Psychology Realism

HLI 118

Psychological Realism

Realism in American literature became popular from 1865-1900. Having just ended the Civil War, it was a time of great turmoil in American history, with reconstruction and urbanization following right after. It was a time of change – industrialization and technological advances were underway, changing the way Americans thought. In "The Novel and its Future," George Parsons Lathrop said, "Realism sets itself at work to consider characters and events which are apparently the most ordinary and uninteresting, in order to extract from these their full value and true meaning” (Lombardi). This basically means taking every day feelings and experiences and using imagery to find a greater meaning behind them. Moreover, psychological realism is interested in capturing the inmost sentiment of experience, which means there doesn’t necessary have to be a story line because it’s essentially focused on the feelings of the character. Readers are often presented with the character's consciousness and moves through the character's thought process. There is a focus on interior setting - the inside of the characters’ minds. Heavy imagery also is used, fused with sound and sight. Memories or “flashbacks” are also sometimes used in these kinds of poems. Common themes in psychological realist poems are alienation, loneliness, love, and self (Rushing), some of which are seen in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poems Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy.
In Richard Cory, the reader follows along with the speakers’ thoughts of Cory. They, in a sense, paint a picture of him for the reader, using phrases like “clean favored and imperially slim,” “he fluttered pulses… he glittered,” he was “admirably schooled in every grace” to describe a man who went downtown. The poem describes a good-looking, rich, learned, humble gentleman admired by the people in his town – basically the man everyone should want to be. Despite the fact that he was “richer than a king,” on one calm summer night he “put a bullet through his head.” Through this poem, Robinson opens the doors for any of the four themes mentioned above. Because the reader does not know why Cory killed himself, the reader understands the obvious – that money cannot buy happiness and not to judge people by their appearance; however, the reader is left questioning why Cory committed suicide. Could he have been lonely, heartbroken, why did he not value of his own life? What could have driven him to such lengths?
The poem does not have a story line: it’s about a rich man who seems to have it all, but end up shooting himself in the head. Aside from that, the only things that are known are how the townspeople perceive him. There is emphasis on the reasons, conditions, and internal actions or feelings which lead to external actions. This poem is not meant to state what happens, but rather goes on to make the reader think about the in incentives behind the actions. The reader is introduced to an ordinary man, blessed with a life that the townspeople wish they had, who’s sad ending causes the reader to question what happiness and life are really about, which is the effect that psychological realist poems are supposed to portray.
Miniver Cheevy is another example of a psychological realist poem. Cheevy is similar to Cory in the sense that they are both unhappy people who are not able to fit in with society and are, more or less, both headed toward self-destruction. Cheevy is a simple character whose pretext for his lack of success was that he was born in the wrong time period. “He wept that he was ever born,” because, according to him, he should have been born in the medieval period, a time full of bravery, respect and chivalry. However, this fantasy was based off of the legends and tales he heard of Thebes and Camelot, when, in reality, the medieval period was plagued with starvation, disease, and death. Cheevy’s heavy drinking caused his imagination to take over, resulting in him wasting his life away on alcohol, away from reality; he “thought, and thought, and thought, and thought about it… kept on thinking… called it fate, and kept on drinking.” In this poem, the reader follows Cheevy through his way of coping with the fact that he is not successful in life and unhappy with his life; he believes that he was just “born too late.” He felt alienated and probably lonely – he did not belong in that time period he was born into, and eventually he loses his sense of self to alcohol. By drinking his life away, Cheevy essentially chooses his own “fate” by sulking in his own self-pity, intoxicating himself with the unrealistic dreams. The reader sees the reality of this man, sugar-coated by the dreams of the life he wished he had, which is the point of a psychological realist poem – taking the reality of a character, following him or her through his or her very descriptive thoughts and emotions about everyday situations, and finding a meaning behind it all. Both these poems were examples of psychological realism, both written during a time when the sweeping economic, social, and political changes that took place in post-war life allowed American Realism to prevail (Penrose). Neither really have a story line because they are mainly focused on the feelings and thoughts of the characters. Both were poems of ordinary people who were not able to fit in with society, with feelings that many people experience that ended up losing their lives. This is something that happens to people every day, but the difference is the way the imagery catches the reader’s attention and then triggers him or her to find the bigger picture behind the simple actions in the poem.

Works Cited Lombardi, Esther. "Realism - American Literature."About.com Guide. The New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 29 April 2011. <http://classiclit.about.com/od/literaryterms/g/aa_realistic.htm> Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th edition, volume C, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2007 Penrose, Patricia. "American Realism: 1865-1910."American Collection. National Council of Teachers of English, n.d. Web. 29 April 2011. <http://www.ncteamericancollection.org/amer_realism.htm>.
Prof. Rubenfeld, HLI 118 A, Stevens Institute of Technology, Spring 2011 Rushing, Elizabeth. "Psychological Realism."Literature Rush. Literature Rush, 10 Nov 2007. Web. 29 April 2011. <http://literaryrush.blogspot.com/2007/11/psychological-realism.html>.