The poet and the superego.

The prophet Ezekiel had a seminal influence on later poets. This speculative paper explores the ways in which he may have chosen to experience disturbed states of mind in order to reintegrate parts of his psyche split off in infancy. It discusses his dialogues with his primitive superego (the agent of the original splitting) and the superego's subsequent metamorphosis. It also suggests that Ezekiel may have given us a poetic account of the experience of reintegration, as well as metaphors for the new levels of psychic maturity resulting from this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]