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VerseVille Blog

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness by Nidhi Mehta

6/10/2011

 
No great genius has ever existed without some touch  of madness

                                                                  Aristotle (384BC-322 BC).

           Depression, madness, insanity, paranoia and schizophrenia are the themes which have been intertwined with creativity throughout the history of poetry. The incidence of mood disorders, suicide and institutionalisation was 20 times higher among major British and Irish poets between 1600 and 1800 according to a study by psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison. The evidence of a link between creativity and mental illness has mostly been anecdotal in the past, although there have been some studies showing correlation.    

          Socrates declared, "If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman." Aristotle asked, "Why is it that all men who are outstanding in philosophy, poetry or the arts are melancholic?"

         The notion that creativity and insanity are interconnected has been reflected in the writings of many writers, artists and philosophers over the centuries. Robert Burton in the seventeenth century noted, "All poets are mad." Some artists observed that insanity ran in families. Poets   generally think out of the box, are unconventional and try to transform the world around them. The creative person wants to change reality to beautify it or enlarge the field of human knowledge or experience in order to provide usefulness, understanding and predictability or to evoke a universal response. The turbulent lives of great poets Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell also seem to testify to a link between creativity and psychic instability. But can a connection between mental disorder and enhanced creativity be identified? Is there really a connection?   

           It is widely accepted that insight gained through intense, extreme, even painful experiences can add depth and meaning to creative work. Poet Anne Sexton explained how she used pain in her work: "I, myself, alternate between hiding behind my own hands, protecting myself anyway possible, and this other, this seeing ouching other. I guess I mean that creative people must not avoid the pain that they get dealt.... Hurt must be examined like a plague.”As Sylvia Plath later said, "When you are insane, you are busy being insane - all the time...”

           Part of poetry is making words do more work than they usually should do and so looking for every angle of what a word might mean, the brain starts working like as well - over-analysing everything and zooming in to minute details. In a way we may say that all great poets may be depressed people but not all depressed people can be great poets. So being insane is not that harmful as it seems, there is creativity in insanity.

         

Enlighted , though had an idea that people with talent have some lacking in their self. Anyway well researched and thanx for leting me know link
6/10/2011 03:16:40 am

Nidhi Mehta
6/12/2011 03:32:50 pm

Thanx dear...i value your thoughts

Mala Janardhan
12/10/2011 08:56:40 pm

Well, Dryden has said:
"Great wits are sure to madness, near allied / and thin partitions do their bounds divide", while Charles Lamb holds the opposite view:
"Great wits are found in the sanest writers - can one conceive of a mad Shakespeare?"
My own view is that poetry does require that the poet looks at life in an "oblique" way and is slightly deviant from the norm in order to produce good poetry. Shakespeare too was probably more effective as a dramatist than a writer of sonnets, being extremely sane!
Anyway- better eccentric genius than dull, uninspired mediocrity !

Kim Lee Seagull
12/8/2012 07:16:29 am

The greatness of the poet as a man of genius is that God writes the poem and the poet just poet just holds the pen because lines just pop into his head perfectly formed

Kim Lee Seagull link
2/21/2013 11:46:26 am

The greatness of the poet, as a man of genius, is that God writes the poem, and the poet only holds the pen.

Kim Lee Seagull link
2/25/2013 01:23:04 pm

Dedicated To: Scientists, Poets And Madmen
Since the form I underlie / Is all I can behold, / Whereabouts in it am I, / Whom lifeless atoms mold? // Am I just the order, / That animates the form? / Me within this border / Where thoughtless atoms storm! // Had this occured to you, / As urgently to me; / Then perhaps our atoms flew / On path-o-logically! {Kim Lee Seagull}

Kim Lee Seagull link
2/25/2013 01:33:04 pm

It seems to me, that poetry is the most exalted art form, because lines pop right into my head, perfectly formed from the transcendent realm. It must be that God writes the poem for me, and all I do is hold the pen!

Kim Lee Seagull


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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Media Coverages
    • Copyright Notice
    • VerseVille Blog
  • Submissions
    • Poetry and Essays Guidelines
    • Book Review Guidelines
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  • Masthead
  • Editions
    • 2011 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XIV November 2011
    • 2012 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XV March 2012
      • ISSUE-XVI July 2012
      • ISSUE-XVII November 2012
    • 2013 Issues >
      • ISSUE-XVIII April 2013
      • ISSUE XIX November 2013
    • 2014 Issues >
      • ISSUE XX May 2014
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      • ISSUE XXI February 2015
      • Contemporary Indian English Poetry ISSUE XXII November 2015
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      • ISSUE XXIII August 2016
      • Poetry From Ireland ISSUE XXIV December 2016
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      • ISSUE XXVI December 2017
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      • ISSUE XXXI December 2020
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      • ISSUE XXXII August 2021
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      • ISSUE XXXIII June 2022
      • ISSUE XXXIV December 2022
  • Collaborations
    • Macedonian Collaboration
    • Collaboration with Dutch Foundation for Literature
  • Interviews
  • Prose on Poetry and Poets
    • 2010-2013 >
      • Sylvia Plath by Dr. Nidhi Mehta >
        • Chapter-1(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-2(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-3(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-4(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-5(Sylvia Plath)
        • Chapter-6(Sylvia Plath)
      • Prose Poems of Tagore by Dr. Bina Biswas >
        • Chapter-1(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-2(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-3(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-4(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-5(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-6(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-7(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-8(Rabindranath Tagore)
        • Chapter-9(Rabindranath Tagore)
      • Kazi Nazrul Islam by Dr. Shamenaz Shaikh >
        • Chapter 1(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 2(Nazrul Islam)
        • Chapter 3(Nazrul Islam)
      • Kabir's Poetry by Dr. Anshu Pandey >
        • Chapter 1(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 2(Kabir's Poetry)
        • Chapter 3(Kabir's Poetry)
      • My mind's not right by Dr. Vicky Gilpin >
        • Chapter- 1 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-2 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-3 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
        • Chapter-4 Dr. Vicky Gilpin
      • On Poetry & Poets by Abhay K.
      • Poetry of Kamla Das –A True Voice Of Bourgeoisie Women In India by Dr.Shikha Saxena
      • Identity Issues in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel by Dr.Arvind Nawale & Prashant Mothe*
      • Nissim Ezekiel’s Latter-Day Psalms: His Religious and Philosophical Speculations By Dr. Pallavi Srivastava
      • The Moping Owl : the Epitome of Melancholy by Zinia Mitra
      • Gary Soto’s Vision of Chicano Experiences: The Elements of San Joaquin and Human Nature by Paula Hayes
      • Sri Aurobindo: A Poet By Aju Mukhopadhyay
      • Wordsworthian Romanticism in the Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: Nature and the Reflective Capabilities of a Poetic Self by Paula Hayes
      • Reflective Journey of T.S. Eliot: From Philosophy to Poetry by Syed Ahmad Raza Abidi
      • North East Indian Poetry: ‘Peace’ in Violence by Ananya .S. Guha
    • 2014-2015 >
      • From The Hidden World of Poetry: Unravelling Celtic mythology in Contemporary Irish Poetry Adam Wyeth
      • Alchemy’s Drama: Conflict, Resolution and Poiesis in the Poetic Work of Art by Michelle Bitting
      • Amir Khushrau: The Musical Soul of India by Dr. Shamenaz
      • PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME: POETRY'S EROTIC ART by Elena Karina Byrne
      • Celtic and Urban Landscapes in Irish Poetry by Linda Ibbotson
      • Trickster at the African Crossroads and the Bridge to the Blues in America by Michelle Bitting
    • 2015-2016 >
      • Orogeny/Erogeny: The “nonsense” of language and the poetics of Ed Dorn T Thilleman
      • Erika Burkart: Fragments, Shards, and Visions by Marc Vincenz
      • English Women Poets and Indian politics
    • 2016-2017 >
      • Children’s Poetry in India- A Case Study of Adil Jussawalla and Ananya Guha by Shruti Sareen
      • Thirteen Thoughts on Poetry in the Digital Age by Mandy kAHN
    • 2017-2018 >
      • From Self-Portrait with Dogwood: A Route of Evanescence by Christopher Merrill
      • Impure Poetry by Tony Barnstone
      • On the Poets: Contributors in Context by Donald Gardner
      • Punching above its Weight: Dutch Poetry in English, a Selection, 2013-2017 by Jane Draycott
  • Print Editions