The Past and the Present Put Together in Graham Swift’s Poems The Bookmark and We Both Know

Abstract

Abstract: In his poem The Bookmark, Swift suggests that imagination is a way to take a distance from oneself. “Memory and longing amounting to the same”, Swift claims in his poem We Both Know (240). In both poems, the poetic persona needs to put together different parts of their personality to feel complete. This reminds us of the individuation process described by Carl Jung. The title We Both Know suggests a dialogue with the poetic persona’s own self. By unifying past and present incidents and aspects of personality, the poetic persona comes to a better understanding of himself. Swift’s poems remind of a therapeutic process.

Keywords

• Swift
• imagination
• memory
• personality
• therapy