Sudden Illumination

Essay by RubeeLouCollege, UndergraduateA-, October 2014

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

Rachell Lemmons

September 10, 2014

Sudden Illumination

The creative process can be a fluid and flowing step by step process. For some though, the process of creating can be very rigid and structured. Most people, without even knowing it, follow a simple common process from the time they have an idea, to the time they have created their final product. By analyzing the creative steps of a mathematician, a poet, an artist, and a musician, it is clear that no two people go through this process exactly the same. Inspiration, clarification, gestation, evaluation, illumination, and final verification, are the six steps that I found in the creative process. This process isn't a universal template that everyone must follow in order to create, but it is clear that the creative process is common amongst everyone.

Before any creation begins, one must be inspired. A subconscious idea can easily spark inspiration for a new creation.

While creating a new poem, Amy Lowell in, "The Process of Making Poetry," suggests that she usually finds inspiration for an idea where it barely touches consciousness. Similarly, speaking almost of a day dream; Friedrich Nietzsche, author of "Composition of Thus Spake Zarathustra," is taking a stroll through the woods, "It was there that the idea came to me" (APS 23). Vincent van Gogh in, "Letter to Anton Ridder Van Rappard," proposes that while working on creating a new art piece, due to inspiration and subconscious thinking, the idea has already taken form in his mind before he even starts on it. In the article, "A Letter," Mozart explains that his ideas flow best when he is "completely [himself], entirely alone…or during the night when [he] cannot sleep" (APS 17). Whether in, "The Process of Making Poetry", "Composition of Thus Spake Zarathustra", "Letter to Anton Ridder...