Editing Conrad Aiken (section)

===Adult years===
Aiken was strongly influenced by [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]], especially in his earlier works. In 1930 he received the [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] for his ''Selected Poems''. Many of his writings had strong psychological themes. He wrote the widely anthologized short story "[[Silent Snow, Secret Snow]]" (1934), partially based on his childhood tragedy.<ref name="AcademyPoets" />

Other influences were Aiken's grandfather, Potter, who had been a church preacher, as well as Whitman's freestyle poetry. This helped Aiken shape his poetry more freely while his recognition of a God grounded his more visually rich explorations into the universe. Some of his best-known poetry, such as "Morning Song from Senlin", uses these influences to great effect.

His collections of verse include ''Earth Triumphant'' (1914), ''The Charnel Rose'' (1918) and ''And In the Hanging Gardens'' (1933). His poem "Music I Heard" has been set to music by a number of composers, including [[Leonard Bernstein]], [[Henry Cowell]], and [[Helen Searles Westbrook]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Office |first=Library of Congress Copyright |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTohAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA155 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series |year=1956}}</ref> Aiken wrote or edited more than 51 books, the first of which was published in 1914, two years after his graduation from Harvard. His work includes novels, short stories (''The Collected Short Stories'' appeared in 1961), reviews, an autobiography, and poetry. He received numerous awards and honors for his writing, though for most of his lifetime, he received little public attention.<ref name="PoetryFoundation" />

Though Aiken was reluctant to speak of his early trauma and ensuing psychological problems, he acknowledged that his writings were strongly influenced by his studies of [[Sigmund Freud]], [[Carl G. Jung]], [[Otto Rank]], Ferenczi, Adler, and other [[depth psychology|depth psychologists]]. It was not until the publication of his autobiography, ''Ushant'', that Aiken revealed the emotional challenges that he had battled for much of his adult life. During the 1920s Freud heard of him and offered to psychoanalyze him. While aboard a Europe-bound ship to meet with Freud, Aiken was discouraged by [[Erich Fromm]] from accepting the offer. Consequently, despite Freud's strong influence on Aiken, Aiken never met the noted psychoanalyst.<ref name="Conrad Aiken" /> As he later said, "Freud had read ''Great Circle'', and I'm told kept a copy on his office table. But I didn't go, though I started to. Misgivings set in, and so did poverty."<ref name="ParisReview">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4283/the-art-of-poetry-no-9-conrad-aiken |title=Conrad Aiken, The Art of Poetry No. 9 |last=Wilbur |first=Robert Hunter |date=1968 |volume=Winter-Spring 1968 |issue=42 |magazine=The Paris Review |access-date=July 6, 2020}}</ref>