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UNIVERSITY OF CONSTANTINE THE PHILOSOPHER IN NITRA FACULTY OF HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES DIPLOMA WORK CREATIVE AND MYSTICAL ASPECTS OF POETRY CONSULTANT: Ph.Dr. ANTON POKRIVČÁK SCHOOL YEAR: 1999/2000 RENÁTA HORKAVÁ EL-PHARE UNIVERZITA KONŠTANTÍNA FILOZOFA V NITRE FAKULTA HUMANITNÝCH VIED KATEDRA ANGLISTIKY A AMERIKANISTIKY DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCA TVORIVÉ A MYSTICKÉ ASPEKTY POÉZIE KONZULTANT: Ph.Dr. ANTON POKRIVČÁK ŠKOLSKÝ ROK: 1999/2000 RENÁTA HORKAVÁ AJ-PHARE 2 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I solemnly declare that this diploma work was written independently using the literature and sources listed in the bibliography by the undersigned NITRA, APRIL 2000 ........................ 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Ph.Dr. Anton Pokrivčák for his advice and encouragement which helped me very much in writing my diploma work. 4 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................6 2. Definition of creativity: Psychological point of view..............................8 3. Poet`s persona...............................................................................15 4. Process of structuring and composing..............................................24 5. Poetic language: Symbols................................................................36 6. CONCLUSION................................................................................43 BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................44 RESUME.........................................................................................46 5 INTRODUCTION The aim of my diploma work is to look at the process of creating the poetry, and to look at the creativity as such that governs this process. I will look at the different aspects of the creative process as defined through the psychology. The creative process comprises of the three important elements:created product, creative individual, and creative phases that direct the whole process. In my work of the creating the poetry I decided to substitute the created product for the material that poet work with- and that is figurative speech and most specifically the symbols. I believe that poetry originates from the interaction of the three p´s: poet s persona, process of structuring or composing, and the poetic language. I will try to prove this with the help of the description of the origination of the music and production of the dance because I believe that the personalities of artists and the ways how they operate when producing their art are similar if not identical. In the first chapter I will look at the definitions of creativity and the views of the different authors on the creativity from a psychological point of view.In the second chapter I will concentrate on the nature and persona of the poet based on the comparison of the persona of the different types of music composers and personality of the choreographer while the greatest emphasis will be placed on the “Emersonian” view on the nature of poet.In the third chapter I will describe the process of constructing the poetry based on the music and choreography composing from which I will derive and demonstrate the possible way of structuring the poetry supported by Poe.In the fourth chapter I will point to the poetic language most dominantly based on the study of symbols that are in the broader sense all the words that poets are using when creating the poetry. 6 CHAPTER I.: Definition of creativity: Psychological point of view 7 The predeterminance of an analyses of the creative process is the meaning of creativity, the theory of creativity in general. Creativity is an ongoing process that can be analyzed and looked at from the different perspectives.Creativity is a phenomenon that is bound to every artist, eventhough it may be only on the subconscious’s level. The reason why is it so is probably in a fact that many artists are not sure when asked to describe how they produced certain art products. It is a highly interesting theme for everyone since creativity exists in many forms and in almost every human activity. Dictionary definitions are basically the same: Heritage Illustrated Dictionary describes the word create in a following manner: „ To cause to exist, bring into being, originate, to give rise to, and to give character to a role or part (appropriate to creating fictional characters, and writing stories).“ Macquire Dictionary (An Australian dictionary) defines the word to create as follows: „ to evolve from one´ s own thought or imagination to make by investing with new character or functions.” Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines creativity: „ as the ability to produce new and original ideas and things, imagination and inventiveness“. From the psychological point of view every creative process consists, and is determined by the created product, the creative individual and the creative process. Zelina defines creativity as :”production of new and valuable ideas, solutions, and thoughts.”(Zelina189).Every created product is evaluated based on the certain criteria.These criteria are usually also used when defining the creativity. Stephen H.Kim conducted the research on the essence of creativity and in his book “The Essence of Creativity” defines the creativity in the following manner:”Generally speaking the creativity means –novelty, but novelty does 8 not always mean creativity”, and he further continues, “..for originality to be recognized as a creativity- it has to be novelty incarnated into the product or idea and directed towards the recognized aim.”(Kim 19) According to C.Rogers there are three golden keys to creativity that are also used as the parameters for measuring the creativity and that guide the process of creating the product: 1.fluency- the amount of thoughts, ideas for one subject 2.flexibility- represents variety of ideas 3.originality-is considered the most precious characteristics of creativity. It is the uniqueness of the thoughts, solutions, ideas in a certain context.”(Zelina,1997,pg.84) So, most of the created products are evaluated based on the novelty, originality,and their practical utility or benefit for the mankind. In the case of art it is mostly the personal message or subjective point of view that can be novel and original, and ,therefore, interesting and valuable for the society :”The artist`s problem is a problem of self-expression.He or she has something that he or she wants to communicate to the world what he or she thinks or feels. The aim of the artist`s effort is to deliver the personal message clearly. He would like to say something to the world or he would like to materialize something that awakens the strong impressions inside of him.”(Kim 18) Second, and probably the most important factor when talking about creativity is a set of specific qualities of the creative individual. “The science and research in the area of creativity (creatology) proved that creative people perceive the world differently. Strange, different perception of the world becomes for them the source of their creativity.“ (Zelina 17).In addition to being sensitive and being able to perceive the world differently, creative individuals should according to Hungarian author M.Csikszentmihaly possess these qualities as well: 1. Creative people have a great amount of physical, and mental energy, but also often creative people are weak, quiet and living on the periphery. 2. Creative people are clever, skillful, intelligent, and naive at the same time. 9 3. Creative people combine playfulness, discipline, reliability, and unreliability. 4. Creative people alternate between imagination, fantasy, and grounding in the reality. 5. Creative people are both extroverts and introverts. 6. Creative people are humble, and proud at the same time. 7. Creative people run from rigid gender stereotyping. They fight against the obstacles of the creativity. 8. Creative people are rebellious and conservative at the same time. 9. Creative people are passionate about their work, and still are capable of the extreme objectivity. 10. Creative people are open, sensitive, and more often they tend to suffer thanks to and because of the creative work that is the endless source of their pleasure, joy and happiness. (Zelina 177,185) For another author (Kim 54) creative individuals have: 1.The ability of the intuitive perception- recognition of the associations and similarities between the objects and concepts. 2.The ability to observe and notice the meaning of the different perspectives. 3.The ability to think imaginatively without stressing the practical realization 4.The attitude of openness and acceptance of the changes(flexibility) Ned Hermann in his book “The Creative Brain” divides creative people as follows: 1.The already creatives- people who actively exercise their creative gifts for pleasure and profit; 2.The sometimes creatives-people who experience moments of creative brilliance, but only occasionally; 3.Those who can be creative, but who have yet to tap into that potential; Zelina agrees with the last definition of Hermann :”Every human being can be creative.”(Zelina 189). Another author-Roger von Oech in his book “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants” defines the creative people in the following way: “The hallmark of creative people is their mental flexibility....Sometimes they are open and probing, at other times they are critical and faultfinding.And finally they are doggedly persistent in striving to reach their goals..” 10 Artists are a specific sub-category of the creative people and besides all the above mentioned qualities they need few more.According to Jung artist is :”duality or a synthesis of contradictory aptitudes.On the one side, he is a human being with a personal life while on the other side he is an impersonal, creative process.”(Jung 185) Jung further differentiates between two types of artist: 1.introverted- creates based on the material comprised in his conscience 2.extraverted-artist looses his individuality and becomes a medium for the creation of his art Artists are defined as people with partially inborn, and partially trained special dispositions:”...as a personality determined most of all by the exceptional inborn talent, above average aesthetical dispositions;...the artist`s personality is also created by other dispositions such as-physical, neurological, and intellectual abilities that can be partially inborn and partially gained”(Prokop 26) Writers should be capable of feeling and expressing deep emotions:”as for the writers there is a specific emotionality and most precisely imagination, and feeling for the language.” (28) Freud in his essay”Creative writers and daydreaming describes the creative writer as a playful child:”The creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of fantasy which he takes very seriously.”(Freud 36) Freud also urges to differentiate between the writers who base their work on the certain previously known facts, and on the writers that create original work by themselves:”We must separate writers who, like the ancient authors of epics and tragedies, take over their material readymade, from writer who seem to originate their own material.”(39) Thirdly,the creative process usually consists of the certain stages, and eventhough the authors name them differently the descriptions are quite similar. Zelina(192) acknowledges these four stages of the creative process: 1.Preparation- collection of all necessary informations 2.Incubation- thinking about something else 3.Illumination-heuristic moment-sudden discovery of a solution 4.Verification-critical analyses and evaluation of the idea 11 Another author-Steven.H.Kim(14) provides similar division of the stages of the creative process: 1. Vision-the appearance of a certain image 2. Plan-exact planning and account of how to achieve the final product 3. Implementation-of the vision and plan into the concrete situation 4. Evaluation- comes from realization of the experience and application of the product John Curtis Gowan recognizes these three phases in the creative process: 1.the prelude ritual 2.the altered state of consciousness or creative spell during which the creative idea is born, starting with vibrations, thin mental images, then the flow of ideas which are finally clothed in form.... 3.the postlude in which positive emotions about the experience suffuse the participant Another author Gail Sheedy in his book Pathfinders defines these three phases of the creative process: 1.Preparation-gathering impressions and images 2.Incubation-leting go of certainties 3.Immersion and illumination-creative intervention/risk 4.Revision-conscious structuring and editing of creative material As for the artists Jung recognizes two modes of artistic creation(Jung 177,178) 1.psychological-the artist`s is an interpretation and illumination of the contents of consciousness 2.visionary-the experience that furnishes the material for artistic expression is no longer familiar. Freud believes that creative process in writer`s case is the result of the traumatic experience and neurosis:”A strong experience in the present awakens in the creative writer a memory of an earlier experience( usually belonging to his childhood) from which there now proceeds a wish which finds its fulfillment in the creative work. The work itself exhibits elements of the recent provoking occasion as well as of the old memory.”(Freud 42) 12 Prokop sums up the importance of all the elements : created product, creative personality, and creative process, as interrelated and determinant for the whole creative process: “.. It is about the relationship of an artist towards the art product, and towards the creative process, and authorial realization of the art product. Between the artist, the creative process, and the product there is an obvious, but not necessarily automatic connection. The predisposition of the creativity is of course the personality of an artist, who is not only self-realized, but also manifested and created. On the other hand , the criteria of whether it is about the artist`s persona or about the creative process is determined by the art product. The art product is, however, not the simple, and the direct extension or reflection of an artist`s personality, or only of the creative process.”(Prokop 26) With all these thoughts in mind I would like to concentrate on the actual creative process in which the poet writes or creates the art product- his poetry. There are three irreplaceable factors: the artist himself-poet´s persona, the process of structuring or composing, and the poetic language that is a building material of every poet. As a result of an interaction of the above mentioned elements the poem is created.There is an analogy between the Sausseres definition about language and the process of creating or writing the poetry:„the concept of language as a sign system or structure whose individual components can be understood only in relation to each other and to the system as a whole rather than to an external reality.“ (Cuddon 923). Poetry is formed and therefore, should be analyzed and evaluated based on the interrelation of three factors: poet´s persona, process of structuring or composing, and poetic language. 13 CHAPTER II.: Poet`s Persona 14 There exist numerous types and classifications of the types of poets.In the following chapter we will look at the poet´s persona based on the contrast of the music composer, choreographer and the “Emersonian “ nature of poet. Firstly,according to Zich (Prokop 27) there are three types of poets:“ visual, audial and kinesthetic. The dominant disposition e.g. audial is sometimes considered to be a specific talent. Such a disposition is necessary prerequisite, and part of talent, but it can be further differentiated(e.g. stronger sense of color than of line), and also artist`s talent is a complex of dispositions- it means it can not exist without exceptional emotional and imaginative dispositions that are inborn or educated.“ From some others classifications of the poets I would like to mention Coleridge and Wordsworth theory: „They devide poets into two categories- imaginative (real creators) and fantasizing (copying). (29) The similar is the division of Šalda:”poet as a creator with the inner eye versus the writer(stereotyping, craft rather than art creating poet. (29).Another lassification of the artists is based on the the way they create : „it is a typology based on the character and type of the creative process- the spontaneous type versus rational or structuring type.(29). According to Dictionary of Literary Terms (Cuddon 941), poets of the symbolist movement believed that the poetry should be written:“so that by the fusion of images and by the musical quality of the verse;by, in short, a form of so-called pure oetry. The music of the words provided the requisite element of suggestiveness. Verlaine, in his poem Art poetique (1874), for instance, says that verse must possess this musical quality“avant toute chose“. Valery summoned the ideas of musicality in his essay”Poetry and abstract thought:dancing and walking”, and eventhough he draws certain analogies between poetry, music and dance, he claims the position of the poetry to be the most difficult one:“the musician is thus in possession of a perfect system of 15 well defined means which exactly match sensations with acts“(Valery 258), while „the poetic universe is not created so powerfully or so easily.The poet has to borrow language-...nothing pure;but a mixture of completely incoherent auditive and psychic stimuli. Each word is an instantaneous coupling of a sound and a sense“(Valery 259), and thirdly, „..dance is quite another matter...it goes nowhere. If it pursues an object, it is only an ideal object, a state, an enchantment, the phantom of a flower, an extreme of life, a smilewhich forms at last on the face of the one who summoned it from empty space. It is therefore not question of carrying out a limited operation whose end is situated somewhere in our surroundings, but rather of creating, maintaining, and exalting a certain state, by a periodic movement that can be executed on the spot; a movement which is almost entirely dissociated from sight, but which is stimulated and regulated by auditive rhythm.(Valery 260). As it can be observed from the previously mentioned quotes by Valery the certain analogies can be found between music, dance and poetry. In my opinion, there is a great similarity on the abstract level between music composing, dance choreographing and poetry writing. Therefore, there must exist certain similar traits between the persona of musician, choreographer and poet. Famous American music composer provides us with the following typologies of composers, based on the way each of them „conceives music“ (Copland 27,28): 1. the type that has fired public imagination most is that of the spontaneously inspired composer-e.g. Franz Schubert- music simply wells out of him; In a sense one of this kind begins not so much with a musical theme as with a completed composition. 2. the second type-the constructive type, one might call it- e.g. Beethoventhis type exemplifies my theory of the creative process in music better than any other because in this case the composer really does begin with a musical theme. Beethoven was not a spontaneously inspired; he was the type that begins with a theme;makes it a germinal idea; and upon that constructs a musical work, day after day in painstaking fashion. Most composers since Beethoven`s day belong to this second type. 16 3. The third type of creator I can only call, for lack of a better name the traditionalist type.Men like Bach belong in this category. The traditionalist type of composer begins with a pattern rather than with a theme. The creative act is not the thematic conception so much as the personal treatment of well-established pattern. As for the poets they can be also classified according to this model, and the way they create, eventhough in my opinion all poets are combining all three types of the procedure during their creative lives. Unfortunatelly, there was no such classification made on the poets as it was done by Copland on the musicians, and probably the only way in which we would be able to differentiate the poets according to the way they create the poetry would be through their own honestly written down notes on how they produced the individual poems. According to the authority in the field of the dance-Doris Humphrey- the who is herself a famous choreographer the creator or in her case choreographer should possess set of the characteristics neccessary for his or her creatively productive work. This is what Humphrey writes about the persona of the ideal choreographer:(Humphrey 20,24) 1. Choreographer should be predominantly extrovert and keen observer. 2. Choreographer must have a high resistance to novelty for its own sake and courage to depart from the trends of the day if necessary. 3. Choreographer, but fascinated with all manifestations of form and shape. 4. Choreographer must have a dramatic sense, and an ability to grasp and hold an over-all shape-this clearly calls for an emotional nature. 5. Choreographer should have, and this ability can be trained too- good eye and sensitive ear- the good eye knows how to choose the telling line, the right design; also the well trained ear is sensitive to music. 6. Choreographer should have a quality-language skill-he has a mind full of pungent, vivid or poetic language which he can use to convey his intentions; language skill is for dances that have meaning; for those which are based only on physical movement, the vocabulary of a drill sergeant is quite sufficient. 17 The final quote lead us back to the poet´s. The good or ideal poet should have the quality of both a good music composer, and the qualities of a good choreographer,only instead of working with :space,music,dancer and idea, the poet is juggling with the structures, metres and figures of the speech, or rather he is seeking the ultimate balance between the images he carries in his head , and their practical realization or manifestation in words, and verse forms. So, as Valery writes(Valery 259): „The poet is ...obliged to speculate on sound and sense at once, and to satisfy not only harmony and musical timing but all the various intellectual and aesthetic conditions, not to mention the conventional rules....“ and continues ,“you can see what an effort the poet`s undertaking would require if he had consciously to solve all these problems....“ The previous quotes leads us to another level of classification of the poets. Emerson in his famous essay on the poets raises many interesting questions about the nature of the poets. According to Emerson:“poet is a representative, poet is a young man who admires geniuses, poet is able to perceive nature fully and is able to interpret this truth to others. “Valery expresses similar idea in the following quote:“In my eyes a poet is a man,who, as a result of a certain incident, undergoes a hidden transformation. He leaves his ordinary condition of general disposability, and I see taking shape in him an agent, a living system for producing verses“ (Valery 259), and so translating the message in a form of poetry to others.In the last paragraph of his essay”The Poet”, Emerson writes:“Thou true landlord!sea lord!air-lord!“ I would like to include my definition of the poet-since I expressed the similar idea of the man-poet in the poem“My Name Is Nobody“ which I had written in 1993: MY NAME IS NOBODY. (4 substances travelling) My name is Nobody I swim in Nowhere I own some souls,but I am not a Waterman. 18 My name is Nobody I believe in Nothing I forge cold irony,but I am not a Blacksmith. My name is Nobody I pray for Nonsense I used to fly in wind,but I am not a Spaceman. My name is Nobody I live in No-man-land I work on the field, but I am not a Farmer. And I still have to wonder, Will I find the answer? In my opinion expressed in this poem, poets are people who can see behind the scenes, because their imagination can travel everywhere and eventhough the poets do not provide the mankind with the exact answer to their questions: What is the world like? Is there a God?, still poets are able through their work feed the imaginations of other people and push them higher in their quest for the true answers to these basic questions of the human existence. It is not a surprise that there can be many parallels found between English Romantics and Emerson`s view of the poet since they were all influenced by the same philosophy. For example, Shelley claims: „Poets are trumpets which sing to battle. Poets are the „unacknowledged legislators of the worlds.“ (Burghess 166). Furthermore, Wordsworth claims:“The poet is a Prophet, not the transcriber of the other men`s true, but the initiator of the truth itself.“(Burghess 166). Emerson summarizes this views in a following way: “The poet has a new thought: he has a whole new experience to unfold, he will 19 tell us how it was with him, and all men will be the richer in his fortune. For the experience of each new age requires a new confession, and the world seems always waiting for its poet.“ (Emerson 455).T.S.Eliot adds the similar idea in his essay “The Modern Mind”: „Each age demands different things from poetry (and poet as well), though its demands are modified, from time to time, by what some new poet has given." (Eliot 545). Besides positive aspects of the nature of poets, Emerson also mentions the negative side of their nature, or prize that poets and other artists pay if their desire to create leads them“ to lead a life of pleasure and indulgence.“ Emerson continues:“ They were punished for that advantage they won, by dissipation, and deterioration.“(Emerson 463). We all know that many poets and other artists drank excessively, or took drugs, or died too young. American psychoanalyst, Rolo May, who deals with the artists maintains: „ Artists are competing with Gods by trying to become immortal through their art. Therefore, Gods punished them for this and their lives are often difficult and full of disaster.“ Next important observation that Emerson made about poets is that also ordinary men are poets because they are in love with the Nature even if this love of the beauty is only subconscience:“Who loves Nature? Is it only poets, and men of leisure and cultivation, who live with her? No, but also hunters, farmers, grooms, and butchers, though they express their affection in their choice of life, and not in their choice of words.“ (Emerson 459). Emerson believed that beauty lies in simplicity. This leads us to another „type“ of a poet- magician. Previous statements may be directly contradicted with the symbolists poets that belong into so called „transcendental symbolism.“ In this kind, concrete images are used as symbols to represent a general or universal ideal world of which the real world is a shadow. In the 19-th century there developed the idea that this „other world“ was attainable, not through religious faith or mysticism, but through the poetry. Baudelaire and his followers created the image of the poet as a kind of seer or voyant,who could see through and beyond the real world to the world of ideal form and essence.“(Cuddon 940,941). In addition, Paul De Mann in his essay “The Double Aspect of Symbolism” maintains the image of a poet as a magus:”and the modern poet has often become like one of the magi, 20 underway towards a new epiphany.”(De Mann 15) He and many philosophers considered to be one of the best poets of all times German poet Holderlin :” whose work has of late become more and more associated with this vocation of the poet as a Kind of Magus.”(De Mann 15) I belive that concept of the symbolists as a poet –magician, and the concept of the Emerson based on the philosophy of transcendentalism have much in common. They percieve the poet as a transcendental messenger between two worlds. Emerson , however, names his poet a mystique rather than magi. Eventhough, Emerson disagrees with a poet to be only a mystique, he often mentions in his essays mysticism, when explaining the nature of the poets. For example:“The people fancy they hate poetry, and they are all poets and mystics!“(Emerson 459). Also, Eliot in his essay “The Modern Mind” (Eliot 545) admits: „ That there is a relation, (not necessarily noetic, perhaps merely psychological) between mysticism and some kinds of poetry, or some of the kinds of state in which poetry is produced, I would make no doubt.“ The word mysticism comes from Greek and it means“to be initiated or consecrated“. Author(H.J.Storig 199) provides us with the following definition: „Mysticism as an ecclesiastical attitude is not tied to the certain period of time. In every epoch and at every moment of life, man has a choice to „close his eyes“, not to look at the world, but to look into his or her inside, and to light the torch of divine sparkle that is already there. “Master Eckhart is considered to be one of the most distinctive personalities of the Middle Ages. He talks about this three signs of mysticism: 1. The original God does not exist, therefore, it is like an abbys of nothingness. 2. The uniformity of God and Soul exist. The soul is created to the image of God. The soul consists of three spiritual powers: knowledge, anger, and wanting. These qualities are equivalent to three virtues: faith,love, and hope. Over these three stands the divine sparkle. 3. Mystic is trying to leave himself and to merge with God. Note the last rule most importantly, since Eliot talks about similar experience :“The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of 21 personality....It is in this depersonalization ( which is at the same time fusion with something else..) that art may be said to approach the condition of science“,and he continues, „ mind of the mature poet differs from that of the immature one not precisely in any valuation of „personality“ not being necessarily more interesting or having more to say, but rather by being a more finely perfected medium in which special or very valued feelings are at liberty to enter into new combinations.“(Eliot 527) Moreover, Emerson is not right when he claims that there is a difference between the poet and the mystic:“here is the difference betwixt the poet and mystic, that the last nails a symbol to one sense, which was a true for a moment, but soon becomes old and false.“ (Emerson 466). At the same time Emerson writes exactly like Eliot- poet is a Medium between God(Nature), and this dimension.“ Basically both of them at certain points contradict themselves, when immediately after Eliot writes that „poet is perfected medium“, he continues,” The point of view which I am struggling to attack is perhaps related to the metaphysical theory of the substantial UNITY of the SOUL: for my meaning is, that the poet has, not a personality to express, but a particular medium(rather I would suggest he becomes medium), which is only a medium not a personality, in which impression and experiences combine in peculiar and unxepected ways.“ (Eliot 528). In conclusion, the poet´s persona should not only possess all the qualities of the good choreographer and music composer, but also the “Emersonian” poet should serve as a transcendental messenger between the two worlds of the fantasy and reality, and should as such try to distance himself from his real life persona represented by his ego. I would like to conclude the chapter on the poet`s persona with the following poem by Linda Pastan: POET At his right hand Silence At his left hand Silence 22 Ahead of him Silence; And above his head All the letters of the alphabet To choose from. (Holt, et.al. 378) 23 CHAPTER III.: Process of structuring and composing of poetry The process of “choosing from the letters of alphabet”, or the actual creative process in which poetry or poem is written, and we called it process of structuring and composing of poetry will be discussed in the following chapter. The actual ideas on how any work of art is composed seem to be identical in choreographing dances,music composing and poems writing, while most of the artists describe these stages in the creative :good theme selection, appropriate structure selection and the overall molding or unity of the all elements . The selection of the theme seems to be the most dominant or important one in a process of creation. Firstly, choreographer Humphrey perceives the relationship between the theme and author as a very intimate one: „The relationship of the creator to his theme is very much like that between lovers. He is intoxicated with its charms, embraces it on every possible occasion, dreams of it at night, delights in decking it out in the richest ornaments at his command.(Humphrey 24). Secondly, the music composer Copland suggests that theme should be opened enough, and as such provide enough space for further work: „Always remember that a theme is after all, only a succession of notes. As a matter of fact, the experience of most composers has been that the more complete a theme is, the less possibility there is of seeing it in various aspects. If the theme itself, in its original form is long enough and complete enough, the composers may have difficulty in seeing it in any other way....Great music can be written on themes that in themselves are insignificant."(Copland 27) Next, Edgar Allan Poe in his Philosophy of Composition proposes the exact way of choosing his theme when writing his famous poem Raven, and he 24 derives his selection of theme based on the aesthetic principals of beauty: „When indeed men speak of Beauty, they mean precisely not a quality, as is supposed, but an effect – they refer in short, just to that intense and pure elevation of soul.(664) Regarding, then Beauty as my province, my next question referred to the tone of its highest manifestation- and all experience has shown that this tone is- sadness.(665)..After I asked myself: „Of all melancholy topics, what according to the universal understanding of mankind is the most melancholy?“ Death- was the obvious reply.“ When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world. (666) If everything in nature is ordered,and interrelated through the precisely correlated structures, then all the good art work should be based or formed with the structure,or on the basis of some structure.There are at least two types of structures : on the outer level, and on the inner level, and they are similar in music composing, dance choreographing, and poetry structuring. The outer structure is required “to hold together” the building material in any of three arts we mentioned so far.First of all, music composer will need : “his stock in trade, certain formal structural molds on which to lean for the basic framework of his compositions. These formal molds I speak of have all been gradually evolved over hundreds of years as the combined efforts of numberless composers seeking a way to ensure the coherence of their compositions.”(Copland 30). On the other hand, choreographer Humphrey believes that origin of forms comes from :”The innate sense of structure in people has been acquired through thousands of experiences with design. Every day in every life, the senses are impressed with the shape of objects, from the humble comb to huge architectural designs or natural phenomena like mountains.(Humphrey 49).As for the writers,Longinus states about writers that they not only need certain greatness of soul, but also certain knowledge of how to write based on the writers that preceeded them:”Greatness of soul is admittedly the prime requisite for great writing. But it must be fed and developed by an enthusiastic immitation and emulation of previous great poets and writers.”(Longinus 61) 25 In addition, Edgar Alan Poe laughs at those who believe that they can create out of othing:”Most writers-poets in especial-prefer having it understood that they compose by a SPECIES OF FINE FRENZY- an ecstatic intuition, and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes”, and continues,”No one point in its composition is referrible either to accident, or intuition,that the work proceeded, step by step, to its completion with the precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem.”(Poe 663).In addition, Humphrey agrees with Poe, when she continues:”I am not an advocate of “emoting” as the keystone to dance structure. It is well to say again that there is a discipline which must be followed in constructing dances. “(Humphrey 31) Moreover, she suggests to young choreographers: “If you are completely satisfied with the key shapes of our time, do not seek to compose....” Furthermore, Copland believes that:”Structure in music is no different from structure in any other art; it is simply the coherent organization of the artist`s material,....but most masterworks ...seldom fit so neatly as they are supposed to into the exteriorized forms of the textbooks.” (Copland 75). As for the poetry, Wordsworth believs that poetry originates from a special state of contemplation:”it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”(Wordsworth 344). On the other hand ,Eliot claims that poetry can be formed in two ways: “1. It may be formed out of one emotion, or may be a combination of several, and various feelings infering for the writer in particular words or phrases, may be added to compose final result.” “2. Great poetry may be made without the direct use of any emotion whatevercomposed out of feelings solely.” (Eliot 527) Moreover, Poe went further and demanded precise structuring of the writing “good writers calculate their effects precisely”, and he worked hard at structuring his tales.”(Poe 591). Hunter in his Norton Introduction to Poetry writes: “Basically, the problem of how to organize one`s material is , for the writer, first of all a matter of deciding what kind of thing one wants to create, of having its purposes and effects clearly in mind. That means that every poem will differ somewhat from every other, but it also means that patterns of purpose-narrative, dramatic, 26 discursive, descriptive, imitative, or reflective – may help writers organize and formulate their ideas. A consciousness of purpose+effect can help then reader to see how a poem proceeds towards its goal, and often it is the organization of the poem that helps to make clear the particular effects that poet wishes to generate.” (Hunter,173,174). Hunter also provides the definitions of the individual structures as follows: 1.narrative structure-based on straightforward chronological framework 2.dramatic structure-consisting of a series of scenes, each of which is presented vividly and in detail 3.discursive structure-organized in the form of treatise, argument , or essay 4.descriptive structure-determined by the requirements of describing someone or something 5.imitative structure-mirroring exactly, if possible, the structure of something that already exists as an object and can be seen 6.reflective-meditative structure-pondering a subject, theme,or event, and letting the mind play with it, skipping from one sound to another, or to related thoughts or objects as the mind receives them. (Hunter 174) The idea of deviding the writing process into outer and inner structuring came to me after I read those quotes:”I think of design in general as falling into two major categories,symetrical, and asymmetrical; each of which may be of two kinds: oppositional, and successional. “(Humphrey 50). Copland expresses similar idea when writing about music composing: “There are two ways in which structure in music may be considered;1.form in relation to a piece as a whole (outer structure),and 2. form in relation to the separate, shorter parts of a piece(inner structure).” (Copland 77). It just reminds me of poetry being written with the use of outer structure, such as Hunter writes above, and with the use of inner structure such as metric system is, or being written without exact inner system-such as free verse. As history shows us that almost all remembered poetry has something formal about it-that is a distinct form or structure. “Poetic form is based mainly on the organization of sounds, ...and poetry is a musical kind of speech.Like music, it is based on rhythm-that is on the alternation of stressed and unstressed sounds. “ (Holt,et.al. 300) Poets have 27 a choice in the kind of rhythm they can use meter( something what Humphrey calls symmetry in dance), or they can use free verse(something that Humphrey calls asymmetry in dance.) Every line of poetry written in meter is made up of metrical units called feet. We recognize these five types used by poets in English: 1.iamb(iambic)- An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in this line by Tennyson: “The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls...” 2.trochee(trochaic)- A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in this line from Shakespeare:”Double,double, toil and trouble..” 3.anapest(anapestic)- Two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable, as in this line by Byron: “The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold...” 4.dactyl(dactylic):One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, as in this line from a nursery rhyme:”Hickory,dickory,dock 5.spondee(spondaic): Two stressed syllables, as in this line by Tennyson: “Break, break,break Oh thy cold gray stones,O sea!” (Holt,et.al.302) Free verse (a loose kind of rhythm in which sounds of long phrases are balanced against the sounds of short phrases), appeared early in this century( is probably the youngest from poetry forms), when some American and English poets decided to get rid of the artificial sentimentality of poetry, and they concentrated on “carrying the full emotional message of a poem.”They also said:”We do not insist upon “free verse” as the only method of writing poetry,” they said.”We do believe that the individuality of the poet may often be better expressed in free verse than in conventional forms.”For example when William Carlos Williams first began to write poems, they had none of the familiar elements of poetry except for imagery and a kind of rhythm that seemed more conversational than poetic, and therefore, no one took him seriously: This Is Just To Say I have eaten 28 The plums That were in The icebox And which You were probably Saving For breakfast Forgive me They were delicious So sweet And so cold William Carlos Williams The big opponent of free verse Robert Frost wrote: “writing in this manner is like playing tennis with the net down..” (Holt,et.al.303,304). The dispute could be made on the fact whether poet should have both outer and inner structure when writing a poem, and as Copland already said:”most masterworks seldom fit the structures from the text-books”, but if the poet wants to write his poetry for others not just for himself, certain structuring is necessary in order to make his work comprehensible for public. Besides selection of theme, and selection or creation certain structures there is a certain process of molding all the elements together when shaping the composition. First of all, the music composer after he had chosen musical idea (theme), and partially decided about the structure he should add to his material some bridging material, and then he can work in two other ways: 1.elongation process-often the composer finds that a particular theme needs elongation, so that its character may be more clearly defined; 2.and another way is that of working with the metamorphoses of his original theme 29 To summarize :”all these things are necessary for the creation of a fullsized piece-the germinal idea, the addition of other lesser ideas, the bridge material for the connection of the ideas, and their full development.” (Copland 29,30). Next, choreographer has to :”recognize four elements of dance movement that are:”design, dynamics,rhythm, and motivation.”...and students are asked to produce variations of the simple movements, until they have nine of them-they can be might be loosely compared to single words, like nouns in language. Nine”words” is quite a vocabulary in the dance, and if the student knows how to complete them with syntax, grammar and phrasing, he will have quite enough movement to complete a whole dance.”(Humphrey 46,47). In addition, Poe in his „Philosophy of Composition“ writes about the same thing like Copland`s metamorphoses of his theme, and Humphrey`s nine variation of the same element- when he writes about the use of refrain “nevermore” that not only ties the whole composition together by limiting or marking its structure, but also recurrence of this phrase helps to finish the final shape of his poem „Raven“:”in the construction of poem-some pivot upon which the whole structure might turn-refrain;the pleasure is deduced solely from the sense of identity- of repetition of one word only.”(Poe 665). I purposefully did not mention the ideas of inspiration. Still, almost all artists, and critiques agree that every author is inspired at least partially or at the certain stages of his creative process. “Poems do not write themselves. Even if the idea for a poem comes in a flash(as it sometimes does) poets often struggle to get the final effect just right. Often a study of the manuscript of the several drafts suggests the various kinds of decisions a poet may make as a poem moves towards its final form.”(Hunter 369)For example, I would like to demonstrate this on my own poems. One of them came in a flash, and it was as a complete vision or image that I conveyed in first two stanzas. The last stanza I had to change several times until it reached the desired effect- and until it explained the title of the poem as well, but I completed the poem in few minutes: ROBOCOP. 30 I am cursed bloody Spot Falling from the Ceiling Of your Vision With a velocity of Star Into the corner of your Eye. I am a piece of dirt That you take between Your fingers and melt With a CO2 until It disappears into the thin air. You make me disappear Because I am your tear And You don`t want to be seen crying... Second poem called LOVE IS took me almost a year to write. I literally dwelt on the idea how to capture and express the idea that love is deep yet simple. I knew that structure and vocabulary had to be very simple, but some people thing that poem is very superficial because it describes what everybody knows. Still for me this poem was the most difficult one to write: LOVE IS Love is just a letter Sitting on the table In the middle of the dust. Love is just a phone call With a heart Left in the wire. 31 Love is just a neigbourgh Working in his garden And waving to the Sun. Love Is Just. Often poets revise their work when reprinting their poems The analyses of the changes the authors made when reprinting their poems are an excellent source for the analyses of the process of srtucturing the poetry.An interesting example is a poem written by Marianne Moore. I decided to include to versions of her poem called “Poetry”: The 1925 Version I too, dislike it: There are things that are important beyond all this fiddle. The bat, upside down, the elephant pushing, The tireless wolf under a tree, The base-ball fan, the statistician“business documents and schoolbooks”these phenomena are pleasing, but when they have been fashioned into that which is unknowable, we are not entertained. It may be said of all of us That we do not admire what we cannot understand; Enigmas are not poetry. The version Moore chose to print in her Complete Poems in 1967: I,too, dislike it. Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one Discovers in 32 It after all, a place for the genuine. (Hunter 378) In both versions the theme, or subject matter has not changed. What has changed, however, is an attitude of the author to the subject matter(Poetry). In the first, longer version author states her reasons why she dislikes complicated metaphors or better to say eccentric metaphors by some authors and criticizes their approach for making poetry non-understandable,and believes that what we can not understand what we can not appreciate. In the second version author discovers that there may be some beauty when the reader is able to distance him or herself from reading the poetry, and enjoy or appreciate even things that seem to be blurred or obscure. As for the structures, outer structure has been reduced almost to the minimum, when all the imagery in the first version reflecting the author´s negative attitude has been reduced to only one word-“contempt”. In addition, this reduction had an influence on the inner structure of the poem as well, where now second version reminds me of Imagist` s style of Ezra Pound. Nevertheless, both poems are complete, and express the finished idea of the author even if those ideas on the same subject matter are slightly different, now.I personally prefer the second version, for it creates more compact and precise expression of the author´s thoughts. Besides good theme, suitable structures, and overall shaping of the poem there is one more prerequirement, unity, that determines whether the poem is well written. All artists may call it differently- choreographer Humphrey describes it as a flow:” It begins with the most important step-the decision as to the basic idea from which the dance will spring.All else flows from this...”(Humphrey 31). The similar idea is expressed in these words of music composer Copland:”a great symphony is a man –made Mississippi; ...Music must always flow, for that is a part of its very essence, but the creation of that continuity and flow-that LONG LINE-constitutes the be-all and end-all of every composer´s existence. (Copland 30).I believe that every well written poem should have both the qualities of good dance(flow), and good music(long line), and this is something 33 what every poetry writer should carry in his mind when writing. In addition, Poe expressed the similar idea in his Philosophy of Composition:”If any literary work is too long to be read at one sitting,...everything like totality is at once destroyed.” (Poe 663). Poe´s idea of unity is similar to that of Humphrey´s idea of flow and Copland´s idea of long line. Moreover, Valery confirms this idea when he refuses to choose some lines from the poetry of V.Hugo by saying:”What is great about poetry is not the fine line or even the percentage of great ones that you can find in a poem and cut out from the whole; it is in my opinion, the composition as a whole( succession of images, tones, rhythms, sounds) which make the poem an indivisible unity....You must experience this unity of poem...” I would like to conclude this chapter on the process of composing and structuring the poems with an idea that the best poems even if they spring from the intuitive flash or glimpse, should be carefully worked on considering their theme, outer and inner structure selection, and with the overall shaping in which the flow or unity of poem should be preserved. 34 CHAPTER IV.: Poetic language: Symbols 35 In the fourth chapter I would like to concentrate on the last of three named basic elements of the creative process- and that is the material that artist has to work with. In poet `s case it is a poetic language.Poetic language is also called “figurative language”, and that language :”is always based on some kind of comparison that is not literally true.”(Holt,et.all .227) Poetic language comprises of similes, metaphors,and personification,but also of images and symbols. The last one plays a great role in almost any type of poetry.I would like to define the symbol in both literary and non-literary way, provide certain classification of symbols based on the different authors, and to conclude this chapter with the analyses of the different poems written with the use of the same symbol. The word symbol derives from the Greek verb symballein “to throw together” and its noun symbolon “mark”, “emblem”, “token or sign.” It is an object, animate or inanimate which represents or stands for something else.” (Cuddon, 939). As Coleridge claims, a symbol “is characterized by a translucence of the special (i.e. the species) in the individual”. These are all the dictionary definitions of the “symbol”, but I would like to emphasize the global or more general definition of symbols as a basic writing tool of every poet. That is why I chose to concentrate on the symbols as a dominant particle of the poetic language. I would like to support my believes with the following quotes: :”in a very literary sense, words themselves are all symbols (they stand for an object, action, or quality, not just for letters or sounds)” (Hunter 146) Paul de Mann in his essay “The Double Aspect of Symbolism” agrees with these definition of all poetry as a symbolic poetry in 36 a sense of “ symbol-word definition” when he argues with the words of Parnassian poet Heredia the meaning of symbolists poets:”..But why the devil do they call themselves symbolists?...All poets are symbolists!” . De Mann uses another quote by Verlaine( who is himself considered to be a symbolist): “(Symbolism) is a pure pleonasm,since the symbol is the essence of poetry.”(De Mann 4). There are tendencies to classify and to divide symbols according to their usage into : 1. public or universal (Cuddon 939) 2.private or personal(Cuddon 940) 3. transcendental(Cuddon 940,941) 4. traditional(Hunter 151) 5. emotional(Yeats 30 ) 6.intellectual(Yeats 30 ) 7. the archetypes ( King 46 ) First of all, “public or universal symbols have been inherited- that is , they have been handed down through history. For example,no one knows exactly who first thought of using the lion to symbolize power, courage, and domination. But once those qualities have been assigned to it, images of lions began to appear on flags, banners, coats of arms, and castle walls, and the lion became a public symbol.” (Holt,et.al.248) Another “example in literature of public or universal symbol is a journey into the underworld (as in the work of Virgil, Dante and James) and return from it.”(Cuddon 939).Among others public or universal symbols are often mentioned:”lamb or fish as a symbol of Christ, a curved sword as a symbol of the Muslim world, a six-pointed star represents the people of Israel, an eagle came to symbolize the U.S., an image of the rising sun came to symbolize Japan, and a winged horse came to symbolize poetry.” (Holt,et.al.248) Second type of symbols are so called “private or personal symbols” are those that come from “the event that is personal, but the poet gives it significance by the interpretation he puts upon it.”(Hunter 148).Examples of the private symbols are also those that occur in the work of W.B.Yeats:” the sun and moon, a tower, a mask, a tree, a winding star and hawk.(Cuddon 940) 37 Third type of symbols are transcendental symbols. “In this kind,concrete images are used as symbols to represent a general or universal world of which the real world is a shadow....This general or universal or ideal world was to be achieved by the fusion of images and the musical quality of verse that would provide its suggestiveness.” (Cuddon 941) In this case the whole works(poems) were symbolic not only concrete images. The symbolist movement included Moreas with progenitors such as Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Rimbaud in France.(Cuddon 941) “The main representatives of symbolist movement outside France are: “ W.B.Yeats, the Imagist group of English and American poets(especially T.E.Hulme and Ezra Pound), and T.S.Eliot.” (942). Fourth type of symbols are so called “traditional” symbols. “They already stand for something before the poet creates them. Their uses in poetry have to do with the fact that poets can count on a recognition of their traditional suggestions, and meaning outside the poem, and the poem does not have to propose or argue a particular symbolic value. (Hunter 151) For example, “birds symbolize flight, freedom from confinement,...traditionally, birds have also been linked with imagination, and poets often identify with them as ideal singers of songs, as in Keat`s”Ode to Nightingale.” (151) Fifth type of symbols are according to Yeats “emotional symbols”. According to Yeats:”All sounds , all colors, all forms, either because of their preordained energies or because of long association evoke indefinable and yet precise emotions....and the more numerous the elements that have flowed into its perfection, the more powerful will be the emotion,the power..”(Yeats 30,31)”For Yeats, Shakespeare´s works are filled with emotional symbols (“they represent the whole spectacle of world”)”(33) Sixth type of symbols are according to Yeats “intellectual symbols”. They are “symbols that evoke ideas alone....and ...It is the intellect that decides whether the reader shall ponder over the procession of the symbols, and if the symbols are intellectual, the reader becomes the part of the pure intellect...” (Yeats 33). For Yeats, Dante represents the writer who uses many intellectual symbols. The seventh type of symbols is called archetypes. It is a term produced by C.G.Jung, and it means probably the general definition of the symbol, or 38 archetypes could be used as an umbrella term for all symbols. “The theory of unconscious archetypes is a re-expression in terms of Jungian in depth – psychology, of an ancient idea which some of the alchemists and occult philosophers of old expressed by the phrase”the world has a soul.” They called the world-soul by its Latin name, anima mundi. “ Anima mundi, so it has been said, is a sort of super-memory in which are recorded all the experiences undergone by the myriads of living beings. In this memory are retained not just events, but concepts-religious, philosophical and mystical theories, besides much else” the totality of the collective wisdom(“Jungian collective unconsciousness”), and in some other sources called Akashic Record(Hamilton-Parker 65). Anima mundi contains within it enourmously powerful images-the archetypes- which represent various aspects of humanity´s experience and wisdom in much the same way as an accurate, large-scale map represents a landscape.”(King 47) The archetypes of anima mundi are partially expressed, so it is claimed, in the symbolism and imagery of the tarot trumphs.(47). “At one period of his life T.S.Eliot was so fascinated by the symbols of the tarot that he came to mentally identify the tarot card called the Three of Wands “the man with three staves”) with the wounded Fisher King of the legends of the Holly Grail. The appeal that the tarot symbols had for Eliot has been felt by many others, e.g. W.B.Yeats( symbols of moon, tower and so on..).(King 44,45). Here is how Eliot criticizes Yeats in his essay”The Modern Mind”:” No one can read Mr. Yeats´s autobiographies and his earlier poetry without feeling that the author was trying to get as a poet something like the exaltation to be obtained, I believe, from hashish or nitrous oxide. He was very much fascinated by self-induced trance states, calculated symbolism.....”(Eliot 545). Besides the approximate classification of symbols it is very interesting to observe how the different authors worked and used the same symbol – rose-in their own way to create three different poems. (Go not too near a House of Rose-) Go not too near a House of RoseThe depredation of a Breeze 39 Or inundation of a Dew Alarms its walls away- Not try to tie the Butterfly, Nor climb the Bars of Ecstasy, In insecurity to lie Is Joy s insuring quality. Emily Dickinson,1878 ( Hunter 155) Firstly, Emily Dickinson uses the image of rose. In her case, rose represents love- the roses are in this poem used as a traditional symbol“House of Rose”.Also, the symbol “House of Rose can be associated with Beauty, which would make the rose – emotional symbol. The word rose evokes in the readers images associated with beauty. The different interpretation of the symbol would , consequently led to a different interpretation of the whole poem. While in the first case the House of Rose interpreted as a symbol of love would suggest that “it is better to love someone from distance....line1(Go not too near a House of Rose-) and it is better to be unsure or with unreturned love...line7(In insecurity to lie), than to be involved in love relationship ...line 6(Nor climb the Bars of Ecstasy), and try to restrict the freedom of the other person-line 5(Nor try to tie the Butterfly) . On the other hand, the poem can be interpreted based on the interpretation of the rose as a symbol of beauty – as a subject that is beautiful, and can be admired only from a distance-line 1(Go not too near a House of Rose-), because the rose has thorns and the person can get hurt when he/or she would come too close.Also, the rose is more beautiful when in nature in “Breeze, and Dew” and alive “left free” (Nor try to tie the Butterfly)-line5, rather than cut off from the nature and put in the vase. Secondly, William Carlos Williams used the image of rose rather to express one compact idea, the whole poem is based on simile of rose and poem: POEM The rose fades And is renewed again 40 By its seeds, naturally But where Save in the poem Shall it go To suffer no diminution Of its splendor William Carlos Williams,1962 (Hunter 155) The rose in this case serves not only as simile, but also as an “universal symbol”- it represents nature and its constant rebirth .While in the rose´s case the seeds from which the flower grows are always the same, in the case of the poem the seeds-the words from which the poem is comprised of are never the same. Williams believes that good poem should have all the quality of the rose- it should be beautiful, and magnificent.In this case the symbol of rose is that of”transcendental” when the rose serves as a reflection of a well written poem. Thirdly, Dorothy Parker uses the “traditional” symbol of rose as a symbol of conventional way of expressing affection: One Perfect Rose A single flower he sent me, since we met. All tenderly his messenger he choose; Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wetOne perfect rose. I knew the language of the floweret; “My fragile leaves,” it said, “ his heart enclose.” Love long has taken for his amulet One perfect rose. Why is it no one ever sent me yet One perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it s always just my luck to get 41 One perfect rose. Dorothy Parker, 1937 (Hunter 155) In Parker` s case , the rose is used as something less worthy. The symbol of rose is used in a traditional way (I knew the language of the floweret; “My fragile leaves,”it said, “his heart enclose.”), but the poem is constructed on the contrast of the traditional symbol of rose, and “one perfect limousine” as a new symbol - concept of something precious and luxurious. The conventional overuse of the traditional symbol of rose is emphasized throughout the whole poem with a refrain of the line:”One perfect rose.” In this poem the rose is used to represent something old, and archaic that has grown out of fashion. In conclusion, symbols are “words that describe not only a verbal universe but a world in which actions occur, acts have implications, and events mean.”(Hunter 146) I provided partial classification of the symbols, yet I believe that the most important idea is that all poetry is written in symbols. I chose symbols as broader or generalized definition of the poetic language or figurative speech, in order to demonstrate how much is the process of constructing the poem determined through the poet´s persona with an individual choice of symbolism, and how much the same symbol can inspire totally different results when writing poetry. 42 CONCLUSION In my work I tried to analyze the creativity and the creative process through which the poetry is created. Firstly, in the first chapter I included the psychological point of view on the creativity and the theoretical background for the whole diploma work. I intoduced and described the three basic elements of the creative process:the created product, the creative individual, and the stages that govern this creative process. I would like to emphasize that creative process in which poetry is created is determined by the interaction of the three p´s : persona of the poet, process of structuring or composing, and the poetic language. Secondly, I dealt with theory of the nature of the poets based on the transcendetalism of Emerson in the context of the other arts such as music and dance,in the second chapter. Thirdly, in the third chapter I described the way in which the poetry could be structured or composed based on the evaluation of the music composing, dance choreographing, and Poe´s Philosophy of Composition. Next,in the fourth chapter I tried to partially classify the poet´s language more specifically symbols, because all the words that poets are using are symbols. 43 In conclusion I would like to emphasize that the creativity as such is a very broad term, and that I was able only partially demonstrate what it is. With my diploma work I was only able to prove that the creative process or the process in which poems are created is determined by and must be analysed in the context of the interaction of : the author´s persona, process of structuring or composing the poems, and the author´s individual choice of the poetic language. B I B L I O G R A P H Y. 1.Zelina M., Ako sa stať tvorivým, Fontana Kiado,1997,17-185 2.Zelina M., Stratégie a metódy rozvoja osobnosti dieťaťa,Iris,Bratislava,1996 189-192 3.Kim S.H., Podstata tvorivosti,Open Windows,Bratislava,1993, 14-54 4.Jung C.G.,Psychology and Literature, 20-th Century Literary Criticism,ed. David Lodge, Longman, London and New York,1992, 177-185 5.Prokop D., Oběcná uměnoveda, Gryf, Praha,1994, 26-29 6.Freud S., Creative Writers and Day-dreaming,20-th Century Literary Criticism,ed.David Lodge, Longman, London and New York,1992, 36-42 7.Cuddon J.A., Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory,3 ed., Penguin Books,England,1991, 923-942 8.Valery, (Poetry and abstract thought: dancing and walking),20-th Century Literary Criticism, ed. David Lodge, Longman, London and New York,1992, 258-260 9.Humphrey D., The Art of Making Dances,ed.Barbara Pollack,Grove Press,Inc./New York,1977, 20-50 44 10.Copland A.,What to listen for in Music,A Mentor Book from New American Library, New York and Scarborough, Ontario,1967, 27-77 11.Emerson R.W.,The Poet,The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 3 ed., Volume I, W.W. Norton and Company,New York, London,1989, 455-466 12.Burghesse A.,English Literature, Longman,London,1971, 166 13.Eliot T.S.,The Modern Mind,CRITICISM:THE MAJOR TEXTS, ed. Walter Jackson Bate, New York, Hardcourt, Brace and Company,1952, 545 14.Eliot T.S., Tradition and the Individual Talent,CRITICISM:THE MAJOR TEXTS,ed. Walter Jackson Bate, New York,Hardcourt, Brace and Company,1952, 527-528 15.De Mann P.,The Double Aspect of Symbolism, from Yale French Studies, published by Yale University Press, ed. Kevin Newmark, nr.74, 4-15 16.Poe E.A., Philosophy of Composition,The Norton Anthology of American Literature,3 ed., Volume I, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, London,1989 591-666 17.Holt , et.al., Elements of Literature, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,Inc.,1993 227-378 18.Longinus,CRITICISM:THE MAJOR TEXTS,ed. Walter Jackson Bate,New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company,1952, 61 19. Wordsworth,Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, CRITICISM:THE MAJOR TEXTS,ed.Walter Jackson Bate, New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company,1952, 344 20. Hunter J.P.,The Norton Introduction to Poetry, 4-th ed.,New York,W.W. Norton and Company,1991, 148-378 21.Storig H.J., Malé dějiny filozofie, Zvon,Praha,1991 22.Yeats W.B.,Symbolism in Poetry,20-th Century Literary Criticism, ed.David Lodge, Longman, London and New York, 1992, 30-33 23.King F.X.,The Complete Fortune-Teller, Guild Publishing, London,1989,4447 45 RESUME. Cieľom mojej diplomovej práce je preskúmať proces tvorenia poézie a preskúmať tvorivosť, ktorá tento proces riadi. V prvej kapitole ponúkam určitý teoretický pohľad na tvorivosť z hľadiska psychológie a zároveň táto kapitola slúži ako teoretické východisko celej práce. Každý tvorivý proces pozostáva a je determinovaný vytvoreným produktom, tvorivým indivíduom a tvorivým procesom. Vytvorený produkt je často vyhodnocovaný na základe novosti, originality a praktickej užitočnosti alebo úžitku pre spoločnosť. V umení je však najdôležitejší osobný odkaz alebo subjektívny pohľad jedinca. Cieľom umelcovej práce je preto doručiť, či komunikovať tento osobný odkaz čo najvernejšie a najpresnejšie. To, či sa to umelcovi podarí je deteminované aj jeho osobnosťou. Každý tvorivý jedinec má podľa rôznych autorov určité vlastnosti, pričom by sa tieto definície dali zhrnúť do dvoch základných kategórií: nadpriemerná citlivosť a emotívnosť a určitá syntéza vzájomne si protirečivých vlastností. 46 Ďaľšou zložkou tvorivosti je tvorivý process, ktorý pozostáva z určitých fáz, z ktorých prvá je prípravná a v nej vzniká určitý nápad vo forme myšlienky, alebo môže mať aj vizuálnu podobu.Druhá fáza by sa dala nazvať aj spracovávajúca a počas tejto fázy dochádza k určitému formovaniu idey tvorivým jedincom až kým nedosiahne konečnú podobu. Tretia fáza sa nazýva vyhodnocovacia a v nej dochádza k zhodnoteniu konečného výsledku a efektu aký vyvoláva vytvorené dielo alebo produkt. Štúdium tvorivého procesu ma priviedlo k nasledovnej myšlienke, ktoré je zároveň aj tézou celej diplomovej práce:”Poézia vzniká ako výsledok vzájomnej interakcie básnikovej osobnosti, procesu štruktúrovania, či komponovania a výberu básnických jazykových prostriedkov- v našom prípade symbolov. V druhej kapitole sa zaoberám analýzou rozličných typológii básnikov a ich porovnaním s typológiami hudobných skladateľov a choreografov, pričom básnické osobnosti sú syntézou oboch spomenutých umeleckých typov a líšia sa len výrazovými prostriedkami, ktoré pri tvorbe využívajú. Napriek tomu, že nebola vytvorená klasifikácia ako v prípade hudobných skladateľov na základe spôsobu, akým komponujú: spontánne tvoriaci,ktorí nezačínajú tvoriť od hudobnej témy, ale v podstate majú už hotovú kompozíciu, druhým typom sú skladatelia, ktorí začínajú komponovať z hudobnej témy a tretí typ tvorí na základe určitého vzorca alebo schémy, došla som k záveru , že väčšina básnikov môže tvoriť všetkými spomenutými spôsobmi, v závislosti od situácie. V tejto kapitole sa tiež zaoberám analýzou Emersonovského pohľadu na básnika a jeho osobnosť a došla som k záveru, že básnik je v prvom rade trancendentná bytosť uspôsobená na prenášanie informácií vo forme poézie medzi dvoma svetmi- svetom reálnym a svetom fantázie. V tretej kapitole popisujem proces písania poézie za pomoci popisu zákonitostí komponovania hudby a tanca,keďže názory na spôsob akým vzniká hudba, tanec a poézia sa zdajú byť podobné ak nie identické. Väčšina z horeuvedených umelcov popisuje tieto etapy procesu vznikania diela: dobrý výber témy, vhodný výber štruktúr, a celkový proces doformovania diela pričom 47 musí byť zachovaná celistvosť všetkých prvkov v diele. Ako hlavné dielo v tejto kapitole som použila Poeovu “Filozofiu kompozície”, ktoré ako jedno z mála vypovedá detailne o procese vzniku básne. Tento proces výstavby básne je determinovaný výberom dobrej témy, či nápadu, ktorý by mal byť otvorený a tak inšpirujúci. Ďalej sa zaoberám analýzou rôznych štruktúr z hľadiska cieľa, alebo zámeru básnika, a z hľadiska vnútornej štruktúry básne skúmam ako možno meniť spôsob vyjadrenia básnika. Básnik môže použiť metrický systém, alebo písať voľným veršom, ale stále je nútený použiť určitú štruktúru ak chce aby jeho básne boli zrozumiteľné aj pre širokú verejnosť a aby bol schopný komunikovať svoje osobné posolstvo ďalej. V závere tretej kapitoly analyzujem zmeny, ktoré nastanú ak sa autor z dôvodu znovuvydania rozhodne zrevidovať svoje dielo z hľadiska obsahu a štruktúry a myslím si že je to veľmi dôležité , lebo podobným spôsobom postupujú básnici, keď prvotne tvoria svoje básne. V štvrtej kapitole sa zaoberám štúdiou básnickových výrazových prostriedkov, kedy som sa rozhodla skúmať symboly z hľadiska ich širsej definície ako :” všetkých slov, ktoré používajú básnici”. V prvej časti tejto kapitoly som sa pokúsila o čiastočnú klasifikáciu symbolov na základe mne dostupných literárno-kritických prameňov.Čiastočne som rozdelila symboly a to do týchto siedmych kategórií: 1. verejné alebo univerzálne 2. súkromné alebo osobné 3. transcedentálne 4. tradičné 5. emocionálne 6. intelektuálne 7. archetypy Za najzaujímavejšie považujem práve archetypy, alebo archetypálne symboly, ktoré tvoria kategóriu do ktorej by sa dali zaradiť všetky ostatné symboly. Zaujímavá je aj teória, ktorú uvádzam v súvislosti s tým ako archetypy umožňujú lˇudskému podvedomiu naladiť sa na pokladnicu, či zdroj nápadov 48 zhromaždených počas celej histórie lˇudstva Jungovo kolektívne nevedomie, a ako viacerí básnici boli zaujatí skúmaním týchto archetypov, čo sa prejavilo aj v ich básnickej tvorbe. V druhej časti tejto kapitoly sa venujem analýze použitia toho istého symbolu- symbolu ruže – v troch rozličných básniach .Symbol ruže použili básnici troma rozličnými spôsobmi. V prvom prípade v básni Emily Dickinsonovej (“Go not too near a House of Rose”) bola ruža použitá ako tradičný symbol vyjadrujúci lásku, alebo ako emocionálny symbol vyjadrujúci krásu. Použitie symbolov dvoma rozličnými spôsobmi, vedie k dvom rozličným interpretáciam tej istej básne. V druhom prípade William Carlos Williams v jeho básni (“Poem”) použil symbol ruže ako univerzálny symbol, v ktorom ruža reprezentuje prírodu a jej neustále znovuzrodzovanie. Zároveň ale môže byť symbol ruže v tejto básni chápaný ako transcedentálny, kedy ruža slúži ako zrkadlový obraz dobre napísanej básne. V tomto prípade je tak isto možné interpretovať báseň dvojakým spôsobom v závislosti na ponímaní symbolu. V treťom prípade Dorothy Parkerová v básni (“One Perfect Rose”) používa ružu ako tradičný symbol- ako konvenčný spôsob vyjadrenia lásky. Ale napriek tomu, že ruža je tu použitá ako tradičný symbol, pomáha vytvoriť báseň z hľadiska kontrastu medzi ružou ako klasickým spôsobom a limuzínou ako žiadúcim novým spôsobom vyjadrenia lásky. Ruža je použitá v refréne počas celej básne a autorka tak zdôrazňuje jej opotrebovanie a v istom zmysle zastaranosť ako symbolu na vyjadrenie lásky. V tejto kapitole som sa snažila poukázať na to, že symboly reprezentujú všetky slová,či básnický jazyk z hľadiska ich širšej definície, zároveň som sa snažila poukázať na to do akej miery môže byť proces konštruovania básní cez osobnosť básnika podmienený individuálnym výberom symbolov, a ako dokáže ten istý symbol inšpirovať absolútne odlišné výsledky pri písaní básní. V závere by som chcela upozorniť na to, že pojem tvorivosti je tak obsiahly, že sa mi len čiastočne podarilo poodhaliť, čo sa za ním vlastne skrýva. Svojou prácou som sa snažila dokázať len to, že tvorivý proces, alebo proces tvorby básní je determinovaný a musí byť skúmaný v kontexte- štúdia autorskej 49 osobnosti, tvorivého procesu výstavby štruktúry diela a výberu a uplatnenia individuálneho spôsobu použitia jazykových prostriedkov. Renáta Horkavá 50 51