Apollonian and Dionysian concepts in philosophy

Apollonian and Dionysian Analysis of Two Poems

The symbolism and the connotations of Apollonian and Dionysian myth have been used in literature as a means of expressing two central concerns that tend to dominate contemporary consciousness. The Apollonian view or perspective is usually associated with the rise of individualism and particularly individual freedom and rational expression. This is in contradistinction to the Dionysian; which is related to nature's cycles of life and the instinctual integration of reality, rather than its individuation. In many works of literature these two aspect are used with different emphases; for example in the works of DH Lawrence where the Dionysian is seen in terms of a new sort of individualism and the search for a new reality that transcends the duality between the Apollonian and Dionysian and the decadence of the modern world.

What can be said with a fair amount of certainty is that these two symbolic concepts represent one of the central areas of debate and contention in modern Western thought and art. The Modernist movement in literature can be seen as a movement that stressed the Apollonian historical moment of the individual opposed to the conventions of the masses.

In Big Black Car by Lynn Emanuel, the poem explores and builds on the central symbol of the car and the protagonist's reaction to it. The title, "Big Black Car' provides a clue to the meaning of this poem. The use of the words "big" and "black" are compelling and strong in their intensity and suggest a sense of ominous, dark power. There is therefore from the beginning of the poem a suggestion of typical Dionysian strength. The car is described in a way that suggests a primeval potentiality.

A that motor's flattened

Skull, the hoses's damp guts, the oil

Pan with its tubes and fluids lines 2-4)

The metaphors and images that are suggested in these lines seem to have little to do with a mechanical car and generate associations with natural and animal strength and vitality. There is a dominant sense of menace and latent danger in the description of "flattened skull" and "damp guts." The use of images therefore relates more to the Dionysian aspect of basic and natural instinct and intuition. It is a description that is clearly different from the Apollonian view of brightness and individuality.

The Dionysian interpretation is also bolstered by the apparent fear that the protagonist shows in approaching the car. There is a sense in which the protagonist seems scared of losing his or her identity in coming into contact with the mysterious and menacing car. The following lines clearly display this fear.

A locked up

Behind its locks and keys,

or stare at the empty sockets

Of those headlights...

(Lines 7-9)

The poem continues with even more imaginative and entrancing images of the car. The description of the interior of the car and its parts add to the metaphor of danger. These images and descriptions also include a deep sense of Dionysian mystery.

Batting is not for me, nor the spooky

Odomoter, nor the gas-gauge letters

Spilled behind the cracked lines 14 -16)

In the above lines, the poet uses literary devices such as alliteration to create an impressive image of mystery in the "milky glass" which obscures the strange letters of the gas-gauge. We are no longer dealing with an ordinary car but rather with a creature or entity that is much more than the sum of its parts. A major part of the impact and success of this poem is the way that the poet extends the meaning and impression of the car to include a larger, mysterious and intuitive Dionysian sensibility.

This feeling of Dionysian mystery is further enhanced by images and references that extend the meaning of the central image.

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. 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.