Topal Alexandru

English Romanian
Group L232, Third year
ARCHETYPAL AND MYTH CRITICISM IN EMILY DICKINSONS I
died for beauty, but a! !"ar"e AND T#e brai$ i! ider t#a$ t#e !%y
Since ancient times, readers have debated and critiqued literature from a variety of
perspectives. They were considering how values are represented in a text, evaluating a poem
in terms of its form, or even looking at literature to see what it might be saying about our lives
in society, our political or power relations, gender roles, or sexuality. In this essay, I will be
talking about the archetypal and myth criticism and focusing on two of Emily ickinson!s
poems " #I died for beauty, but was scarce# and # The brain is wider than the sky#.
#$rchetypal literary criticism is a type of critical theory that interprets a text by focusing on
recurring myths and archetypes in the narrative, symbols, images, and character types in a
literary work.
%
# $n archetype is an original model or pattern from which other later copies are
made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns
of human life. #&ften, archetypes include a symbol, a theme, a setting, or a character that
some critics think have a common meaning in an entire culture, or even the entire human race.
These images have particular emotional resonance and power. $rchetypes reoccur in different
times and places in myth, literature, folklore, fairy tales, dreams, artwork, and religious
rituals.
'
#
$ myth is a traditional tale of deep cultural significance to a people, ritual practice, or models
of appropriate and inappropriate behavior. The myth often deals with gods, supernatural
beings, or ancestral heroes.
$rchetypal literary criticism!s origins are rooted in two other academic disciplines, social
anthropology ()orthrop *rye+ and psychoanalysis (,arl -ustav .ung+/ each contributed to
literary criticism in separate ways, with the latter being a sub0branch of critical theory.
#1rofessor *rye!s contribution takes us into the mythological approach to literary analysis.
2nlike the traditional critic, who relies heavily on history and the biography of the writer, the
myth critic is interested more in prehistory and the biographies of the gods. 2nlike the
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http:en!"i#ipedia!org"i#iAr$hetypal%literary%$riti$ism
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&arson 'e"man (ni)ersity*s Literary Terms +i$tionary
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Topal Alexandru
English Romanian
Group L232, Third year
formalistic critic, who concentrates upon the shape and symmetry of the work itself, the myth
critic probes for the inner spirit which gives that form its vitality, its enduring appeal.
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#
The Swiss psychologist ,arl -ustav .ung postulated the existence of the collective
unconscious, the innermost layer of the human psyche which functions as the unconscious
collective memory of mankind. ,.-. .ung!s theory believes that archetypes reside in the
deepest part of the shared human psyche, the collective unconscious.
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In nineteenth0century $merica there were many lady poets who achieved popular success and
quite lucrative publishing careers by filling newspaper columns, gift books, and volumes of
verse with the conventional pieties concerning mortality and immortality/ most especially
they enshrined the domestic role of wife and mother in tending her mortal charges and
conveing them to immortality.
Emily ickinson #is such a unique poet that it is very difficult to place her in any single
tradition5she seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. 6er poetic form, with
her customary four0line stan7as, $8,8 rhyme schemes, and alternations in iambic meter
between tetrameter and trimeter, is derived from 1salms and 1rotestant hymns, but ickinson
so thoroughly appropriates the forms5interposing her own long, rhythmic dashes designed to
interrupt the meter and indicate short pauses5that the resemblance seems quite faint.
9
#
&ne of the Emily ickinson!s poems that I will talk about in the light of archetypal and myth
criticism is #I died for beauty, but was scarce#.
I DIED for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?

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!or beauty," I re#lied.
And I for truth,$the two are one%
We brethren are," he said.
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A .and/oo# o0 &riti$al Approa$hes, 1il0red Guerin, Earle G! La/or, Lee 2organ, 3ohn R!
1illingham! .arper Ro", 1455!
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Literary Theories in ,raxis /y 7hirley 8! 7taton, 9ol! :3, 'o! 3, &on)ention ,rogram ;ssue <7ep!,
14=>?, pp! 2:4@251
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Topal Alexandru
English Romanian
Group L232, Third year
The speaker says that she died for 8eauty, but she was hardly ad:usted to her tomb before a
man who died for Truth was laid in a tomb next to her. ;hen the two softly told each other
why they died, the man declared that Truth and 8eauty are the same, so that he and the
speaker were <8rethren.# The speaker says that they met at night, <as =insmen,# and talked
between their tombs until the moss reached their lips and covered up the names on their
tombstones.
And so, as &insmen met a night,
We tal&ed between the rooms,
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'ntil the moss had reached our li#s,
And co(ered u# our names.
The poem requires our close attention and, if possible, our unriddling because of the powerful
symbolism of deat#& The ultimate effect of this poem is to show that every aspect of human
life5ideals, human feelings, identity itself5is erased by death.
8ut #by making the erasure gradual5something to be <ad:usted# to in the tomb5and by
portraying a speaker who is untroubled by her own grim state, ickinson creates a scene that
is, by turns, grotesque and compelling, frightening and comforting. It is one of her most
singular statements about death, and like so many of ickinson!s poems, it has no parallels in
the work of any other writer.
>
# This poem relates that dying for beauty and dying for truth are
the same thing. I disagree with this, i think dying for the truth is a much nobler cause. I am not
sure how one could die for beauty. I have never heard of anything beautiful that can kill you,
(except for poisonous flowers+.
<The Brainis wider than the Sky5# is the other poem by Emily ickinson that I will
analyse in the light of $rchetypal and myth criticism, focussing on the symbol of di'i$ity.
)HE *+AI, is wider than the s&y,
!or, #ut them side by side,
)he one the other will include
With ease, and you beside.

)he brain is dee#er than the sea,
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!or, hold them, blue to blue,
)he one the other will absorb,
As s#onges, buc&ets do.
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Topal Alexandru
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)he brain is just the weight of -od,
!or, lift them, #ound for #ound,
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0
And they will differ, if they do,
As syllable from sound.
The speaker declares that the brain is wider than the sky, for if they are held side by side, the
brain will absorb the sky <;ith ease5and ?ou5beside.# She says that the brain is deeper
than the sea, for if they are held <8lue to 8lue,# the brain will absorb the sea as sponges and
buckets absorb water. The brain, the speaker insists, is the <weight of -od#5for if they are
hefted <1ound for 1ound,# the brain!s weight will differ from the weight of -od only in the
way that syllable differs from sound.
@
The brain is wider than the sky despite the sky!s awesome si7e because the brain is able to
incorporate the universe into itself, and thereby even to absorb the ocean. The source of this
capacity, in this poem, is -od. In an astonishing comparison ickinson likens the minds
capabilities to <the weight of -od#, differing from that weight only as syllable differs from
sound.
In the third stan7a, #ickinson claims the brain is of equal weight to -od and that there is
little difference between them, if at all" <as Syllable from Sound# (line %'+. There are two
possible meanings for this. 1erhaps this refers to the idea that man was created in -od!s
image" In 6is infinite knowledge and wisdom, 6e created man with a brain equal in wisdom
and knowledge to 6im. $nother possibility is that only the human brain is capable of
understanding an idea as vast and complicated as -od. Either way, ickinson aligns the
power of the human mind with -od, thus emphasi7ing once again, the brain!s infinitude.
A
#
In conclusion, Emily ickinson!s greatest achievement as a poet of inwardness is her
brilliant language. # ickinson often writes aphoristically, meaning that she compresses a
great deal of meaning into a very small number of words. This can make her poems hard to
understand on a first reading, but when their meaning does unveil itself, it often explodes in
the mind all at once, and lines that seemed baffling can become intensely and unforgettably
clear.
B
#
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Emily 2addox! A,oetry Analysis the Drain is 1ider than the 7#y /y Emily +i$#insonB
http:"""!humanities35C!$om! 3uly 22, 2C13!
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Topal Alexandru
English Romanian
Group L232, Third year
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