Perception of Night- A psychodynamically oriented study on Datta and Tagore

Abstract

Poetry and psychoanalysis often intersect; great writers intuitively know things that psychoanalysis can clinically prove. A study of these two domains would likely foster their unity. Keeping this in mind, two poems, Michael Madhusudan Datta’s Night and Tagore’s Night, were psychodynamically analysed. Freud and Jung’s psychoanalytical approach and Kris and Bellak’s theoretical assumptions of ego psychology were utilised. The findings highlight that both Datta and Tagore wondered about and perceived the beauties of night in various forms and colours. Symbolically, the night is related to the passive principle, the feminine and the unconscious. In ancient mythology, the night is viewed as the ‘mother of Gods’. In the analysed poems, night represents the mother archetype, which functions as a vital, essential, and dynamic aspect of the poets’ psyche. The poets’ innate potentialities appear in their vision and provide the psychic energy to convert their phantasies into symbolic images. Psychodynamically, Datta felt melancholic sadness, and Tagore perceived enlightenment. Key words: Datta, Tagore, mother figure, psychodynamically, night, beauty.