The Dionysian Myth

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that poetry has traditionally been the realm where the Dionysian myth, as defined in opposition to the Apollonian myth, is able to reign free, effectively embracing the sort of chaos and formlessness that has traditionally defined Dionysus. At the same time, the writer points out, it is very difficult to isolate the Dionysian qualities of a poem from the Apollonian qualities, as one relies on the difference between the two as definitional factors in each; in order for true poetry to occur, one needs the Apollonian to give form and temperance to the wildness of the Dionysian. Still, in this essay, the writer reads two poems by Frank O'Hara, "Poem" and "Homosexuality," from a purely Dionysian standpoint - even though, it may be argued, that an Apollonian reading of the poems may also be elicited.

From the Paper:

" "Poem" is about desire in a purely aesthetic sense. It is Dionysian not only in this embrace of desire and the aesthetic, but in that it does not fear embracing the irrational, the absurd, in rendering a work of art. The poet states that we desire flowers more than George Sand's blue rose; in other words, a blue rose is not a flower? The poem does not really make any logical, Apollonian sense - and that is exactly O'Hara's point. A classical, romantic nature poem about flowers might attempt to elaborate on the qualities of the blue rose via metaphor, thus allowing the Apollonian to temper the Dionysian impulses of the poem. But O'Hara will have none of it - other than stating that it belongs to George Sand, the famous French writer from the 19th century, we do not learn anything else about flowers, other than what they are not: poison oak."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Deutsch, Helene, M.D. A Psychoanalytic Study of the Myth of Dionysus and Apollo: Two Variants of the Son-Mother Relationship. New York: International Universities, 1969.
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy, 1871. Retrieved November 22, 2007 from http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/Nietzsche/tragedy_all.htm.
• Parisi, Joseph and Stephen Young, eds. The Poetry Anthology, 1912-2002: Ninety Years of America's Most Distinguished Verse Magazine. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2002.
• Thro, Michael. "Apollo vs. Dionysus: The Only Theme Your Students Will Ever Need in Writing about Literature." VCCA Journal, Volume 10, Number 2, Summer 1996, 11-18.

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• Analytical Essay # 61838 : "Exploding the Beauty Myth"

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