Apollonian and Dionysian
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The Apollonian and Dionysian is a philosophical and literary concept that is based on certain features of ancient Greek mythology. It has been used by several Western philosophical and literary figures, including Plutarch, Friedrich Nietzsche, literary critic G. Wilson Knight, and cultural critic Camille Paglia.
In Greek mythology, Apollo is the god of lightness and poetry. Dionysus is the god of wine and drunkenness. In the literary usage of the concept, this contrast is transformed into a metaphysical principle of individuality versus wholeness. The Classical Greeks did not consider the two gods to be in any formal opposition as gods.
[edit] Nietzsche's usage
Nietzsche's aesthetic usage of the concept, which was later developed philosophically, began with his book The Birth of Tragedy.
Dionysus (Dionysian): intoxication, celebration of nature, cruelty, music, dance, pain, individuality dissolved and hence destroyed, wholeness of existence, orgiastic passion, dissolution of all boundaries, excess, human being(s) as the work and glorification of art, destruction.
Apollo (Apollinian or Apollonian): the dream state, principium individuationis (principle of individuation), plastic (visual) arts, beauty, stint to formed boundaries, individuality, reason, celebration of appearance/illusion, human beings as artists (or media of art's manifestation), self-control, perfection, exhaustion of possibilities, creation.
