A Look at the Inspiration of the Writer

Within the text that Cocteau wrote about inspiration, one statement stands out: "The poet is at the disposal of his night. His role is humble, he must clean house and await its due visitation" (Cocteau 80) It is true that the poet must be prepared for the visitation of creativity and the works it produces as a result. The act of writing is at once symbiotic and detached; the poet is the medium for the inspiration, and yet, he is incapable of complete control over the process. He is at the mercy of the inspiration. As Miller said: "Immediately, I heard my own voice I was enchanted: the fact it was separate, distinct, unique voice sustained me" (Miller 185).

Inspiration seems visceral and inchoate. It comes in waves, or rain drops. It arrives in different forms at different times to different people. A simple revelation about a simplistic object can key the poet into the world around him. "And when I understood this thing, I saw that I must find for myself the tongue to utter what I knew but could not say. And from the moment of that discovery, the line and purpose of my life was shaped" (Wolfe 193). The one thing in common with these writers is that there is a certain moment when everything at once makes sense and falls to piece, awaiting the poet's words to restring them together. "For it is at this moment that consciousness must take precedence over the unconscious and that it becomes necessary to find the means which permit the unformed work to take form, to render it visible for all" (Cocteau 79). It is the job of the poet to make sense of the nonsensical, the every day trivialities that are overlooked and forgotten. The feel of the morning mist on the skin, or the taste of anger as it drips down the throat, rolling and festering as it is swallowed. Poems are meant to express what cannot be expressed, represent what most do not want to represent in emotional outbursts. It is the duty of the poet to be aware of inspiration, and take it to paper, formed and musical. They receive the gauntlet, drawn and dirty; they are bound by their poetic nature to construct. They are the architects of language, the purveyors of the essence within us all. They build the worlds that art paints and sculpture frames. They are the foundation; how could they not find and abide by inspiration?

Cocteau, Jean. "The Process of Inspiration." The Creative Process. Brewster Ghiselin, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985

Miller, Henry. "Reflections on Writing" The Creative Process. Brewster Ghiselin, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985

Wolfe, Thomas. "The Story of the Novel." The Creative Process. Brewster Ghiselin, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985