Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2000

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Pearce, Howard D.

Abstract

In his work Re-Visioning Psychology, Jungian depth psychologist James Hillman defines the soul as "a perspective rather than a substance, a viewpoint toward things rather than a thing itself"(xvi). This definition helps to show the existence of a nontraditional, but not anti-Christian, soul in the works of Wallace Stevens. From the swirling chaos of "The Pleasures of Merely Circulating" to the underworld liminal irreality displayed in "Yellow Afternoon," we find psyche flourishing in the poetry of Stevens. She dwells in an underworld existence surrounded by archetypal Gods, such as Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Priapus, and Zeus. While Stevens does not use the word "soul" in any of the poems to be discussed, Hillman's theories on psyche show us that we are not to literalize our souls. We must allow psyche to transport us into a metaphoric, interior realm where Stevens's worms, his poet figure, and his readers can transform into Gods.

Extent

92 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2000.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT12715

Format

pdf

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