39 pages • 1 hour read
Gaston BachelardThe Poetics of Space
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1957A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Introduction-Chapter 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Introduction Summary and Analysis
Bachelard first references his personal history in the sciences, claiming that the pursuit of poetics requires an abandonment of the rational principles applied in scientific study. Bachelard became disillusioned with science when he taught chemistry and physics, feeling weighed down by the rationality of scientific thought. Whereas science is intrinsically connected to prior research and thinking, poetics operates inside a realm of newness. Bachelard suggests that creativity requires close attention to the sporadic and seemingly disconnected jolts of imaginative thought—what he refers to as “the poetic image” (1). To attempt to apply scientific theory or context to the poetic image would ruin it. Bachelard confirms that he is interested not in scientific principles of phenomenology but in ontology, the study of the nature of being. For him, the poetic image has no cause or catalyst; it exists within a flow of being that connects everything together. Bachelard suggests that while one can study the biography of an artist or writer, it is foolish to attempt to examine the poetic image through any other lens than the phenomenology of imagination.
In this introduction, Bachelard admits that he regularly struggles to abandon the scientific modes of thinking that dominated his philosophical thinking in the past. The poetic image, he asserts, cannot be viewed through a lens of rationality because it defies rationality. The poetic image can be conjured from near nothingness and somehow imprint upon the emotions of others. Thus, Bachelard explains that he was forced to set aside scientific principles and look at the poetic image as it entered consciousness; rather than approaching the topic from solely a rational perspective, he felt it necessary to utilize an intersection of the phenomenology (or consciousness) of the mind and the phenomenology of the soul, embracing the eternal nature of the poetic image, as well as its manifestation by the mind. He calls the conjunction of these “the phenomenology of the poetic imagination” (9).
In the first section, Bachelard introduces the concept of reverie, something that he suggests differs from a dream and more closely resembles a daydream. During reverie, the individual relaxes while the mind is allowed to wander the realm of the soul. In reverie, the poetic image asserts itself as a result of resonances—the vibrations of life, memory, and the cosmos—and reverberations allow the individual to inhabit the poetic image and to transform it into creation. Bachelard credits reverberation with the ability of humans to speak, connecting linguistic abilities to the connection of being. He hypothesizes that all humans are logos, or that all humans contain the ability of divine creation through linguistic expression. This endowment of expression gives the individual freedom. Bachelard refers to the poetic image as the “origin of consciousness,” and the reverberation, or the ability to speak the poetic image, is the divine action of creation, the point at which the phenomenology of the soul (the receipt of the poetic image) touches the phenomenology of the mind (found in the act of creation). This concept introduces the theme of The Poetic Image and Language, as language actually creates and gives expression to the image that lies at the root of being.
Bachelard spends much of the introduction discussing those methodologies that he does not use to examine the poetic image. He warns against attempting to psychoanalyze the poetic image or attempting to sublimate it. To do so would mean rejecting its newness and restricting its freedom of expression. Some things, he argues, are not to be explained. Rather, Bachelard focuses his attention on topophilia, the spaces which attract the mind and spark the poetic image. By setting up the idea that he will not utilize psychology or psychoanalysis to examine creativity or imagination, he establishes that his work will concentrate on the origin of the poetic image, the moment when it appears into consciousness and the relationship of that appearance to the physical space of a home. Topophilia is tied to The Relationship Between Design and Emotion, a theme that is explored in this guide.
Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis: “The House. From Cellar to Garret. The Significance of the Hut”
Bachelard introduces the idea of topophilia and emphasizes that a house both provides a plethora of images to the daydreaming mind and accepts the outward expression of the poetic image in the ways that a person fills and designs a space. In this way, a home both feeds the imagination and becomes a manifestation of it. Bachelard describes a home as its own cosmos and affirms that all homes have elements of beauty to recommend them. The protection the home offers creates the walls within which imagination can roam. Bachelard even refers to “the bosom of the house,” referencing its bodily protection as a form of maternity (29). The home is experienced within two realms: the real and the imaginary.
Just as Bachelard described resonance in the introduction as the cosmic space where memory and imagination meet, the home, too, operates as a type of resonance. It is filled with memorabilia, a word that finds its root in memory and has a connection to the past: photos, tokens, trinkets. It also has a connection to the present—a lit cigarette, a still-steaming cup of coffee, the impression of feet on an ottoman—as well as to the future—calendars, half-finished projects, half-read books. It also has a connection to the unknown, the parts of human consciousness that are intangible. It is for this reason that Bachelard believes in the strong connection between space and the poetic image. Thus, Bachelard suggests that the house’s main benefit is that it provides a space in which the individual can daydream, freely exploring the intangible. The experience of being is best manifested within a space of comfort and protection. Bachelard points to the house of childhood as an example of this comfort and protection, as it appeals most strongly to the sense of reverie. He claims that the house of childhood is engraved into the mind and soul of every person. It was there, Bachelard says, that individuals learned to daydream.
One way to consider this home of childhood is through topoanalysis, or the analysis of the ties between personal identity and personal space. Bachelard asserts that topoanalysis requires a separation from memory and an exploration of those spaces within the home that highlight solitude. Topoanalysis is anchored in Humanity’s Relationship with Interior Space. As the individual searches the mind for the topography of the space, the intimacy of the home re-engages the unconscious. Bachelard points to spaces that invite individuals to escape the confines of consciousness: roads and paths, hills that are meant to be climbed, fields and meadows. He cites the ways in which these spaces ignite the unconscious mind. He then suggests that a person’s unconscious connection to the intimate spaces of a home is just as strong, if not more so, than the connection to these open spaces of outdoor exploration. The reverie of childhood is so closely interlocked with the space itself that, by attempting to reinhabit the childhood home, the individual reinhabits the daydreams of childhood.
Bachelard then suggests that a house has two themes: First, a house is vertical, and second, the house “appeals to our consciousness of centrality” (39). In the first theme, Bachelard explores the functions of the different levels of the home. The cellar is dark and connects to an individual’s fear. When an individual daydreams in the cellar, the individual connects with the irrational self. Carl Jung connects the cellar to the unconscious, where the individual's darkest fears and the vast expanses of the unknown dwell. Horror movies provide a concrete example of this concept: Often the characters in horror films refuse to enter the basement or cellar, or they find the force of evil lurking in these spaces. As the individual moves up the tiers of the house, the mind becomes more rational. The ascension and descension of stairways symbolize entering into these different tiers of consciousness. The second theme, centrality, refers to the apex of intimacy. Bachelard states that intimacy in the home requires simplicity of space. Bachelard points to the hermit’s hut as an example of the intimacy and solitude that lends itself to reverie.
In both themes, Bachelard personifies the house. It becomes the place where the universe and the soul intersect. The hermit’s hut, for example, has an eye—the light from a lamp exuding from a window. The verticality of the home symbolizes the tiers of consciousness. For Bachelard, the home and the individual’s consciousness are so completely intertwined that they cannot be separated. This highlights the importance of humanity’s relationship with interior space as well as the relationship between design and emotion, two important themes of Bachelard’s work.
Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis: “House and Universe”
Bachelard suggests that winter refines the intimacy of a home and encourages repose, a restful state, which is the opportunity of reverie. Bachelard focuses his attention on the place where the universe and the house meet. The outside world lacks intimacy, but the house has no intimacy without the outside world. The winter snow outside a house, viewed through dark curtains, makes a house feel cozier, smaller, and more connected to a collective ancestry of storytelling and legend. In turn, the house adds to the dynamics of the outside world, lending it a wildness and intensity. In stories, the outside world transforms into the attacking animal, as the house transforms into the body seeking to protect itself. The outside world adds to the personification of the home.
Bachelard offers that because the house is human-like, it cannot be viewed objectively or rationally—even though it is made of geometric shapes and, therefore, invites that type of logical consideration. However, the house cannot be confined to mathematical shapes and measuring because daydreams can alter, expand, and reshape a house. Houses defy the limitations of rational thought because, even after they are torn down, they remain alive as parts of human consciousness. The memory of a house is so closely tied to the daydreams that were imagined within it that the notion of it as a rational, physical space is deceptive. In fact, because the home is so closely fettered to the individual, it manifests into a form of psychic state. The very fact that children so often choose to draw houses exposes the depth of the connection between the individual and the house. Often these drawings of homes reveal more about the psychic state of the child—and the state of the life within the house—than any other form of expression conveys.
Bachelard contrasts the childhood home with the concept of the dream house. While the daydream of the house a person may want to build is similar to the reverie Bachelard discusses in the book, it differs in that it is not the soul’s “vital expression” (81). The intimate home is filled with items that become endowed with humanity as people care for them. The everyday tasks of cleaning and polishing give way to daydreaming, and the things being cleaned accept the gift of newness of being as they are being cared for and maintained. Bachelard suggests that daydreams, such as the ones that take place while performing menial household chores, provide a sense of liberation that cannot be confined to scientific analysis.
Chapter 2 invites readers to examine their own childhood homes and consider both what the homes offered and what they received: the emotional architecture of the home. He claims that a house must be read like a book to understand the space. Bachelard requires the reader to consider that the connection to the house may be greater than merely a place to hold some “stuff” or a place to sleep at night. Instead, the house is memory, daydreams, and intimacy. He finishes the chapter by considering the doorknob, an object that he believes says more about opening than it does about closing. The image of the doorknob provides a bridge to the following chapters, which examine the recesses of the interior of the home.
