Apollonian and Dionysian Analysis of Term Paper

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The horn, like Saturn,

Is suspended in its ring of steering wheel;

And below is the black tongue of the gas pedal,

The bulge of the brake, the stalk

Of the stick shift,

Lines 17-21)

The simile, "like Saturn" succeeds in expanding on the image of the car in adding a sense of its larger symbolic meaning. The other images also tend to provide the car with natural attributes - such as a tongue.

In the final lines of the poem, there is a suggestion of Apollonian individualism. The protagonist overcomes the fear of the car and drives. This can be seen as an assertion of individuality over the Dionysian mystery or, on the other hand, acceptance and entrance into that mystery. The last lines of the poem tend to favor the latter interpretation.

The world's open gate, eternity

Hits me like a heart attack.

There is a sense of Dionysian ecstasy in these lines. The poet suggests the larger dimension of interconnected nature and reality. The last Line, "...like a heart attack" also suggests the death of individualism in the understanding of the Dionysian mystery

The second poem, a Display of Mackerel, by Mark Doty, also shows predominantly Dionysian characteristics. The sense of uniformity, inner cohesion and the feeling of being immersed in a single natural entity in the description of the fish clearly, indicate Dionysian symbolism. There is a consistent emphasis in the poem on integration and unity, rather than the Apollonian qualities of separateness and individualism.

The Dionysian interpretation of the poem is obvious from the opening lines.

They lie in parallel rows,

On ice, head to tail,

Each a foot of luminosity

Lines 1-3)

The words "parallel rows" leave no doubt of the unity of the arrangement of the fishes. However, the poem is careful to stress that this is not a bland and dull sort of uniformity.

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The last line of the first and other stanzas in the poem emphasizes the sense of light, radiance and "luminosity" that suggests a deeper and more energetic sense of life and mystery.

The poem continually emphasizes the fact that the fish are integrated not as dead creatures but rather in term of a greater and larger dimension of life and reality. This can be easily related to Dionysian symbolism; for example in line eleven of the poem where the fish are described as "...wildly rainbowed." This is not only a description of color but suggests the beauty and energy of nature that is expanded on as the poem develops.

The central meaning and intent of the poem can be discerned from the following lines.

Nothing about them of individuality. Instead they're all exact expressions of the one soul, each a perfect fulfillment

Lines 16-21)

The above lines clearly contain Dionysian symbolism. The fish have no individuality but are rather subsumed and integrated into "one soul," which is the expression of "perfect fulfillment." These lines could be used as a fairly good description of the ecstatic Dionysian desire for unity with mysterious nature. The poem also asks a question that suggests an argument against the Apollonian desire for rational individuality.

I would you want

To be yourself only,

Unduplicatable, doomed

To be lost?

Lines 33- 36)

The poem ends with a positive sense of affirmation in the unity of the fish.

How happy they seem

Even on ice, to be together, selfless,

Which is the price of gleaming.

It should be remembered that these are fish that are dead or dying and the poem suggests that the unity of their being and their interconnection with nature overcomes or supersedes their individual deaths. From this perspective, the entire poem is an affirmation of the Dionysian view of life….....

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