A Hell Tale of the Crows, the Demon and the Tree (Psychoanalytic Criticism)
Last night I dreamed of crows
perching upon a beautiful tree:
her slender trunk that goes down
in a graceful flow to the ground
like perfect curves of a fairy goddess;
smooth and lustrous like velvet cloth.
And her leaves of green that sways
with the slight blow of the wind.
But my dream was about the crows
perching upon that beautiful tree.
Waiting for the green drupes hanging by
her branches that are strong enough
to hold the prettiest fruits I’ll ever see.
I saw in my dream the red berries
she would soon have:
they glittered with rays of the sun
resting on her pleasing stance.
Oh that beautiful tree,
standing in her innocence
upon the verdant meadows.
Helpless in her solitude,
not a knowledge of the crows’ desire
crossed her mind:
they waited perched and caressed
her innocent branches
to slaughter her berries
with no mercy at all.
And there shined a shiny demon
in the middle of that grassy field.
He was black with anger
and became fiery
on the sight of the evil crows
perching upon that beautiful tree.
He thrust his sharp claws
on the crows that perched only
to devour the beauty of that tree.
He grasped them with a clutch
that separated them from their feathers,
tore their flesh and plucked their eyes out.
He opened his mouth
and shouted to all
who would dare go near the tree
“She is mine! Only mine!”
He burned while he hugged
the tree’s trunk and burned her.
He sent her soul to hell
to be with her forever.
Burning the whole place
with an passion immeasurable
even with the heat of the sun.
I then woke up from that dream
with a smile I did not understand why.
°ooOoo°
It is obvious that this piece would belong to the psychoanalytic criticism, not only for the identifying phrase that I enclosed within parentheses above but also for its elements that would define itself. First and foremost, it is a dream. Which Master Freud mostly concentrated his time on, which, in the more popular term, it is obviously the unconscious state. I did not make this poem while I was unconscious; I just stated that it is a dream to seem like it was such. The events that happened could also make it seem like a dream, the exaggeration, the unity of scene that do not complement each other; e.g. verdant meadows + shiny demon = distorted image.
As I have used the definition dream in this poem, I would like to state about latent content and manifest contest. Latent content is the real desire of the author, and manifest content is the reported dream. Therefore, manifest is the plot while latent is the true meaning based on the author.
So what is my desire? (We’re talking about author psychology here). Before I answer that, let me state that I am the Demon in this hellish tale. Therefore, my desire is the tree. Or let’s say she (she-who-must-not-be-named). And also to kill the crows that always perch upon that angelic tree(they also correspond to real people in my reality). I don’t know what’s in their minds or what their desires are I, as the demon, just want to kill them and own the tree. Nah, I just don’t want to see them around her. Is this obsession? Yes. And I am mad. And so, that’s a good example for psychoanalysis. (I need a psychiatrist).
I have already said that this poem is just a dream, a desire. Therefore, if we would have this explanation reach the ‘Tripartite model’ in Psychoanalysis, you know, the famous Id-Ego-Superego thing, it is purely Id. Id is the irrational part of a person’s psychology; it is unconscious, which contains secret desires, wishes and fears. Ego is the rational part or the logical, the part that is awake and corresponds to the reality principle. In the dream, ego could not regulate the Id. But when the speaker was already awake, then the ego claims its part. Superego was also absent since social norms mean nothing in the dream.
But why did the speaker smile at the end of the poem? He was just happy that what he desired happened in his dream. If only there is no such thing as ego and superego, the death of the crows is already done by now.
