THE WANDERING SOUL IN PLAT0 AND CAVAFY

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I. Cavafy
I n The Poeny and Poetics of Constantine P. Cavafi, J o h n Anton examines C a v q s p o e i c development in relatim to his psychology. I argue that his analysis could be regarded as Platonic, in the sense that Plato viewed intellectual excellence as a result of psychological, emotional, physical and intellectual development. I examine Constanune Cavafy's poetry and personality, and then apply this theory o n the progress of the philosophy of Plato regarding intellectual development and the position of eros in this process, creating parallels between the development o f Cavafr's poetry and his intellectual and psychic development, as it is expounded in Plator-ic philosophy. According to John Anton (1995:216), Thz poet or philosopher is a man of idsas and insighn, converts them into plans which he h e n pursues with determination ard courage, and when the circumstances demand ic, even self-sacrifice . .. While Plato denied the poet a place among the philosopherkings, Cavatj. restored him by appealing to the richness and social usefulness of the poetic intelligence.And he does it by maung the poet not a being of enthusiasm, inspiration and imagination, but a person of rational work and public relevance. It L possible to assert that Cavafy's poetic development was a result of his pers sonal development, as an individual, o n die basis of choices of a psychological nature, which altered his soul to such an extent that a unique, different gaze sprang: the modern poetic equivalent of a wise man. However, Cavafy himself acknowledges Plato's r e h a l to bestow equal status to philosophers and poets alike. As he notes in Ars Poetics "Also care should be &en not to lase from sight that a state of feeling is true and mse, possible and impossible at the same time or rather in turns. And the poet who mm whm he works the mostphilosophically,remains an artirt [my italics] - gives one side . . . Very often the poet's work has but a vague meaning; it is a suggestion: the thoughts are to be enlarged by hture generations or by his immediate readers: Plzro said the poets utter great meanings without realizing them themselves".

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1. Cf. C.P.Cavafy, Ars Poetica in Anton, 1995:340. A n Poetica, was an essay wrinen by Cavafy for

his ow2 personal use, on the theoretical frame\Yorkguiding poetic endeavors.

Today it is generally accepted that one can be excellent in a very particular domain o f professional expertise e.g. engineering, philosophy, poetry, art by honing their abilities in that particular domain and acquiring specialized knowledge, without that knowledge necessarily extending to other areas of life. Therefore, an artist can be a genius in the professional arena and ~ e r f o r m poorly in their personal life and vice versa. In this context Carl Jung (197 1:207) expresses an even more extreme view: A person must pay dearly for the divine gift of creative fire. It is as though each of us was born with a limited store of energy. In the artist, the strongest force in his makeup, that is, his creativeness will seize and all but monopolize this energy, leaving so little over that nothing of value can come of ~ tThe creative impulse can drain him . of his humanity to such a degree that the personal ego can exist only on a primitive or inferior level and is driven to develop all sorts of defects - ruthlessness, selfishness ("autoeroticism"), vanity, and other infantile traits. These inferiorities are the only means by which it can maintain its vitality and prevent itself from being wholly depleted. Jung sees the artist k o m this vantage point as a "duality", a "synthesis of contradictory qualities". Cavafy's personality can be understood in terms of his psychology, but Cavafy as an artist can only be understood in terms of his poeuy and the "impersonal creative process" which he hosts (Jung, 1971:206). O n e cannot illuminate the other. In that sense, nothing can be said about Cavafy's poetry in relation to the development of his personality or vice versa. A positive correlation between the two would at best be characteriid as accidental. There is however an altogether different, one would say opposing view o n artistic development: one's intellectual life can be connected to their psychology: as we mentioned earlier, simultaneously to the personality matures the poetry. I n The Poetry and Poehs ofConstantine P. Cava6, John Anton (1995:24) argues that: His [Cavafy's] relatively uneventful life is mainly of interest as the record of the development of a personality that started out with more determination than promise, and hardly any conspicuous signs of genius, to climb through patience and hard work the heights of originality. Cavafy had arrived at the mid-point of his life before he began to discover his own voice, his authentic poetic way.. . If anything, Cavafy was born a poet. This is what makes the landmarks of his life panicularly interesting to the reader who is patient enough to follow the peculiar combination of circumstances and personal determination which found a unique and felicitous expression in Cavafy's achievement. Greek Nobel laureate poet George Seferis also points to these discrepancies - between Cavafy's early and later years - and questions their psychological provenance.