Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Pearce, Howard D.

Abstract

The history of Western thought is permeated by a dualistic habit of mind which prevents a deeper connection with that primordial world mediated by myth and archetypes. Nietzsche described this dualism as the imposition of rationalistic Apollonian values on the far older tradition of intuitive Dionysian modes of being. Extending this concept further, James Hillman describes this same phenomenon as a lack of soul which he calls psyche. Without a reconnection to psyche, Western civilization is schizoid and incomplete. Using these insights as a basis for critical exploration, this thesis examines Archibald MacLeish's 1954 poem cycle Songs for Eve and its inversion of the traditional Western archetypes of the Fall and woman's role in it. By rejecting the traditional Western allegorical interpretation and reinstating the older Dionysian understanding of the Fall, MacLeish awakens the reader to a new and deeper understanding of this pervasive mythic motif.

Extent

61 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2002.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT12891

Format

pdf

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