BPA | The Poetic Mind Seminar - AWAKE! Blake and the Power of the Imagination.

The Poetic Mind Seminar

AWAKE! Blake and the Power of the Imagination. William Blake's Call to Us Now

Online only

Chair discussant David Howell Morgan

The year 2027 marks the bicentenary of the death of William Blake, poet, painter and prophet, and it is worth asking what his work has to say to an unconscious that finds itself, two centuries on, no less in need of awakening. Blake sought to rouse his readers from a slumber they did not know they were in, offering not instruction but a kind of psychic loosening, an invitation to perceive eternity with the eyes of imagination rather than with the flattened, reality-testing eye that mistakes the given world for the only possible one. In this his project runs close to that of psychoanalysis itself, which likewise begins from the premise that what passes for perception is already shaped by defence, and that a return to a more primary imaginative capacity is both a labour and a risk.
His visionary work suggests that the modern worldview, with its allegiance to what he called single vision, performs a kind of occlusion, foreclosing certain forms of knowing much as a defence forecloses an unwelcome truth, even as it simultaneously opens new possibilities that an earlier consciousness could not have held.

Mark Vernon is a London-based writer, broadcaster and psychotherapist, and a former Anglican priest. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Warwick University, degrees in theology from Oxford and Durham, and a physics degree from Durham. He works in private practice as a psychodynamic psychotherapist, and has previously worked at the Maudsley Hospital in a personality disorder service.

His writing moves between ancient philosophy, theology and depth psychology, with recent books on William Blake, Dante's Divine Comedy, spiritual intelligence and Owen Barfield. He is a regular contributor to Radio 4's Thought for the Day, and writes for the BBC, Aeon, Church Times, The Tablet and The Idler, where he has a column. He also hosts the podcast Inner Life and co-runs the improvisation duo Philosophy Slam!

The Poetic Mind Seminar

A series centered on the intersection of poetry and psychoanalysis can explore how both disciplines utilise language to navigate the complexities of human experience.

Future topics

Metaphor and Meaning: Examining how metaphors function in both poetry and therapeutic dialogue to reveal unconscious content.

The Poetics of Therapy: Investigating the role of narrative and in psychoanalytic practice.

Language and Healing: Exploring how the expressive qualities of language in poetry can inform therapeutic techniques aimed at emotional processing and integration.

By delving into these areas, we could illuminate the rich, symbiotic relationship between poetic expression and psychoanalytic exploration, offering deeper insights into the human condition through the lens of language.

The opinions and views expressed are entirely those of the speaker in a personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the BPA.
Refunds available up to 10 days before the event start date.