On the relation of analytical psychology to poetry. Princeton University Press, 1966. The relation between psychology and art is discussed in a study of the creative process in poetry and its connection to analytical psychology. The discussion begins with a criticism of the medical reductionism practiced by Freud. Although Freud is correct in maintaining that a poet's biography illuminates his work, it does not totally explain it.
Analytical psychology is seen as different from medical psychology.
The latter must be discarded when examining a work of art, for a work of art is not a disease, and requires a different analytical approach. Two basic types of art are identified and some criteria provided for differentiating between them. In the second instance, the artist seems to cease being an individual and becomes a nutrient medium for the creation of his art. The creative process is described as a living thing implanted in the human psyche, an autonomous complex which has a life of its own outside ordinary consciousness. The autonomous complex, and specifically the autonomous creative complex, are further defined.