Apollonian Is a Literary Concept

Apollonian is a literary concept that utilizes certain features of ancient Greek mythology within its writing or telling of a story. According to Greek mythology, Apollo was the god of the Sun, lightness, music and poetry. Apollo was also a son of Zeus. Apollo's brother was Dionysus, the god of wine, ecstasy and intoxication. In terms of these gods use in modern literature (referred to as Apollonian and Dionysian) has the intent of creating a yin-yang effect within the story or character.

Typically, the contrast of Apollo and Dionysus is used to symbolize a metaphysical principle of individuality vs. wholeness. However, such a concept of Apollonian and Dionysian as being rivaling principles is a unique literature concept and is not itself derived from Greek mythology as the ancient Greeks did not consider Apollo and Dionysus to be rivals.

According to modern philosophy and literature, Apollonian is defined as being the ideal, or dream state and is often shown through the use of such symbols and imagery as visual arts, beauty, clarity, individuality, celebration of the appearance, illusion, humans as artists, self-control, perfection, creation, and pushing the boundaries.

Many poets have adopted this ancient dichotomy into there works, allowing their poems to take on a greater meaning than can be accomplished in the page's words alone. Two examples of poets using this dichotomy include Stephen Dobyns and Frank O'Hara.

Stephen Dobyns is an American poet and novelist. His background includes a MFA from the University of Iowa and working as a writing instructor at numerous institutes of higher learning. It was at one of these schools, Syracuse University, in which Dobyns was involved in a high-profile sexual discrimination scandal. This incident has had an influence on his writing, especially as to his Dionysian characteristics.

Dobyn's poetry is best characterized by its use of extended tropes and use of the ridiculous and the absurd as methods for introducing profound mediations on such topics as love, life and the arts. At once his poetry is lowbrow and at the same time full of straightforward reason. This method of writing makes Dobyn's poetry hard to place as either Apollonian or Dionysian as it takes elements of both. As the Dionysian is more likely to use the low-brow presentation of fun and intoxication, Dobyns' overall point of his poetry is about art, love and life, all very Apollonian concepts. Thus, Dobyns' poetry can best be summarized as being Apollonian in point but Dionysian in delivery.

Dobyns' Apollonian point is further seen in the fact that his poetry is deeply personal. Typically the foundational theme is one of wonder between the contrast of the beauty and the cruelty of the world one lives in.

For example, in his poem entitled "Counterparts," Stephen Dobyns discusses the role of friends and companions as a method of extending oneself. This concept of living through counterparts, both human and natural, is a very Apollonian theme in that it goes back to the philosophies of Socrates, who preached a form of the yin-yang. In this reading, Dobyns' "Counterparts" is his statement of personal philosophy that argues the only way to reach the Apollonian ideals is to work with, and embrace, the Dionysian and thus create a whole, or a yin-yang. This practice of using the Dionysian in order to achieve the Apollonian is a common strategy used in Dobyns' poetry.

Likewise, poet Frank O'Hara also uses Apollonian themes in the majority of his works. Like Dobyns, Frank O'Hara is also an American poet. He is best known as being a key member of the New York School of poetry.

O'Hara is known for his ability to write provocative and provoking poetry that was composed immediately, sometime even over the time frame of a lunch break. Thus, both high and low brow cultural references are common in O'Hara's work, as they are in Dobyns'.

O'Hara was good friends and deeply inspired by numerous leading painters of the day, including Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock, thus his poetry tends to reflect the inspiration he found in various works of art. O'Hara stated that in his poetry he hoped to produce through words the same effects artists have when painting on a canvas.

In this sense, O'Hara is an Apollonian at heart. As he felt the purpose of poetry was to convey the emotions found in art, he was essentially trying to create the Apollonian way of life through words. However, like Dobyns', O'Hara also made use of the Dionysian in order to reach the Apollonian. In this sense, O'Hara was a realist, understanding that the direction to the Apollonian ideals involved going through the fields of Dionysian intoxication as the world we lived in was fundamentally Dionysian.