THE DIVINE PILGRIMAGE OF CONRAD AIKEN: A STUDY OF HIS POETIC QUEST FOR PERSONAL IDENTITY APPROVED: Major Professor Minor Professor Consulting Professor Chairman of Graduate Studies in English Dean of the Graduate School Jauchcn» Jvlai-y f The Plying Pi3 grimace of Conrad Aiknnt A Study of hig; fkg^yc Que/j_t ra-C P,9iT.?9n:f.l Idm.jt5.ty* Mata;er of Ari'J (English) f August* 197k i 10?. pp.» b:l Myography, 48 titles« Xho search for r,e3.fv which grows out of a .rich tracdtion in vvf,Gterri thought» is a doroin&nt tht?)m* in the poetry of Con- rad A5.ke.in l^cauae of thin theme's .importance to his workf it is the purpose of this & turfy to traca Aikonfo ooarob through the six poems contained .ivj the volume, The Div3.r>« '?%\Z'l22-.l,b An in-depth study of thesw early poems is e.suential in undor- ^landing '.xKen* s search for personal identity and shows not orijy cho iroro^oing depths to which oa v/ent in ooaroIvjfig for oeff out also the 5 ncroari.og poetic okjll which he usod i n c a i r y 3 j tg o ut t h i r r e a i• o h• Tdn ooaroh began for Air. on during his trogpo childhood. 5 extended through the rriluenc o of froud and the psychoanalytic ifco;cj.ivi)'it 5 and continued throa&hout hS.a poetry and fiction, •!n th'-: poeao of 2'hc ,')i vina rilggifg Aikeri sets forth the IV/tmaatA.ow for vhu deveXop/iu-orl of the theioo of the search for ooXr wii«h apptosr-B in almost all of hio work,, Beginning with 'tog Ofgg.'gl foros Allien oaroooos the j prportonco of finding a pattern ao organ! se and «.lofj.nc fho chaotic in nor wox-3,d »t' ram Jr. ani::; ro<;H; the :-.o;:,reh for o-.j.f is; undertaken in the for;r; oi' -.'.r. govo:-t.k:_af1 un of a:a 7 cvu :;oj ationnhiiu j!}io second poem, JjL& of j'Wslint euiphaoi&eB vicar- iouf.; wish fulfillment aa a moans of achieving a definition w of oe3:};6- iu:i the protagord Bt becomes "other selves through his capacity to dream, ho is actually arriving at a greater degr ee 0.1; belf--aviarenesB«. Th£ Jjoune of buot reinforces the ideas px-esented in Pors- lin, bu L j t also begins a new line of emphasis regarding human relati onnhi ps. Aiken presents man a a a being crippled "by deception, In seeking a definition of self by examining and interacting with others f man is hindered by the isolation which exists between others and himeelfs His inability to be honect with othera and w;i th himse) f maker,; it impossible for him to discover his own personal idontity0 lis Surj in t A B3 0|g;aji}-iv and The P3 Igrimagft of Fogtufit several Tsoaoible koIuIione are investigated by M.kem Clue 3 to the secret of self-knowledge are nought in nature, history, and religion* but; none of theee eourcfcSi offers a valid answer. Pestue ie the only charwater who completes the pilgrimage» but for him the result is only a f'iacl 6 ream* Jt in only in Changing toinut the final pocro in the volumef that Ail,en its able to aecei/t the consequences-; of his search. Facing reality and .its Irnplicalionn regarding 'the self in- volve;; aocepting the fact that r when the elueive self is clj b — covorotf it may .bo nothing; i.ioro than a black dream,, The trfcu&y eh0v/f- that axC'm; hat; artfully dn.finod the prob- lems involved in the r>«au h for personal id.enidty» but the only solutions which he offers arc to continue searching or face the terrible reality of self. The study also concludes that Conrad Aiken must be praised for his enduring ability to continue his poetic search for identity regardless of the results and for his persistent attempts to poetically in- vite his readers to join hint in this divine pilgrimage* THE DIVINE PILGRIMAGE OF CONRAD AIKEN: A STUDY OF HIS POETIC QUEST FOR PERSONAL IDENTITY THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By Mary Jauchen, B. A. Benton, Texas Augustt 1972 TABLE Of CONTENTS Chapter Page I. A DESIRE TO SEARCH 1 II. THE CHARNEL ROSEs A SEARCH FOR SELF IN THE ACT" OF LOVE . 11 III. THE JIG OF FORSLII-i: DANCING INTO THE DREAM WORLD 25 IV. THE HOUSE OF DUST: EXPLORING THE : . PROBLEM OF ISOLATION ....... 39 V. SENLINs A BIOGRAPHYs COMMUNICATING ! THE DISCOVERY OF SELF j. 55 VI. THE PILGRIMAGE OF FESTUS: DISCOVERING THE BLACK DREAM " 71 VII. CHANGING MIND; A FINAL STATEMENT 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY 100 CHAPTER I A DESIRE TO SEARCH A large part of the history of religion and philosophy is an attempt to define the self. From classical to modern thought, man has been attempting to answer the question, "What is self?" Of course, over a period of years the form of the question has changed from, "What is the soul," to "What is the mind," to "What is the ego," to "What is the true identity." The basic quest, however, has always been the same. It is a search for the core of man—his real self. Socrates argued in the Phaedo that the rational soul was immortal because it was a perfect and unified substance and therefore was indestructible.* The Christian view, as seen in the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul, also approached the soul as a unified substance. This view, however, also saw the soul as created by God to be immortal. It placed a great value on the human personality and became the most popular conception of the self in western civilization. * J. D. Kaplan, ed* , Dialogues of Plato (New York's Wash- ington Square Press, Inc.7~19507™P* 100. Much later Descartes started with his own self as a clear and distinct idea. After trying to release himself from all doubtful beliefs, from all presuppositions, he still 2 was forced to say, "I think, hence I am," Therefore, the whole essence or nature of "I" consisted in thinking. The philosopher David Hume in Treatise of Human Nature contested the definiton of the self as a unified part of man. Hume affirmed that man is • • nothing but a bundle or col- lection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux, and movement• The mind is a kind of theater where several perceptions successively make their appearance, pass, repass, glide away, and mingle in an infinite variety of postures and 3 situations . There were, of course, many other writers who expressed ideas regarding the self—from Darwin to Freud to James Joyce to many others. Western civilization has a rich tradition of ideas concerning the identification of the self. 2 Charles Hirschfeld, ed., Classics of Western Thought (New York: Hareourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1964), p. 20. ^Stanley Kunitz, "The Poetry of Conrad Aiken,H Nation, 133 (1931)» P. 393. — 3 Against this background Conrad Aiken is not unique, for he too is'seeking to define the self. Yet his main method of communication is his poetry. If there is a single theme in the work of Conrad Aiken, R. P. Blackmur has observed, "it is the struggle of the mind which has become permanently aware of itself to rediscover and unite itself with the world in which it it is lodged." Certainly one can find in one long poem after another Aiken's attempt to express and clarify the search for self. He came to call this search his "Divine Pilgrimage. Aiken himself has expressed his unusual preoccupation with self-consciousness when he summarized the beliefs which guided much of his works Consciousness is our supreme gift. ... To see, to re- member, to know, to feel, to understand, as much as pos- sible—isn't this perhaps the most obviously indicated of motives or beliefs, the noblest and most all-compre- hending of ideas which it is relatively possible for us to realize? Because his search for self is such a dominant and im- portant theme of his work and because it grows out of a rich k R. P. Blackmur, "Conrad Aikeni The Poet," Atlantic, 192 (1953). p. 78. " £ Jay Martin, Conrad Aiken, A Life of His Art (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962), p. 15. ^Conrad Aiken, "What I Believe," Nation. 135 (1932), p. 80, tradition in western thought, it is the purpose of tnis thesis to examine this search and to clarify Aiken's ideas concerning the self and the methods and form he used to communicate these ideas. Because Aiken is such a prolific creator, it is nec- essary to limit a study of this kind to a certain number of his v/orks. This study will be limited to Aiken's The Divine Pilgrim, Conrad Aiken has explained the vital importance of this collection of poems in understanding his search for self. The collection, consisting of six long poems, deals with, as Aiken explains, "The problem of personal identity, the struggle of the individual for an awareness of what it is that con- stitutes his consciousness* an attempt to place himself, to relate himself to the world of which he feels himself to be at once an observer and an integral part.