On The Archetypes Of Walter De La Mare's Poetry

This thesis makes a critical study of Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) from the perspective of archetypal criticism. De la Mare is not only a distinguished poet, but also an imaginative painter, a sensual musician and a meditative thinker. He is "fluent, highly inventive, technically skillful, and unaffected by fashion. In his favorite themes of childhood, fantasy, the numinous, commonplace objects and events are invested with mystery, and often with an undercurrent of melancholy." His poetry is full of dreams, myths, confusions and solitude which not only belong to his own, but also other poets, even us. To some extent, themes and images appearing in de la Mare's poetry could be considered as "collective unconscious" and "archetypes" De la Mare believes that "the very young child, the infant, possesses all the mental faculties of the mature person." In his eyes, "the childhood is a perfect state and children embody innocence and simplicity. He felt that once childhood was left behind, we were also leaving behind the ability to access another reality. Effectively, we become exiles." It is interesting to compare de la Mare's conception of childhood with Lao Zi's "Ziran". The aim of this thesis is to investigate into the "archetypes" existing in de la Mare's poetry and to point out that de la Mare tries to call for a return to Ziran to avoid the alienation of industrialization, and that he reminds us of returning to Ziran as one of the best ways for human beings to get real bliss.The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter One presents a general information about de la Mare, with a literature review. The author of this paper states the motivation for choosing the topic of archetypes in de la Mare's poems, defends against the bias held by some critics that de la Mare's poems lack complexity, and maintains that de la Mare's poems always give his readers access to the natural unrestrained quality of the mind. The author of this paper flatters himself in saying that this thesis is special in approaching de la Mare from the perspective of archetypal criticism.Chapter Two provides the background knowledge of archetypal criticism. Archetypal criticism can be traced back to the renowned anthropologist Sir James Frazer (1854-1941); it was developed by the influential analytical psychologist Carl Gustav Jung(1875-1961), and systemized or theorized by the celebrated Canadian humanistic scholar Northrop Frye(1912-1991). The author of this thesis pays much attention to Jung's theory of "collective unconscious" Northrop Frye's definition of "archetype" is also very important in this thesis. This thesis analyzes de la Mare's poems by means of Jung's "collective unconscious" and Northrop Frye's "archetype".Chapter Three tries to explore the "racial memory" of the moon archetype at home and abroad. The moon archetype is favored by Chinese poets and it records our national memory. The moon archetype reminds the Chinese of three meanings: the home with mother or wife, the shelter for depressed scholar-bureaucrats, and their dreams. However, in the West, the moon is often connected with romance. Many poems written by Westerners are related to the romantic legend of Diana and the Shepherd. But the author of the thesis discovers that de la Mare is an exception. His poetry is not in the Western style. On the contrary, it is easy to find Chinese elements in his moon poetry. His pithy description of the moon, as can be seen in his Silver, his economical use of words, and the mysterious atmosphere in his poems all smack oriental. After discussing the moon archetype in Chinese poems, American poems and de la Mare's poems, the author of the thesis discovers that de la Mare, along with many other poets, considered the moon as an important image in creating a natural unstrained situation suggestive of the state of Ziran. The author of the thesis points out that de la Mare, along with many other poets, called for a return to Ziran or the childhood state to get real bliss.Chapter Four studies the Paradise-Hades archetype in de la Mare's poems and others'. This chapter first introduces the origin of the Paradise-Hades archetype, and then analyzes the Paradise-Hades archetype in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Kubla Khan, Christina Rossetti's A Dream, and Edgar Allen Poe's Annabelle Lee, and finally analyzes de la Mare's dream poems. According to the study of the archetype in several poems, this thesis arrives at an understanding that modern people are expelled from the paradise or the state of Ziran on account of uncontrolled science and technology, and one of the best ways to get real bliss is to shake off the chain of science and technology.Chapter Five concludes that de la Mare, along with other modern poets, called for the return to Ziran to get real bliss, and his poetry could face up to the complexity of the moderns and deserves more attention by critics.