Surrealism is one of the well-known cultural movements of the 20th century characterized by visual artworks and writings of various philosophers. That movement was founded at the beginning of 1920s by a French writer and theorist Andre Breton.
Surrealism is not just a simple form of art that is studied by numerous writers; it is a way of how people look at life and understand it from political, philosophical, aesthetical, and social perspectives. The best representatives of surrealism were Salvador Dali, Sigmund Freud, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp. Captivating writings and masterpieces of great people made a considerable impact on the development of surrealism.
One of the philosophers, who significantly influenced surrealism, was Sigmund Freud. To analyze how exactly surrealism was connected to Freud’s theories, it is necessary to identify the peculiarities of surrealism, to evaluate Freud’s theory, and find out how Freud’s ideas influenced the works of popular surrealists, Max Ernst, for example.
The Essence of Surrealism
Surrealism grew out of another, not less popular movement, Dada. The peculiar feature of Dada movement was the idea to present anti-art works and to underline the darkness and sorrow of war. In its turn, surrealistic movement was characterized by more positive expression of reality. “The objective of surrealism was the infinite expansion of reality as a substitute for the previously accepted dichotomy between the real and the imaginary.” (Balakian 14)
One more peculiar feature of surrealism is that it is not one specific style, but the union of several styles, which are based on the same idea – to present the reality. This is why it is possible to define surrealism as “psychic automatism in its pure state by which we propose to express – verbally, in writing, or any other manner – the real process of thought.” (Leslie 59)
Sigmund Freud and His Theories
When we talk about surrealism, we cannot but remember such a brilliant philosopher, whose works made a certain impact on surrealism and its understanding, as Sigmund Freud. The ideas of this person changed lots of worlds, the world of psychology and art in particular. His idea of having a kind of fixation on sex and that having sex may be considered as an explanation of all human’s mental ills attracts lots of people and cause numerous misunderstandings of the others.
Freud did not afraid to break any boundaries, offer, and prove his own ideas and visions. His theories of psychosexual development, dreams, id, ego, and superego played a significant role in the history of art. As for surrealism movement, it is better to pay attention to one of Freud’s theories, the theory of dreams, where Freud called dreams as a kind of road to the unconscious. In other words, Freud was sure that dreams could easily demonstrate and explain the sense of the unconscious mind.
Freud’s Theories and Surrealism
Surrealism presents the works of the subconscious mind. Freud identified dreams as the way to the subconscious. After we confront these two ideas together, it is possible to trace the connection of surrealism to Freud’s ideas.
In order to comprehend the ideas, which surrealists want to reproduce in their works, it is necessary to find the way to this unconscious, and it is possible only with the help of dreams. Freud’s dream theory is a kind of mechanism, the way according to which all our desires split through censorship. If a desire cannot be comprehended, it gets a form of some kind of absurdity.
For example, let us take two objects, which cannot be matched together in reality, melting clocks and trees, a bicycle and a fish, etc. These objects cannot be condensed into something one. This is possible only in a dream, when people desire something. This is what Freud’s theory about dreams is all about, and this is what surrealist representatives took from Freud.
However, Freud was interested not about the unconscious of surrealism. His burning desire was to analyze the conscious. He thought that all those experiments, which different surrealists did with psychic automatism (the release of the unconscious), are directed to ego activity.
Freud believed that such a direct release of the unconscious was a mistake. All those unconscious was shaped by the ego. So, surrealistic works could hardly be called as something unconscious. Even more, Freud underlined that if all those works were the products of unconscious, they could be much better.
Max Ernst as a Representative of Surrealism Movement
One of the representatives of surrealism movement was Max Ernst. He was a German painter, poet, and sculptor. First, he enrolled to study philosophy; however, soon he gave up that affair and started painting. His works took a lot from Freud’s theories. The idea of chance and the unconscious are the leading ones in one of Ernst’s work – Oedipus Rex. The influence of Freud is felt from the very title of the work.
The Oedipus complex is often recognized in Freud’s ideas, as well as it is recognized in the work by Ernst. Each component plays a significant role for general perception of the picture. The image between the man’s hand and the bird symbolizes man’s desire to be free from the society he lives in. The wall, in comparison to the hand, is not that big that underlines that in fact does not play too significant role, however, it is an obstacle that a person cannot move on.
This picture also has a sexual character. The nut represents a woman, and the crack in this nut symbolizes the intercourse between a woman and a man. This intercourse means a lot as for a woman, as well as for a man. The point that a man’s hand holds this nut is also worthy of attention. It underlines woman’s position in the society, women depend from men, and this is one of the truths, which Ernst wanted to represent in his masterpiece.
Conclusions
In general, surrealism and Freud’s theories have lots in common. All of them are about the subconscious and the conscious. People sometimes cannot understand where the reality ends, and dreams start. Surrealism is one of the artistic movements with strong political, social, and aesthetical components. It was one of the most organized movements of the 20th century. Its leader was Andre Breton, however, not his ideas only were considered.
One of the most influential philosophers for surrealism was Sigmund Freud. His theory of dreams and the unconscious influenced a lot the development of surrealism. The main difference between surrealism and Freud’s theory was Freud’s statement that numerous surrealistic works were shaped by the ego, and this is why they cannot be considered as the unconscious works only. A part of the conscious is still present is the works, such as Oedipus Rex by Max Ernst.
Works Cited
Balakian, A. E. Surrealism: The Road to the Absolute. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.
Leslie, R. Surrealism: The Dream of Revolution. New York: Smithmark, 1997.
Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 in the Czech Republic but in his lifetime he stayed in various countries including Austria, Germany, and Britain. He later died in Britain in the year 1939. Freud is well known and widely accredited for his Psychoanalytic theory that has greatly impacted modern-day fields of philosophy, psychology, and medicine.
Main body
In his psychoanalytic theory, Freud is more concerned with his obsessions. His psychoanalytic theory is very much informed by the way he was brought up in his early childhood life. In his theory, he gives insight into the unconscious and tries to define and describe defense mechanisms. Because of his early way of life he developed his defense mechanisms and anxiety that led him to seek answers on exactly what the unconscious was and its role in human existence. In a way, he was able to make an impact on human wisdom. Freud recognized the power of the unconscious on the human personality. His theory relates almost every human experience to sexual desires or motives. For instance, he relates every spiritual aspiration to sexual desires. (Zip Dobyns 1979). This theory of psychoanalysis although has influenced modern life it was extremely subjective because he based his theory on his childhood traumas. Freud came up with the German notion‘Weltanschauung’ which can be simply translated into I am afraid. From this notion, Freud explained that whether man realizes it or not he possesses a world view and that we all have a philosophy of life that is our effort to try to make sense out of our existence.
To Sartre, the “I” which is the person is always brought into the world or rather the universe without any prearranged qualities which is to human nature. The world to this individual is just nothingness. To Sartre therefore, there is no external figure that gives life any meaning. He says that an individual chooses for he is free and responsible. The individual chooses with no guarantee that he has a long-lasting identity or power. It is in the moment of death when a human through his conscious comes to realize his real existence. Sartre is the major proponent of existentialism. To Sartre Existence precedes Essence. Existence is simply the presence of something, while essence is the nature of the thing. The man simply put is his acts put together, for man exists to fulfill his plans or acts.
Kierkegaard lived from 1813 to 1855. Just like Sartre, he talks about existence. His main concern in all his workings was to give a representation of what it means for a person to exist. Just like Freud, his philosophy is to a large extent is personal. Solutions to problems in life are only found through the act of will or choice. About Scientific knowledge, Kierkegaard’s argued that scientific analysis was unsuitable for acquiring and understanding human experience. He says that truth is subjective; he gives this subjective truth three main characteristics. First, is that it is paradoxical, concrete, and lastly above all not collective. When it comes to religion or God Kierkegaard points out that a commitment of faith is a risk taken but cannot be resolvable through reason or sensation. To him, faith in God is the highest standpoint in life. Kierkegaard viewed life in levels of existence or to what he referred to as the dialectic of the stages, which simply is the process whereby the spirit is actualized in the form of individuality. To pass from one stage to the next in life he believed that one can only achieve it through the act of will, choice, or simply leap of faith.
Conclusion
Although I find Kierkegaard persuasive, I do not agree with him that truth is entirely subjective. Truth can partly be subjective and partly objective. In scientific methodology research and analysis I take truth as objective but in matters concerning religion truth is purely subjective as it entirely depends on personal opinion.
References
Armand Nicholi.when Worldviews Collide: Part one 2004. Web.
In Freud’s essay, “Mourning and Melancholia”, the writer believes the act of mourning, which if carried out mistakenly can consequence in melancholia, a pathological infirmity. Freud states, “In mourning, it is the world which has become poor and empty; in melancholia, it is the ego itself.” A person suffering with melancholia frequently cannot pin point what they have lost, as it is regularly not an individual but a non-figurative notion. Their obsession on this object is passionate often due to the egotistical basis of the attachment, consequently when they lose this entity; they lose a little more radical – themselves and their will to live.
Indicators of melancholia are comparable to those of mourning; on the other hand melancholia is distinguished by “a strange diminution in self-regard” and the deficiency of shame. Freud believes that a convinced period of mourning is essential when confronting loss; in fact if this procedure were not to occur, or if this procedure were to be interrupted, it could be of great detriment. Mourning should be used to recognize the loss of a particular object and to eventually come to terms with the separation, the experience ultimately making one stronger and urging one forward.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s poem the Woodspurge is dedicated to stimulating English art through medieval motivation. Rossetti was significantly highly praised for the spectacular and paranormal elements in his effort. Rossetti’s later years were blemished by grief and hopelessness. In 1860 he had wedded a milliner, Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal. Inside two years Elizabeth died, and Rossetti was sorrow stricken by the disaster. Additionally, he was concerned by a sour assault that had been made on the ethics of his poems.
This grief and desperation is evident in the poem The Woodspurge. After going through this traumatic experience, many critics believe that Rossetti speaks through the speaker of the poem. It starts of with the line: “The wind flapped loose, the wind was still”, here the wind might symbolize how the conditions of life are frequently changing, that he is living in a very unstable environment. Later in the first stanza he goes on to say that, “I had walked on at the winds will; I sat now, for the wind was still“. It is clear from this that the poet has very little control over his life and he does whatever that was expected from him by society.
In the second stanza, for the first time in the poem we understand that Rossetti is in distress, “Between my knees my forehead was, my lips drawn in; my hair was over in the grass“, this suggests that Rossetti was completely distraught. In the third stanza there is reference to his troubles mentioned above, “some ten weeds to fix upon”, followed by the first source of salvation “Among those few out of the sun, the Woodspurge flowered, three cups in one”.
There are two interpretations for the symbolism of the Woodspurge. The first is that the Woodspurge is some kind of poison in which he sees light in so as to end his life and escape from all the misery. The second interpretation is that the Woodspurge refers to his work, including this poem, perhaps he is trying to say that when he is working on his paintings and poems he forgets about his troubles. In the last verse of the poem, Rossetti sees obviously for the first time in the poem, in spite of being inconsolable his lose, he sees that he has to go on and once again he refers to the Woodspurge as somewhat that can revive him of pain: “On thing then learnt remains to me, the Woodspurge has a cup of three“.
While “Mourning and Melancholia” crowned his meta-psychological theorizing, the paper was also important on a clinical level. For Jones, in 1955, it was “still the best account available of the psychology of manic-depressive insanity” (p. 251). But whether the melancholia in question is of clinical or of theoretical interest, just what melancholia is comes to be particularly difficult to assess since, as Freud notes at the very beginning of his paper, there does not seem to be any unifying principle behind the symptoms of this particular neurosis.
He warns readers against overestimating the value of his conclusions on melancholia because its definition “fluctuates even in descriptive psychiatry [and it] takes on various clinical forms the grouping together of which into a single unity does not seem to be established with certainty; and some of these forces suggest somatic rather than psychogenic affections” (p. 243 ). Such an opening legitimates Freud’s recourse here to a “speculative” approach. And by stressing the necessity of speaking of different forms of melancholia and pathological depression, the text rejoins the longstanding tradition of treating melancholia as a typology to be classified rather than as a condition to be specified.
The paragon of the genre, Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, for instance, uses “melancholia” to describe any number of psychological conditions that range from lycanthropy to religious mysticism to lovesickness. Nonetheless, although Freud says that melancholia cannot be reduced to any fixed concept or symptom, in his attempt to understand what mental processes are taking place, he proceeds to make some rather clear-cut distinctions. As the title of the essay already suggests, melancholia is defined as distinct from mourning, which, we are soon told, would be the “normal affect” of grief caused by the loss of a loved object, while melancholia is described as a “pathology” that on the surface resembles the painful state of mourning.
The Woodspurge is a very traditional poem, with for paragraphs, each with four lines, and each sentence contains eight syllables. This structure could represent the mundane life that this poet is living. The poem has a very slow rhythm, almost as slow as a funeral march and this makes the poem rather depressing to read, but at the same time the reader has time to think more deeply about the author’s circumstances between each line. In some ways, the description of the first and second stanza is similar to that of a flower, perhaps through this, the poet is emphasize that he is rooted/stuck with his problems.
Emphasis on the extent of his problems is also illustrated by the repeated use of the word “My”, at the beginning of each line in the second stanza. Another interesting aspect of the poem is that the first letter of every word in the third stanza spells out the word, “MOAT”, which is a wide water-filled ditch around a castle or fort, dug to give protection from invaders, i.e. the poet is trying to defend himself against his enemies and problems, his “weeds to fix upon“.
For Freud, the act of mourning is not only the affective reaction of grief to a concrete loss such as the death of a loved one; it is also the very process of recuperating the ego’s investment of libido in the lost object through a ritual of commemoration and farewell. What Freud calls the “work” of mourning consists in bringing to consciousness memories of the lost object “bit by bit, at great expense of time energy”: “Each single one of the memories and expectations in which the libido is bound to the object is brought up and hypercathected, and detachment of the libido is accomplished in respect of it…. When the work of mourning is completed the ego becomes free and uninhibited again” (p. 245).
Thus, through a process of “reality tests“, the sufferer realizes that the object of love no longer exists; the ego then decides not to share in the “fate” of the lost beloved but to break its emotional attachment to it, to “cut its losses” as it were. And, unlike in some forms of melancholia, as Freud discusses them later in the essay, after the work of mourning is completed there is no reversal from the state of woe to a manic phase. This difference leads Freud to say that even if the economic conditions for mourning are still unclear, he can nevertheless advance a “conjecture” based on what takes place when memories of the lost object are checked against the reality of its having disappeared.
It is clear that Rossetti was powerfully worried when he wrote this poem, and at the comparable occasion his worries gave him inspiration to write this poem. The Woodspurge is also fairly comparable in subject to the Freud’s “Mourning and Melancholia.
Works Cited
David H. Riede, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Limits of Victorian Vision. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983, pp. 57-58.
Freud, Sigmund, (1917) Mourning and Melancholia. SE 14, 239-258.
Psychological approach criticism relies upon psychosocial theories in analyzing works of literature. This link between “literary works and psychological theories brings elements of scientific work into the world of literary criticism” (Kuhns, 1983). We shall look at Sigmund Freud and Kristeva’s theories in order to criticize poems by Emily Dickinson. Psychoanalysis investigates the subconscious mental processes. Other scholars view psychoanalysis as a therapy for treating disorders. According to Freud, society undergoes a sublimation i.e. uses creative processes to channel its unconsciousness. Elements of creative processes involve literary works.
The focus is mainly on gendered pleasure and sexual motives in every individual’s mind as the key driver for people’s actions. Dickinson had these sexual pleasures but had no way of expressing them in society during her term. Therefore, art was the only way Dickinson could exploit to express her gendered sexual desires. Critics argue that Dickinson may have derived sexual pleasure from pain (Kuhns, 1983).
Dickinson’s A Narrow Fellow in the Grass shows unacceptable and elicit a woman’s obsession and desire for a man’s phallus. A “narrow fellow” clearly refers to the snake. Using the unconscious mind of Freud’s theory, we can look at the poem from this point of view, and analyze the poet’s use of symbolism. We can relate this to what we may assume drove Dickinson’s mind and the underlying motive for writing the poem.
Freud focused on libido as energy which results from sexual desire. In this regard, libido influences an individual’s mental processes and maturity. Sublimation results from libido if an individual puts his or her sexual urges in a different context in order to increase their acceptability. When authors make any references to forbidden topics, in poetry language, they become arts.
Dickinson tries to relate and conceal sexual desires in the poem by using the voice of a boy. By concealing her identity, Dickinson shows that the speaker experiences a gendered sexual desire not acceptable in the society of her time. We can disregard the voice of the narrator since the authors use their personas to represent their ideas. This leads the readers into looking at the subconscious ideas of the author. Dickinson either consciously or subconsciously chose such a voice to explore female sexual desires for man.
Dickinson uses symbolism in her poems. The first instant of symbolism is in the first line “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass“. We can relate this to the pubic hair. On the other hand, there is a “shaft“, an opening and closing. The shaft is where the narrow fellow goes. Shaft represents a woman’s sexual organ. At the end of the poem, Dickinson also shows that the shaft receives the narrow fellow with tighter breathing.
Dickinson also refers to premature ejaculation or erectile dysfunction in the poem by noting that “It wrinkled and was gone” (Dickinson, 1998). During Dickinson’s time, it was impossible and unacceptable to discuss the dysfunctional erectile. Thus, Dickinson resorts to symbolism to explore female pleasure and premature ejaculation in men, or dysfunctional erectile. The society of her time believed that female sexual always had the positive sexual pleasure. However, she shows the pain of male premature ejaculation or erectile dysfunction in women.
The title of the poem A Narrow Fellow in the Grass also shows the sexual connotation. We may assume that it is just a snake in the Grass. However, in literary analysis, we look at the shaft that is opening and closing. These are clear reflections of sexual acts like penetration, rhythm movements, orgasm and withdrawals.
We may assume that Dickinson uses the unconscious sublimation to reflect her ideas of sexual desires and pleasures in her literary work. The poet clearly refers to both male and female sexual organs and pleasures during sexual intercourse or could be a lack of pleasure during sexual intercourse. If we apply Freud’s theory, then we can conclude that Dickinson is unconsciously depicting sexual pleasure matters in a gendered manner from a female point of view.
Emily Dickinson’s poem There’s a certain slant of light also reflects Freud’s psychoanalytic views. Literary criticism applying this theory looks at the unconscious desires Dickinson reflects in her poem. Freud posits that every individual’s mind works on seeking sexual pleasures. In this regard, Dickinson had sexual desires but could not express them openly during her time. She turned to her work to sublimate her sexual desires. From the poem There’s a certain slant of light, we may assume that “Dickinson derived a gendered sexual pleasure from pain” (Brill, 2010).
From a psychological point of view, There’s a certain slant of light that also looks at the minds of the reader when reading a poem. “Whereas the psychoanalytic approach focused on the author and why they wrote what they wrote, the cognitive approach focuses on the reader and how their mind works while reading literature” (Dobie, 2002). To Freud, readers of this poem will also strive to look at sexual connotations in it for pleasure motives. For instance, readers may see the pain in certain lines of the poem.
None may teach it—Any ‘Tis the Seal Despair An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air
Emily Dickinson’s poem The Malay-took the pearl also reflects painful sociosexual relations concerning a patriarchal daughter’s autoerotic desire for the same sex. It shows the suffering of a woman who experiences shame due to her sexual desires for a fellow woman. What makes the case worse is that the woman loses her object of sexual desire to a man. Dickinson uses pearl to symbolize the beloved female, the rival as a pearl diver, and speaker as earl (Dickinson, 1997).
Dickinson uses a male identity to conceal the speaker who is a female. She shows that the speaker wants none other than her sexual desire, which is not a masculine one. This almost reflects Freud’s ideas of humility and sublimation which state that “the humility and the sublime over-estimation of the sexual object so characteristic of the male lover, the renunciation of all narcissistic satisfaction, and the preference for being lover rather than beloved” (Gay, 1992). She is so fearful and considers herself unworthy to the extent of behaving like a man whose sexual desires suffer from the dread of incest. She relies on hopes of prayers in regaining her beloved pearl.
Freud’s ideas of a masculine approach in love relations overemphasize renunciation and humility in ordinary situations. Malay takes the pearl which the speaker desires and this irritates the speaker. However, the speaker risks diving for the pearl which he captures, and wear as an ornament on his “Dusky Breast”.
The persona worries over her sexual desires. She is in a state of limbo. She shows this by pondering over her adventure by transfer, beauty, intimacy, and consummation. This is what the speaker wants to hold on to, as hers and cover herself with as an ornament, but her rival interferes. Dickinson shows a female stifled with a patriarchal position over females. Men have the potential to move quickly and take possessions of their desires. During Dickinson’s time, society does not permit a female to act on her sexual desires particularly on another female. She questions situations in which no one prefers a female (Barry, 1995).
The persona knows that maternity defines feminism. She sees patriarchal force as a source nuisance and the reason why her sexual desires disturb. Dickinson refers to this female attraction to other females as a secret abyss. The persona acknowledges her strong feelings for feminine sexuality only in another female. This alienates her from a society where lesbianism is not a subject of discussion. However, the persona knows too well that lesbianism is rich, hard to get, but if achieved, it gives profound sexual satisfaction. Despite all this knowledge, the persona is unable to get her female object of sexual desire. Instead, the patriarchal hierarchy in a society favors men who can actively pursue what they desire and take it.
When the persona assumes the approach of male to her fetish, the persona equally reduces her female attraction to an object, just like a pearl in the ocean. In addition, she sees “the pearl as suitable for wearing as an ornament around a male, masculine breast and forever becomes a man’s possession held in high esteem” (Dobie, 2002). Though the man takes this female, the persona shows that the attraction is so strong in its isolation. The male figure represents much (what the persona does not have) and strips the persona of her desires.
Literary critics have emphasized recurring ideas in Kristeva’s work. Kristeva focuses on the importance of the maternal and pre-Oedipal in the development of human subjectivity, and the idea of abjection as an explanation for oppression and discrimination. Perhaps the most significant of her theories are relationships between the mother and children during the pre-Oedipal stage, particularly regarding the development of individualism in relation to both languages and plays, and forces or drives, and sudden feeling in use of languages.
Kristeva borrows some of her ideas from the works of Lacan to modify her theories. In her work Revolution in Poetic Language, Kristeva acknowledges that objective language use must not stop a subject of discussion but rather complement it. Kristeva agrees that Freudian psychoanalysis relates to the semiotic dimension of language as “not only the facilitation and the structuring disposition of drives but also the so-called primary processes, which displace and condense both energies and their inscription” (Habib, 2005). During the course of individuals’ development, social structures or families make people experience different constraints, which result in arrangements of forces or energies. Kristeva called these drives or forces as chora.
Still, Emily Dickinson’s poem reflects Julia Kristeva’s theory of chora. This is the early stage of development in a psychosexual sense. People experienced chaotic and mixed elements of feelings, perceptions and various needs. We experienced pleasures without any knowledge of its limit or boundary. Drives are the dominating forces in this period, and the materiality of existence was real.
Though the poem is secretive, it underwrites the masculine mask the poet uses to conceal the feminine identity. Dickinson disrupts her style to take the theory of Kristeva. There are chaotic meanings in the poem which reflect the confusion the narrator experiences. The poem is rich in meaning than the chaos we see in the persona.
Dickinson’s motive for placing “obstacles in the way of smooth reading is not just to hide her libidinal predicament from the vulgar, but to some extent from herself” (Habib, 2005). The reason is to make of the “writing, syllable by syllable and even dash by a dash, the close-worked dramaturgy of her theme” (Habib, 2005). For instance, in the context of her “chagrined admissions, her begrudging yet obtrusive dashes seem an appropriately reluctant mark, snapping linearity over and over in an agitated unwillingness to proceed” (Habib, 2005).
Still more daring are the “syntactic confusions that momentarily superimpose the persona on the Malay, in coition of identities, upsetting the patriarchal consecutiveness of the narrative subject” (Jardine, 1980). For instance, “The Swarthy fellow deceptively succeeds the line “Praying that I might be, Worthy—the Destiny—” quite as if the Malay really cared about the Earl” (Dickinso, 1997). However, Dickinson ends the poem by showing him to be completely oblivious to her anguish. It leaves the reader to link “the flapping, disused modifier of “Praying that I…” to the “I” of the preceding stanza, mentally rearranging the syntax in the process: Fearing the sea and feeling unsanctified to take the Pearl, the persona can only hope and pray that someday she will be worthy to do so” (Dickinson, 1997). Meanwhile, for a cheating instant, the persona has boasted the Malay’s sympathy.
Habib notes that “like thin strips, Dickinson momentarily pushes the lines together in disorder, and the persona does not hide anally that peeps through, which is a yearning and opportunistic desire in her” (Habib, 2005). An imaginary “closeness between the Earl and the Malay crops up again in “And bore my Jewel—Home,” where, from the momentum of the proprietary “my,” “Home” could well be thought to be the persona’s own” (Dickinson, 1997). This is illusory social sweetness in the persona.
There is also unreal intimacy in the following line.
What lot Had I—the Jewel—got— Borne on a Dusky Breast— I had not deemed a Vest Of Amber—fit—
The use of language enables Dickinson to create chaotic meanings in the poem. For instance, readers can interpret the first three lines as what luck had the persona got both the jewel and Malay. However, this is being nothing, but a wish. Conversely, Dickinson changes this idea “at once by the “correct” one, namely the persona’s elitist and racist scorn that the pearl should be borne there, on that barbarous skin of night, when in her opinion even her own tailored vest does not deserve so fair a gem” (Habib, 2005).
Among all these cases, Dickinson presents a “canny form of meaning i.e. a formal instinct for the sexual desires of vivid meaning” (Dickinson, 1997). At every point, it shows “the persona’s knowledge either conscious or unconscious of stress and hiding places of her sexual desires” (Brennan, 1989). The persona’s little tale agrees with the psychoanalytic view that the narrative is an admission of lack of her ability to express her forbidden desires, and also a way of expressing them through literary work.
In conclusion, the poems of Emily Dickinson show gendered experiences of pain, suffering, and sexual among others. This because only women experienced such forms of discrimination, pain, sexual issues, and suffering. Dickinson shows that women of her time went through such a gendered experience but had no way to express their ordeals. Therefore, she turned to works of art to express such experiences.
Reference List
Barry, P 1995, Beginning Theory: an Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Manchester UP, Manchester.
Brennan, T 1989, Between feminism & psychoanalysis, Routledge, New York.
Brill, 2010, Sigmund Freud: Three Contributions to Sexual Theory, Bartleby, New York.
Dickinson, E 1998, A Narrow Fellow in the Grass, Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory, Longman, New York.
Dickinson, E 1997, Emily Dickinson: Everyman’s Poetry, Everyman Paperbacks, London.
Dobie, A 2002, Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism, Heinle, Boston.
Gay, V 1992, Freud on Sublimation: Reconsiderations, State University of New York, Albany.
Habib, M 2005, A History of Literary Criticism: From Plato to the Present, Blackwell, Malden.
Jardine, A 1980, ‘Theories of the feminine: Kristeva’, Enclitic, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 5-16.
Kuhns, R 1983, Psychoanalytic Theory of Art: A Philosophy of Art on Developmental Principles, Columbia University Press, New York.
A narrow Fellow in the Grass
A narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides – You may have met Him – Did you not His notice sudden is – The Grass divides as with a Comb – A spotted Shaft is seen, And then it closes at your Feet And opens further on – He likes a Boggy Acre A Floor too cool for Corn – But when a Boy, and Barefoot I more than once at Noon Have passed, I thought, a Whip lash Unbraiding in the Sun When stooping to secure it It wrinkled, and was gone – Several of Nature’s People I know and they know me – I feel for them a transport Of Cordiality – But never met this Fellow Attended or alone Without a tighter Breathing And Zero at the Bone. (Poetry Foundation)
There’s a certain slant of light
There’s a certain slant of light, On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes. Heavenly hurt it gives us; We can find no scar, But internal difference Where the meanings are. None may teach it anything, ‘Tis the seal, despair,- An imperial affliction Sent us of the air. When it comes, the landscape listens, Shadows hold their breath; When it goes, ‘t is like the distance On the look of death.
The Malay—took the Pearl—”
The Malay—took the Pearl— Not—I—the Earl— I—feared the Sea—too much Unsanctified—to touch— Praying that I might be Worthy—the Destiny— The Swarthy fellow swam— And bore my Jewel—Home— Home to the Hut! What lot Had I—the Jewel—got— Borne on a Dusky Breasty— I had not deemed a Vest Of Amber—fit— The Negro never knew I—wooed it—too— To gain, or be undone— Alike to Him—One—
In Sigmund Freud’s “The Uncanny,” he introduces a mythical creature, the Sandman, who is involved with many negative activities including stealing children’s eyes. Sandman’s story presents an imaginary plot that involves Nathaniel, Olympia, and the sandman who appears in different names of Coppelius and Coppola.
Some of the most popular issues addressed in sandman’s story are blindness and eyes. The antagonist portrays the characteristics of a sadist, whose intentions are either to remove children’s eyes, or ruin relationships. From the story, excessive reference to eyes and blindness has a significant contribution to the themes, characterization and psychoanalytic elements.
One of Feud’s first interpretations of the story compares loss of eyesight to castration. In psychoanalytic terms, eyes enable an individual to see the real world and make positive contributions to its elements. However, once the eyes are removed, an individual shifts into an environment of hopelessness, fear and paranoia. The resulting fear in blindness is comparable to the helplessness caused by castration, especially when one considers the discontinuity established.
The eyes are therefore symbolic representation of the psychosexual characteristics present among humans, with each person striving to protect and retain eyesight. Feud introduces the eyes as the fundamental organs promoting ego and self-realization. According to the story, some organs like male sexual organs and the eyes influence sexuality, confidence and esteem, by promoting conscious control of emotions and feelings.
Blindness represents the fear experienced in dreams, myths and fantasies, at which individuals’ fear of losing the eyes can only be compared to that of being castrated. Sandman’s story demonstrates aesthetic factors with the constant mention of the eyes.
In the genital phase of human development, the unborn do not have an option of choosing their sexuality, but rather take their infantile states as insurance against mortality. However, with the representation of eyes, the story re-addresses the self-reflection among humans and the fact that nothing is lost forever or forgotten. The eyes represent the visions, realities and hopes.
The story therefore reflects how these are lost once the eyes are removed and makes a direct comparison to the losses incurred after one is castrated. In the story, the eyes are sexual reflections that are based on imaginary plot of the sandman, who takes several forms, but whose intentions remain unchanged. Children are the targets in Sandman’s story, and although Nathaniel had been warned about the activities of the Sandman, he nearly lost his eyes within the first few moments of his encounter with Coppelius.
Eyes represent the ability to overcome infantile characteristics and sexuality by establishing an aesthetic value to sight. Sandman’s target to the eyes is a way of trying to relate a fearful process to known issues, and Feud interprets this by comparing it with castration. The story invokes a sense of the uncanny, since it revisits infantile states and projects the victim to a primitive state. Castration terminates love and discontinues normal reproduction processes.
According to the story, Sandman does not only remove children’s eyes, but also ruins relationships. The Sandman ruins Nathaniel’s relationship with Clara, just when the two are about to are about to marry. In a unique representation of the eyes, the story uses spyglasses, which allow Nathaniel to see in private his repressed past. Just like in castration, removing the eyes sets an individual back to an infantile state and eliminates all the aesthetics in life.