In the first chapter of Graves makes a The White Goddess substantive distinction between poets and gleemen (ancient Welsh court-bards who recited a certain type of poem that complied with the wishes of the King and later of the Church), suggesting that a true poet possesses a free, creative spirit which enables him not only to produce verses but to encounter and communicate the which is the mystery of life. Graves therefore ‘Theme’ clearly distinguishes between rigid, sterile, rationally-orientated versification, and inspired poetry, which is composed supralogically; between, in fact, two modes of thinking: the rational, identified with authority and aggression, and the identified with imagination, quiescence, creativity. ‘supralogical’, While this opposition causes Graves tremendous frustration during the war years, it is eventually transformed into the conviction that true poetry which is at the back of the is indeed ‘composed mind’ powerful and ultimately superior to the rigid rationality which is inspired by the Apollonian manner of thinking. From Graves’s perspective it was this Apollonian thinking which encouraged the war and condoned its cruelty. A true poet himself and not a gleeman who flatters authority and the status quo and echoes its rhetoric, he depicts war in all its monstrosity. Though an exemplary soldier who demonstrated valour and determination at the front, he was ideologically opposed to the war and to the British government and Establishment that encouraged it. In one of his interviews he poet is a person who lives states: ‘A and thinks in a certain way. A poet doesn’t necessarily write poems. It is simply an attitude, and there are a great many more poets around than meet the in Poetic Craft and eye.’ Similarly, he writes that Principle poetry even is not a department of literature as Beowulf – – studied in the English School, but a way of being and thinking: as it were the power of walking down a familiar corridor and suddenly disappearing through a stone wall at the end. (p. 155)
In the first chapter of The White Goddess Graves makes a substantive distinction between poets and gleemen (ancient Welsh court-bards who recited a certain type of poem that complied with the wishes of the King and later of the Church), suggesting that a true poet possesses a free, creative spirit which enables him not only to produce verses but to encounter and communicate the ‘Theme’ which is the mystery of life. Graves therefore clearly distinguishes between rigid, sterile, rationally-orientated versification, and inspired poetry, which is composed supralogically; between, in fact, two modes of thinking: the rational, identified with authority and aggression, and the ‘supralogical’, identified with imagination, quiescence, creativity. While this opposition causes Graves tremendous frustration during the war years, it is eventually transformed into the conviction that true poetry which is ‘composed at the back of the mind’ is indeed powerful and ultimately superior to the rigid rationality which is inspired by the Apollonian manner of thinking. From Graves’s perspective it was this Apollonian thinking which encouraged the war and condoned its cruelty. A true poet himself and not a gleeman who flatters authority and the status quo and echoes its rhetoric, he depicts war in all its monstrosity. Though an exemplary soldier who demonstrated valour and determination at the front, he was ideologically opposed to the war and to the British government and Establishment that encouraged it. In one of his interviews he states: ‘A poet is a person who lives and thinks in a certain way. A poet doesn’t necessarily write poems. It is simply an attitude, and there are a great many more poets around than meet the eye.’ Similarly, in Poetic Craft and Principle he writes that poetry – even Beowulf – is not a department of literature as studied in the English School, but a way of being and thinking: as it were the power of walking down a familiar corridor and suddenly disappearing through a stone wall at the end. (p. 155)
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