unconscious level of every Hindus.

    Art is symbolic representation of archetypes. In the process of creating art, unconscious is activated. The primordial images of death, birth, marriage, divorce etc, constantly recur in our history, culture and civilization. The artist is bound to express this archetype in his texts. These images belong to the creative fantasy of the writers while speaking or writing also, primordial images speak with a thousand voices. This is the secret of great art. The artist takes the alien inspiration, gives it a shape and translates it to the language of present. Thus, writers make it possible for us to find our way back to the deepest springs of life.

    Jung says that these are two types of creative forces used during the creation of a work of art- introvert and extrovert. Introvert is subjective where artist is not affected by external would instead he is free to express his will. Although the source of creation is collective unconscious, he remains conscious. He has full control over the art he creates. On the other hand, extrovert is characterized by the subject subordination to the demands that the object makes up on him. It is objective. External images and external world makes him unconscious. So he loses his personality and thus can't control his art. The psychic residual and primordial images occur in archetypal structure, in such situation writers feel a sort of release.

Jacques Lacan    Among the psychoanalyst in the recent years, Lacan has had the greatest influence in literary theory. He reinterprets Freud in the light of structural linguistics and he is perhaps best known in theoretical circles for his pronouncement that the “unconscious is structured like a language." For Lacan, the unconscious of mind is structured like Saussure's language system of operation as paradigmatic and syntagmatic or like Jakobson's metaphoric and metonymic. He goes against Freud's controversial idea about biological drives. He asserts that the development of an identity of a subject is a social construct not biological. There are stages of human development according to Lacan. They are:The mirror stage,The imaginary stage, The symbolic stage. Read More...

Sigmund Freud    The essay “Creative Writers and Daydreaming” suggests Freud's interest in the relationship between the author and his work. He sees a piece of creative writing as a continuation or substitute for the play of childhood. Freud also displays some aspects of his approach to the psychology of the reader. He suggests that the superficial pleasure of the work releases to deeper psychic pleasure and thereby liberate tensions. Thus, reading a text is knowing the psyche of the author. Human beings have innumerable wishes and desires that can't be expressed freely due to social boundary, morality and other restrictions. The desires remain suppressed in our unconscious level of mind. Somehow, we try to express those desires and, according to Freud, there are three ways to do so- Sex, tongue slips and writing. Artists take help of writing to express his repressed desires of their childhood. Read More...