An Inquiry into the Sources of Poetic Vision: Part III: From Vulnerability to Vision

Abstract

Having accounted for the way in which the circumstances and rules peculiar to the process of creation transform the mind of the artist, the connection between an artist's psychic vulnerability and his or her vision is now examined. The transformation of the artist's personality that allows extraordinary vision, including unusual access to the unconscious, also allows the artist a special approach to his own and his audience's psychic vulnerabilities. Here the artist's uninspired character, although transformed during creation, plays a more important role. The danger an artist's vulnerability poses to the art, the artist, and the culture is also considered. Finally, the role played by the poetic idea in the history of ideas is also examined.