How Does Psycho-Analysis Explain

the Process of Poetic Creation or

Inspiration?
Nature of Criticism
Classicism vs Romanticism

“…the struggle between classicism and

romanticism exists inside each mind.
And it is from this very struggle that the
work is born. And the wilder the riot to
be tamed, the more beautiful your work
will be.”
-Andre Gide
 Inspiration
• “…a function of the unconscious mind, which is
credited with autonomous activity, with powers
of incubation and elaboration.”
 What Really Happens?
• A dormant image/memory is chosen
• Selected or rejected
• If selected, developed and transformed.

• A state of “ecstasy” is obtained if multiple

images and ideas follow the first.
 Inspiration as a Spiritual Phenomenon
• Prophets are the speakers of God’s words, so are
poets.
• “…there is no invention in (the poet) until he has
been inspired and is out of his senses, and the
mind is no longer in him…”
-Plato
 From religion to aesthetics
• “Inspiration… at certain periods tends to become
extremely religious.”
• Since the 18th century, inspiration has become an
aesthetic term, which sets the distinction between
classicism and romanticism.
 The Sublimation of Phantasy
• According to Freud, there are no differences
between mental patients and poets. While one
keeps his phantasies mental and loses himself,
the other projects his phantasies and keeps his
mind stable.
• However, not every sublimation of phantasy is a
work of art.
 “I believe that the aesthetic pleasure produced in
us by the creative artist has a preliminary
character, and that the real enjoyment of a work of
art is due to the ease it gives to certain psychic
tensions.”
- Sigmund Freud
 The Three Levels of Consciousness
• The Id – Pleasure Principle “Chaos”
• The Ego – Reality Principle “Form”
• The Superego - Morality Principle “Moral”
 The Id
• Energy, irrationality and mysterious power
• The source of inspiration
 The Ego
• Formal synthesis, and unity
 The Superego
• Moral ideologies or spiritual aspirations.
• Inspiration, or the sudden promptings of words,
sounds and images come from the darkness of
the mind which is the id, though uncertain as to
what extent it comes into the consciousness
ready made.
• There are layers in the human mind where these
strata start to interact, a place far beyond the
reach of common men. To those mystics who are
able to connect themselves and provide a
material representation of that place, we call
poets.
 Abnormal Mentality
• Adler, who claims that neurosis comes from the
desire to free oneself from a feeling of inferiority
to gain a feeling of superiority.
• An artist seeks a life within life, to act as God.
• “…he has won through his phantasy – what he
could only win in phantasy honour, power and
the love of women.”
 Summary
• Artists are neurotic by tendency, a fate which he
escapes through the sublimation of his art.
• Psycho-analysis finds in art a system of symbols
representing a hidden reality, and can testify to
the faithfulness, richness, and the range of the
mind behind the symbol.
Thank You