Poem responses -David chen

I enjoyed emmet's poem response due to the similarities it showed in comparison to mine. We agreed on a lot of points like how frank oHara used the character actions to portray feeling. Thus, it was an ideal choice for the quote from Amy lowell, “Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” One would be hard pressed to find another poem that which utilizes reactions to convey emotions better than oHara's.

Another post I liked was Caroline's which is right above emmet's and uses the same quote from Lowell. However, the game is changed when totty introduces a new poem into the fray, "The Harlem Dancer" by Claude McKay. In this work of art, McKay depicts a dancer and the moves he used to encapsulate the audience. Once again, portraying art through action and allowing the reader to witness the beauty of free interpretation.

Poem Responses, Walt Finch

For my first response, I read Charlie Grimes' post about Thirteen Ways of Looking At a Blackbird.  I liked how he compared it to the quote, instead of just talking about the imagery of the poem and what the poet does or does not do.  I also liked his point about how we don't see the simple beauties in life.  I thought it was very true, and very plausible that that was what the poet was going for.  I also like how he ended by comparing it to his own thoughts about art, which made the blog post more personal and kept me engaged and ended it well.

For my second response, I read Emily Cashman's post about the London poem.  I agree with her in saying that art can share every emotion possible.  I don't necessarily agree that it can be in a short time frame though.  Sometimes I think it requires that you really look at it or take some time to think to get everything the artist is trying to say.  Or the artist might have just been painting a cool picture, maybe they didn't mean anything by it.  I do think that poetry can be a better tool for evoking emotion, like she shows how "London" did with comparing Milton to a star.  I think that although poems sometimes take a little longer to read, I also think that the writer can make sure that all of the emotions are conveyed, unlike in art where the viewer might not look close enough to get everything out of it.  Or might not take the time to look.

Poem Responses - Charlie Grimes

I was very intrigued by Walt's interpretation of Degas' Laundresses by Evan Boland. I found his explanation of syntax and repetition of certain sounds leading to a theme of monotony and repetition in a certain character's life very interesting and unique. I also enjoyed his hypotheses about different symbolisms in the poem, such as the "winding sheet" connection to women's oppression at a certain time in history. Walt then nicely tied up the overarching theme of the poem at the end of his analysis, despite expressing his disinterest in art. I would agree with his assertion that the point of the poem was to capture a certain sentiment of the time.

I also found Emmet's interpretation of Amy Lowell's quote and analysis of O Hara's "The Day Lady Died" to be quite interesting. I too have found that sometimes the greatest emotions cannot be expressed in plain language. I believe that feelings that are evoked in works like "The Day Lady Died" are better expressed in a way that captures the actual moment and actions of the situation. Why? It allows the reader to have some emotions of their own evoked, and it also allows for a more descriptive and vivid scene. Like Emmet explained, if the author were to have simply written a disconnected paragraph about death and its impact, the reader would experience very little in comparison to real observations and snapshots of the impact that a certain death had. Nice job, Emmet.

Art and the Artist Responses- Mikaela Gatewood

Charlie Grimes- I thought that Charlie's interpretation of the poem was really interesting, concluding that in striving to see the perfect, we miss the beauty around us. He then connects the poem to not only Jackson Pollock's quote, but to his art as well. I thought that it was interesting and well thought out that he linked Pollock's messy techniques to the poet's loose formatting of the stanzas, creating a large range of images of emotions that the blackbird invokes. The idea that both presented emotions, such as fear or fascination, was a connection I hadn't thought to make. Overall, I thought it was a really well done analysis.

Emmet Allen- Emmet was the only other person to choose the same poem as me, so I thought I would talk about his. Emmet approached the poem differently than I did, however I think we generally arrived at the same conclusion. Despite not knowing that the poem was about the death of Billie Holliday, Emmet still beautifully illustrated that the author was shocked and dismayed over the death of a figure important to the author's life. The quote he chose has a clear connection to one of the main purposes of the poem, the author expressing his feelings and actions throughout the day. This gave a clear example that the purpose of art was to record your reactions to the world around you. I think it was a great connection to make and very well done.

Response to Poem Responses- Caroline Totty

I believe how Emily Cashman interpreted her quote and poem was insightful. I agree with her mostly and her take related to mine in saying art has several different meanings depending on who is viewing it. I like how Emily included that art can evoke feelings the viewer does not always expect. I also liked how she said current events happening around the artist have the ability to influence them. I sort of approached it more as emotional events in the artist's life specifically are what encouraged him or her, but I like how Emily said it could also be the influence of current events that are affecting everyone.

I thought Will Mathews' take on the poem he responded to was interesting. I thought it was interesting he said artwork has limitations and that he took the quote and interpreted it as stating artwork has limitations. This is sort of the opposite of how I took this quote and what I believe. I believe artwork has no limitations and you can describe yourself and your feelings endlessly, but Will states otherwise. It was interesting to me to see his take on artwork.

Response to Responses Emmet

The first response I would like to comment on is Jacob Ferguson. I think that, apart from his interpretation of the quote and the emotions of the work of art, he did a great job explaining not only how the quote was applicable, but also showing the depth and complexity of the painting by demonstrating the two different levels on which Conrad's comments can be applied.

The second post I will respond to is Mikaela's, which was about "The Day Lady Died," the same poem I wrote on. She did a good job explaining the significance of the poem itself, but her discussion became particularly interesting toward the end of the post when she connected connections with redemption. I think this is a great point to bring up with this poem in particular because it's such a personal account, it can't have much significance in any other sense.

responses to poem responses - Emily Cashman

I'd first like to respond to Caroline Totty's response. She spoke about how different people view art in different ways and I feel as though that relates to how I think art is capable of eliciting so many different emotions from people depending on their backgrounds, feelings, or situations because art is heavily up to interpretation. I like how she related the quote to the "Harlem Dancer"; it was a very creative interpretation, which is just another example of how differently people can view works of art.

Since nobody else in the class chose "London 1802" as their poem, my other response will be on a person who chose the same quote as me. Lucy Macfarlan also picked the Joseph Conrad quote for her response. I liked how she focused more on how the emotions serve to connect us and pulls us together, which is why art is so successful at making the audience feel something. I really enjoyed how she incorporated Damien Hirst's "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" piece because I remember learning about it in art history last year and think it's a really cool and unique piece of art.

Responses - Aislinn Langley

Mikaela's discussion of Frank O'Hara's poem The Day the Lady Died as related to redemption was interesting. She claimed that art's quality of redemption was its ability to profoundly affect someone and make a connection between creator and perceiver. In describing the way O'Hara was redeemed by the music of Billie Holiday, the subject of the poem, Mikaela offers puts a new layer of meaning onto Chandler's words. Redemption is more than a righting of one's wrongs, it is a near spiritual elevation of the self. In this sense, anything that truly moves or connects an audience can be called true art.

I used the same quote and poem as Caroline, yet she went a slightly different direction with her analysis of the quote and poem. This actually goes to prove the point she makes, that art is a difference of interpretations. While I had taken the quote to mean something slightly cynical--that art is a means of man showing the world his specific and overrated opinions on life and his surroundings--Caroline interpreted it in a much more positive manner. She basically said that while an artist may express their views of events, it is the viewers' varying interpretations that make it evocative art, which is a really cool and much more comforting thought.

Responses to Poem Responses - Jacob Ferguson

In Mikaela Gatewood's post she talked about the poem The Day Lady Died, and made some very interesting points.  She did a good job of researching the context or the story behind the poem, which gave it a new meaning for me.  I read it without really knowing the subject, but once I learned it I realized that in the poem the author is trying to keep his mind off of Billie Holiday's death, trying to think about other things.  That's why he talks in a very fragmented way, it shows that he is trying to stay in the moment, by walking through his daily routine in his mind.  Mikaela also did a good job of connecting her quote about art being redemptive with the poem.  She talked about how Holiday's music was a redemptive or rescuing force for the narrator, which I think definitely explains why he metaphorically "stopped breathing" at the end, because he didn't feel like he could make it in life without Holiday's music to redeem him.

I like how in Caroline Toddy's analysis of The Harlem Dancer, she talked about opposing viewpoints within a piece of art.  This was interesting to me, because in this poem the speaker talks about the lusty attitudes of a group of people towards a woman dancing, and then the way the dancer herself felt.  I think this contrast that Caroline is pointing out is vital to the poem's impact and also perfectly fits with the quote about art that she chose.  The poem explicitly"records the reactions of [a] personality to the world [it] lives in."

Responses- James Jones

          I liked how opposed to just saying that art is used to capture even the most mundane feelings Emmet said that it is used to capture the more abstract emotions we experience, things that couldn't simply be explained in words. I agree that art is often used to convey things that deserve more than just a few simple words. 

          I also enjoyed Andrew Collins' response, the connection to blues is a great example of how hard it is for one to express their self without a medium besides spoken word. Your example of the blues singers and musicians from the Billy Collins poem illustrates an entire genre of music that exists to convey the deep emotions that people feel and need to communicate.

Responses- Brandon Castillo

I thought that Caroline's take on "The Harlem Dancer" was cool. It was different that she looked at it through the author's eyes and how she was also able to see the sadness the dancer felt because of the life that she lived now. I like the contrast she puts in her writing when she juxtaposes the happiness of the people looking at the dancer and the dancer herself. She also took it a different way by choosing the quote by Amy Lowell- "art is the desire of man to express himself". I saw more of the feelings that the art created in the piece rather than the expression of the artist but I think that the way Caroline approached it was cool.
I also thought that Will's interpretation of Amy Lowell's quote was good. I thought that him saying that art has its limitations was thought-provoking because I think that he is right, one artwork can't say everything the author has to say. I believe that the author has to publish several pieces in order to get all his ideas across- we don't have just one opinion but rather lots of opinions on lots of things so it would make sense that we would need more than just one art piece to get multiple points across. I thought that him using the poem that he picked to describe a way that artists were restricted by their trade was also awesome.

Responses- Will mathews

One of my favorite responses I read was Emily’s. Even though in a way it disagreed with what I said about the limitations of art, I really liked her description of art that has the capacity to fill our wonder and delight. I was also intrigued by the way that she talks about the poem “London, 1802” she says that so much emotion was able to be put into 14 lines, I thought that sort of agreed with my ideas about how even though some art forms are limited to a certain number of lines they are still able to represent such a fulfilling emotion.

In addition to Emily’s poem I found great intrigue with Charlie’s, I thought he had a very well written interpretation of Pollack’s quote about the pain that goes into art, and that it matters little what skill of technique that was used, but more what the artwork evokes from you. To translate it back to my own statements of the immense beauty that can be found through art even with the limitations that can be presented, I would agree that the true beauty of the artwork is defined by the emotions it can draw from you, rather than its esthetical beauty or its elevated texts. So like many abstract works it may not always be pretty or even make sense but often it can make you see something in a new light that you had never before thought of. So I guess in a way the abstract art world can help to break through the limitations the clear-cut art world can lead to.

Art and the Artist responses to responses-Sloan Warner

After reading a couple responses, Emmet's response was one that stuck out to me the most. His analysis of the quote, “Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” by Amy Lowell was incredibly interesting and thought provoking to me. In the end, art in its most raw and natural form is the exact emotions the artist is feeling at the time of creating it. Everyone else's perception is usually a spin off, large or small, of the true emotions the artist was feeling based on the environment surrounding the audience. The perception of art is just like a piece of slightly hardened clay that you can change slightly without changing the integrity of the art piece as a whole. Art is a method to convey an artist's feeling, happy or sad, and it has been that way since the beginning of art.
Moreover, I enjoyed Jacob Ferguson's interpretation of the same poem that I examined, using the quote, “The artist speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives, to our sense of pity and beauty, and pain,” by Joseph Conrad. Now that I think of it, art always evokes one of the emotions he mentions in some way, shape, or form. Those adjectives of emotion are in just about any piece of art you will ever look at. In the "Harlem Dancer," the narrator is puzzled as well by the true feelings of the dancer. For me, it most often is wonder because I am constantly wondering what the author was truly feeling when he created the piece of art. What was the setting, his or her personal life. They are all tiny pieces to a giant jigsaw puzzle of what the author was feeling, and that always puzzles me. 

Art and the Artist - Caleb Combs

One of my beliefs about art is that it is all about self expression and being unique.  Everyone has a different personality and interpretation on the life they have been given.  Your interpretation is something that is unique to you, reflecting experiences that you have had that others have never been a part of.  Claude McKay's poem The Harlem Dancer perfectly reflects my view on art.  The narrator of the poem has a different view on the dancers in the nightclub.  While most people are just enjoying themselves as they "devoured her with their eager, earnest gaze," the author sees the disappointment in their faces.  He realizes that they are not enjoying what they were doing and wish for something different in their lives.  His different interpretation on the scene at the nightclub accurately represents my view on art.

DAvid chen

Art is an outward expression of a person's inward feelings. It can reflect many things, from emotions to dreams and encapsulates a myriad of experiences. Usually, the best art is formed from the deepest feelings. What better way to capture this beauty of humanity than in a poem? The one i chose was by Frank oHara. In The Day Lady Died, the author unveils his inner feelings in the way he describes what he does. Through gloomy diction like "ugly", "sweating" and "stopped breathing", the author relays how he felt in the moment and the reader can truly feel his emotion coming through the text. Thus, he is in turn expressing himself and recording the reactions of his world. 

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

Art and the Artist - Emily Cashman

For this blog post, I'm using the poem "London, 1802" and the quote by Joseph Conrad which says, "The artist speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives, to our sense of pity and beauty, and pain."

In my opinion, art can convey every feeling imaginable, so it really does speak to our "capacity for delight and wonder" as well as everything else we feel. Works of art and their artist's continue to impress me because they are able to evoke emotions I usually don't expect, especially in such a short time frame. So many factors contribute to an artist creating art, like social issues, physical location, personal feelings, current world events as just a few examples. They can have a huge influence over an artist, and can even dictate the emotions the artist speaks to. The current conditions of London and the poet's viewpoint on them play a role in this poem.

The poem "London 1802" by William Wordsworth is able to bring out multiple emotions in just 14 short lines, and this exemplifies how an artist is able to speak to the audience in so many ways. The current situation in London makes the speaker long for John Milton, a deceased English poet, because he feels as though Milton would be able to better the city, which is why it begins with a shout, "Milton!". He sets the stage by making the audience feel frustrated at Milton. Further into the poem, the speaker compares Milton's soul to a star, which allows the audience to understand how great of a person he was and admire him. The poet's capability to evoke different emotions though a singular work is still so impressive to me and is why I chose Conrad's quote as the one which most closely relates to my belief about art.

Art and the Artist, Degas's Laundresses, Walt Finch

“The artist speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives, to our sense of pity and beauty, and pain.” –Joseph Conrad

In the poem,  Degas's Laundresses, the poet, Evan Boland is writing based off of the piece of artwork called The Laundresses.  Both the poem and the artwork capture the sense of pity the creator had for the subjects, as well as the pain these people felt.  The painting shoes the lady yawning, looking exhausted.  It also shows another woman ironing a shirt, hunched over, like she is pushing as hard as she can and has nothing left to give.  The poem also reflects this, by starting off with you rise in line one.  Generally saying rise you think more of just get out of bed, you don't truly wake up, maybe you were never truly asleep.  It also talks about how they rolled up their sleeves, which is common for laborers.  This creates a sense of pity for them because they're working so hard.  The second stanza and the third stanza start each line in a group of sounds.  Like the W sound in the second, or the Y sound in the beginning of the second, and the s sound in the third.  This works to create a sense of repetition, maybe it is to stress the repetitiveness of the main character of the poem's life?  Get up and work all day, then bed, then repeat?  The poem also talks about more of life at that time, by talking about how the woman is almost afraid of the man.  She refuses to look at him, sounds almost as of fear.

This reflects the social conditions of the time, with women as second class citizens to the men.  It is commenting on the patriarchy of the time.  It is also talking about the miserable life these women live by just working all day every day so hard.  It also goes onto talk about how the man is using "her winding sheet".  Is this literally her sheet? Or what is the connection to it?  Either way it helps to create a feeling of being taken advantage of for the main character, the women, or I guess you since he says you.  The use of you makes it more personal.

This clearly documents the sense of pity and pain the artist had for these women, who were laborers.  He isn't trying to just make something beautiful for the sake of it.  He is trying to tell their story, and capture the emotion of it.  I guess this is a noble cause, still not a big art fan though.

9/15 Blog Post about poem Jacob Ferguson

“The artist speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives, to our sense of pity and beauty, and pain.” –Joseph Conrad

In the quote from Joseph Conrad, he is saying that art's purpose is to convey intense emotions like delight, wonder, mystery, pity, beauty, and pain.  The poem The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay shows art’s way of doing this.  The imagery of describing the dancer as a “proudly-swaying palm / Grown lovelier for passing through a storm,” expresses the mysterious nature of the dancer and her attractiveness to all the people watching her.  He also uses rich imagery to describe her hair and voice in a way that shows the sexiness of her dance.  Finally, outside of the outward attraction and beauty that have been described, the author gives us a glimpse into the soul of the dancer, and we pity her that “her self was not in that strange place.”

Art and the Artist- Caroline Totty

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

I believe art is a way for people to express things they would not otherwise be able to put into words. Art is one's emotions and reactions all poured into a painting or a piece of music. However, the best part about art is that to one person a work of art  may mean something and to another it could mean something completely different. Art is more often than not up for interpretation by whoever is viewing it. One of the beauties of art is that it is so relatable, and many works could relate to one little moment in the artist's life while it also has the ability to relate to a specific situation in another person's life. Like the quote by Amy Lowell says, art is simply an artist expressing how he feels towards the world or something within the world. In the poem, "The Harlem Dancer" by Claude McKay the narrator interprets the dancer differently than the people surrounding him. The people surrounding him were just there enjoying themselves and gushing over the bodies and moves of the dancers, however, the narrator sees beyond the fake smile of the dancer. He sees in her face that she does not want to be there and that is not the lifestyle she would have wished for. That's exactly what art is. The difference of interpretations. Art is not meant to have one meaning, it's the freedom of expression and interpretation, and that is the beauty behind it all.   

Frank O'Hara Emmet Allen

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

With the exception of the single-gender language, I think this is a pretty good analysis of what art should be. Nearly everything we experience is encompassed in this sentence, and the very nature of art-as-communication leads to me agree that the desire, and attempt, to record and present one's experience is the fundamental drive or the artist. This is because art is used to show the things that can't be described as easily through more concrete media.

An example of this is "The Day Lady Died" by Frank O'Hara. In this case, the poet could have drafted a paragraph explaining that when someone dies, even someone of importance, the world goes on and that's about it. However, this would fail to fully express the confusion that the speaker felt at the realization of the lack of impact of Lady's death. Only by displaying the actions and observations was he able to clearly express the feelings of that day, and in art alone he found a way to show the reactions of his personality.

Art and the Artist- Mikaela Gatewood

“In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.” –Raymond Chandler

The Day Lady Died by Frank O'Hara can only be described as hectic and a bit off the wall. The poem itself is describing the day that O'Hara learned of famous jazz singer Billie Holiday's death, and beautifully exemplifies the author's surprise and dismay. To begin with, what Raymond Chandler is talking about in his quote is that art, in some form, has a savior type quality to either those who produce it or view it. In O'Hara's case, it was Billie Holiday's music that offered him some sort of redemption. Being an avid fan, O'Hara had seen Holiday perform several times before, the last being in a New York night club called "The Five Spot". O'Hara goes on in his poem to talk about that last performance, how he is transported back to that venue, where "she whispered a song along the keyboard / to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing." Seeing Holiday perform had a profound effect on O'Hara, taking his breath away and filling him with awe. This profound connection is what I think Chandler is talking about. I'd like to believe that all art does that. Whether or not it's to the artist or the viewer, art produces a strong connection to someone. And it's with whatever connection that may be, there can be a quality of redemption.   

Art and the Artist- Andrew Collins

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

I believe that without art, it is very difficult for man to express himself. This quote shares this belief, in that it assumes that there is no other way for man to express himself outside of art. In the poem "The Blues" by Billy Collins, this sentiment is also expressed. It opens with the statement that most things "must be said twice" or else "nobody will listen." Collins is speaking specifically about a message conveyed without the assistance of art. However, when you "sing it again / with the help of a band (9, 10)" it is paid much more attention. Singing with a band is Collins' way of saying "in an artistic format," so he means that using art is a very good way to express oneself. Not using art, according to Collins, results in few listeners and thus an ineffective way to express oneself.

Art and the Artist - Charlie Grimes

For my response, I decided to relate the Wallace Stevens poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" to the Jackson Pollack quote:
"It doesn’t make much difference how the pain is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement."

Throughout the course of "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," the speaker describes thirteen different scenes involving blackbirds in some way, ranging from straightforward depictions of nature to abstract statements about blackbirds and humans becoming one. The thirteen stanzas are loosely linked by their mention of blackbirds, and it is clear that the speaker has an immense appreciation for the creature and its complexity that often goes unnoticed. For instance, the speaker asks a group of people "Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird walks around the feet of the women about you?" I see this line as a sort of comment on how people long to experience beauty in life, but fail to see simple beauties right in front of them. Regardless of how you interpret the thirteen individual stanzas, the author presents several different intriguing views of the same object, which fits in with the quote above. Jackson Pollack, being an abstract expressionist who created drip paintings and other abnormal works, was in the business of communicating messages in different ways than traditional art. Like Pollack, Stevens crafts a multitude of unique images of blackbirds to express emotion in different ways, whether the emotion be fear (stanza 11) or fascination (stanza 5). Pollack's quote also fits in with my thoughts about art, as I love abstract visual art and experimental music, both of which are forms of art that express something in varied, abstract, and intriguing ways. It is not necessarily important to me how a message in art is expressed, because what really matters is that it evokes emotion in you.

Art and the Artist- will mathews

John Keans “On the Sonnet” is a short poem that discusses the limitations of sonnets. He says things like “if by dull rhymes our English must be chained… the sonnet sweet fettered, in spite of pained loveliness.” This shows the restrictions that sonnets present, however it also commends them for being extremely lovely and a pity that they must be cut so short. I tend to agree with this viewpoint on art. That viewpoint is that art can be so beautiful and so meaningful but, like everything else in this world, has its limitations.

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

I associated myself most with this quote because I agree that the purpose of art is to express oneself, but similar to what I was saying about the poem, art has its limitations. There is only so much an artist can express through his artwork. That doesn’t mean his artwork is unfulfilling it just means that he can’t fully express himself in a simple painting or for this matter a simple sonnet.

Art Quotes --Gabriel Molina

I chose the quote by Amy Lowell as the one that expresses a belief about art most similar to mine. She says,

"Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in."

I explained in an earlier blog post that I believe part of the role of an artist in to be honest in his/her expression. Art has the potential to communicate an idea/belief/message in a deeper way than in plain statement.

Claude McKay's "The Harlem Dancer" is a good example of what Lowell says about art. The speaker of the poem observes the scene of a Harlem nightclub, and to borrow Lowell's words, "record[ed] the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in." We know that the words of the poem are from the author's own personal reaction because of how he distances himself from the other people present in the scene. Throughout the poem he contrasts his perspective with that of the boys and girls watching the dancer. He writes that the boys and girls "devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze," but he claims that he "knew her self was not in that strange place." He distances himself by not providing his gender or age as he does the others. This is how we know that the expressions of the poem are solely his, therefore being consistent with what Amy Lowell says about art.

Art and the Artist- James Jones

          My belief about the role of art or what it serves to do is similar to Jospeh Conrad's. He stated that “the artist speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives, to our sense of pity and beauty, and pain.” In many cases I believe that art does serves to capture some emotion that was felt at some point, then create a new medium for that emotion to be shared through, for the reader to relate to the feelings of the artist. However I also agree with the statement by Jackson Pollock, I also believe that a large portion of the time there is a statement or purpose that the artist is attempting to achieve. For this assignment I would say I agree more with Conrad. So many pieces push forward an emotion that the artist needed to show others, whether the medium is painting or poetry a feeling is always there. For example "Piano" by D.H. Lawrence captures the feeling of nostalgia a person has when they hear a sound they haven't hear in years, the pain they feel when then they realize that the last time they heard the sound they were much happier. He captures the child like wonderment he experienced as he heard the familiar tune of the piano, and the longed to be young again. 

Art and the Artist: Sloan Warner

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

I read the poem "The Harlem Dancer" by Claude McKay which had many connections with this quote by Amy Lowell. Though it is an incredibly short poem, 14 lines (I believe that is a couplet), it conveys this idea that art is all relative and different to every being on this earth. Just as the artist is expressing emotion when creating a work of art, the audience is pulling emotion from the piece and drawing from their own feelings to make the experience unique to each and every audience member. Some interpret works of art like it is their job, while others just look at the very basic surface of a piece of art. Neither way is a wrong way. In the poem, there is a man in a night club who sees a woman dancing on the stage. The narrator is surrounded in an environment with "wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls" (ll. 11). All of the other people in the night club are blatantly looking at the surface level of the girl and her "hotness", but the man sees something else, something totally different. Underneath all of her stage performance, he sees a miserable woman who does not want to be partaking and making a living in what she is doing. It says, "I knew her self was not in that strange place" (ll. 14) Perhaps it is because the man is looking at this situation and has something similar on his mind, such as a difficulty or issue in his life, such as the realities of living in Harlem. He is displaying his feelings onto this surface level stripper and turning it into what he feels emotionally. This perspective is most likely different from everyone else in the club, and that is why art is so interesting.

9/15 post response - Aislinn Langley

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

Every poet is a personality, every artist an individual. Poets express the world around them through the lens of their own perspective, personality, and set of experiences. One can view art as a simple rendering of an idea or moment in time, but what gives these moments meaning is how they are presented and interpreted for us.
In "The Harlem Dancer," Claude McKay presents "applauding youths" and "young prostitutes" in what seems to be an enjoyable scene. But what the reader's attention is drawn to is dependent on the speaker. A thousand similar scenes have been set throughout poetry and literature, but this one is unique because the author is a individual with an individual's reaction to the world around him. His reaction to this part of the world he lives in is one of respect and perhaps understanding. When he says "To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm / Grown lovelier for passing through a storm," McKay expressing his reaction to her likely hardships and is appreciative of an inner strength he senses in her. In seeing through her "falsely-smiling face," he expresses a part of himself - his wisdom and ability to truly understand people.

Art and the Artist- Maddie Wheeler

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.”  –Amy Lowell

Art is something we are constantly surrounded by. Its inescapable, not that you should want to. Without art there isn't really a reason to live, to be, to think, or to love. And aren't those some of the more prominent ideas for the true purpose of life? Art is the only way we can express ourselves, and its our right and obligation to do so. A world without art wouldn't really exist, because people wouldn't be able to thrive in it. A world without art could and would quickly spiral into a Brave New World type of society. Desire manifests itself in humans quite peculiarly. Sometimes in anger, happiness, passion, drive, and sometimes in art. Art is the simple way, maybe the easy way. But people keep going back to it, because it works incredibly well. The world would be a sad sad place without art and the artist. 

9/15 Post responce- brandon castillo

“The artist speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives, to our sense of pity and beauty, and pain.” –Joseph Conrad

I have chosen to use the poem "the Harlem Dancer" by Claude McKay to respond to this quote by Joseph Conrad. I think that this quote is saying that the artist or author is speaking to our sense through his or her art- whether that be the sense of beauty, sadness, pain, or some other one is up to the creator of the work. 

Claud McKay is able to create a multitude of human senses in his poem. The first is guilt and sadness; he starts it off by saying "Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes" (ln 1) showing us how young people in a bar were applauding the dancer and laughing with other young prostitutes. It makes you sad that youths were applauding and laughing about prostitution of their peers. Next he evokes emotion by comparing the voice of the dancer to "the sound of blended flutes" (ln 3)- a beautiful noise that sounds like something you can relax to and enjoy. The ending is where the real emotion of the poem stands out, "But looking at her falsely-smiling face/ I knew her self was not in that strange place" (lns. 13 & 14). It shows what the poem was about: are we truly happy? Or are we like the dancer, miserable but smiling through the pain? What in our life do we have to fake being happy? I think that is the main point of this poem, to ask a deep question about happiness and life in general.

I also think that stories like "Sonny's Blues" shows us how art can depict emotion and be able to express yourself. I think that all art has that ability.

For myself, I think that this quote is true because poetry can speak to our souls if its the right place and time. I also think that some can go over our heads or just not really seem that important or meaningful to us depending on our situations and how we look at the art. I think that if you look at it with certain intentions it can mean different things at different times.

Poetry Responses - Caleb Combs

Maddie Wheeler - I really liked how you began and ended your poem 4 adjectives.  The ones at the beginning contrast those at the end, the latter of which bringing about a peaceful tone.  These adjectives open and close the essay very effectively.

Andrew Collins - The repeated rhyme scheme was very effective in making the poem flow.  It sets the tone and rhythm for the piece very effectively. It also commands the attention of the reader, making the poem more interesting to read.

Poem Responses - Charlie Grimes

Andrew Collins - I greatly enjoyed the consistency of the theme of being trapped/enveloped by chaos throughout the poem. Lines like "He was infected by the air" and "agony and despair" paint vivid images of how the subject of the painting must be feeling in that moment, and adds an interesting depth to the art that I might not have seen before. The diction and imagery that you used fit quite nicely with the actual aesthetics of the painting. The rhyme in the last stanza is also a nice touch to end the poem.

Mikaela Gatewood - What stands out most to me in this poem is the clear, dramatic tonal shift that occurs with the words "But know this." The poem's first stanzas focus on how the radiance of a relationship may be dimmed or damaged, but then we see a shift, where the poem focuses on the persistence of love through these hardships and how "the lovers will not fade." I enjoyed the indirect descriptions of the two subjects' love, with lines such as "her crown of ivy may hang dead." This images make the poem much more intriguing then blatant and bland descriptions of the couples' love. Overall, this was very well done.

Poetry Response, Emmet Allen

Charlie Grimes.
I liked the way he started nearly every statement in the beginning of the poem with the subject. By doing so, the poem seemed more monotonous, which fit well with the bleak subject of that portion. In the later section, he continues with this trend, but the attitude shifts drastically. The style and shift made his poem very successful.

Caleb Combs.
This poem did a good job of taking the literal aspects of the painting and building off the meaning. Specifically, the discussion of protection by the church and the observational nature of the moon. Another good choice was to repeat the phrase that acts as the title of the painting at the beginning and end of the poem.

Ekphrastic Challenge - Charlie Grimes

The hunters return fatigued,

The results of their quest as unforgiving as the landscape;

Their companions drag behind,

Frail and burdened by their own failed efforts;

The trees bare no life,

The radiant snow seeming darker by the day;

The world gives no gifts to the people,

And what is available must be used.

Yet, in the face of such frigid prospects and low hopes,

A warmth emerges.

A warmth of the spirit, seen in the frivolousness of youth,

The disregard for the uphill battle, the bonds of community;

The fires of the people rage on,

Blissfully unaware of the towering bleakness that surrounds them.

The troubles of the world are few,

And humanity digs through the snow to poke its head through.

Painting citation:

Bruegel The Elder, Pieter. Hunters In The Snow. 1565. Oil on canvas. Kunsthistorisches Museum, n.p.

Why Art? - Charlie Grimes

Art has long been used as a medium for expressing emotions, whether they be positive or negative, and morphing these emotions into something that others can relate to, admire, and empathize with. Some of the greatest visual artists, musicians, and other visionaries have been praised for their raw implementation of emotion and feeling into their works. Despite these common characteristics of art, I also believe art can be used to express basically anything in a creative way. It’s all up to the artist and whatever they feel is necessary to communicate.

I believe the role of the artist is to simply translate their feelings into a creative piece. Their works do not necessarily need to be comprehensible to anyone but themselves, but rather they simply need to express anything the artist feels. The chief responsibility of the artist is to maintain a certain degree of individuality in their work. While I understand that almost all art was influenced by a previous work of art, the artist has a duty to create something that is truly their own, and not merely a reproduction of what someone else has created.

Language arts differs from traditional art in the way that it has an unmatched ability to put the consumer into a different world. While music and potentially visual art can do this, language arts can give access to the thoughts, dialogue, and situations of others with a level of detail that not even movies can always achieve. Language arts also allows the reader to build a mental picture for themselves of what they reading, rather than plainly giving them the image.

Although this sounds cheesy, I would argue that everyone is an artist in some respect. If someone can sing, dance, write, draw, film, or even say a witty joke that evokes any emotion in me, I would consider that art. If I can make someone laugh through my commentary or jokes on a certain matter, I believe I am creating an unconventional, but nevertheless true piece of art.

Poetry Responses - Aislinn Langley

Maddie Wheeler - The short lines and choppiness of the stanzas really showed the excitement and moving energy of the moment in which the photograph on which the poem is based took place. Separating "war" from the phrase "One thing that no one loves" creates a millisecond of suspense and then understanding. The poem was well brought to a close by the use of the opposites of the adjectives listed at the opening. The effect was one of balance and peace in a poem about a somewhat chaotic scene.

Sloan Warner - The use of exclamation points at the end of each stanza maintains the energy and sense of fun and adventure evident in the painting. The use of the technical language of sailing is appreciated and gives the poem authenticity. Sloan's passionate about the subject of the painting and it shows in his poem. The little rhyme in the last stanza is also a nice way to wrap it up.

poetry responses - Emily Cashman

Sloan Warner - I like how you started the poem off with two questions because they made the reader really think about what was happening in the painting. I also enjoyed how you ended each stance with an exclamation mark; it was a nice dramatic addition that emphasized how fast-paced the scene was!

Brandon Castillo - I like how you set the tone of the poem right from the start and described how angry the disciples were at the Last Supper. I thought you translated the commotion going on in the painting into the poem very nicely with your use of the rhetorical questions and short sentences.

Poetry Responses- Andrew Collins

Jacob Ferguson- Your really neat interpretation of the painting was conveyed very clearly with your detailed descriptions. The widely varying meter put emphasis on all the right phrases and really brought out the best parts of your interpretation. Your imagery allowed me to see the whole painting in a new light.

David Chen- Your use of humorous imagery brought a wonderful new perspective to a painting that oftentimes seems devoid of humor. It was presented very well, in a way that surprised me because it was very unexpected. Your imagery overall was very imaginative and original.

Response to Poems-Mikaela Gatewood

Emmet Allen- I liked the repetition on of the phrase "Please rest." in the beginning of the poem. It set a dream like mood to the piece. The rest of the poem has worldly tone, describing the sand creeping by, talking about the whole of history, etc. The lack of ability to encompass identity and history ultimately shows the hopeless attempt to maintain permanence. The final line "Now rest." seems as though it symbolizes the giving into abandoning the attempt at permanence.

James Jones- JC's got a really cool rhyme scheme going on, drawing the reader in and making the poem flow better. It's an interesting exploration of the continuation of time, telling the age old tale of time being forever. The ending however, presents an interesting an idea of time falling apart, and the universe being nothing but a melted piece of art work. The story and the literary devices used tie in beautifully with the painting and really connect the two works or art. I like it quite a bit.

Poem Responses- Will Mathews

Caroline totty- I liked the way you personify the wind in the first line, I think that really sets the tone of Starry Night well. I also thought the end of your poem was well written, when you connect the wind to the imagination as if they are one in the same.

Sloan Warner- I thought the syntax of the short sentences captured the mood of excitement held by the sailor. I also enjoyed the finally rhyme of the poem I thought it finished the passage off nicely.

                  

response to poems- brandon castillo

Walt Finch- I thought that his was very interesting. It had a depressed tone and talks about how the narrator has all these high aspirations but fails to meet them and ends up with a sad life after its all over. I think its interesting how it shows us how stupid grades can be sometimes as the narrator had high grades and he thought that would be equal to success in the real world but it wasn't

Will Mathews- I also really enjoyed Will's poem. I thought that it was cool how he picked out this image of a noble warrior that wouldn't even look at the devil but just rode right past him and his wicked ways. I think its cool how he was able to reference the bible as well.

Poetry Responses- Jacob Ferguson

David Chen- I like the way the poem puts new meaning to the painting.  It interprets the woman's look as a look of revenge or vindication for wrongdoings. I also like how the stanzas get longer s you delve deeper into the story surrounding the painting and as it gets more complicated.

Mikaela Gatewood- The repetition of will at the beginnings of lines gives emphasis to this word, giving all the statements an extreme certainty and concreteness which parallels the eternal nature of the couple's love.  I also like the imagery of the crown of ivy dying, because it represents the natural decay that the author is saying will never reach these two lovers.

Responses to poems- Sloan Warner

The first poem I would like to address is David Chen's poem. He initially repeats the word "normal" and words like it multiple times in the first couple lines causing the audience to believe that the patriarchal view he takes on the painting is commonplace. He also causes the audience to believe that the average man is a brute and "lethal" choosing the diction to do so. Furthermore, he uses the diction referring to the man as a savage and the woman as a prisoner. This all blatantly suggests that the average woman is subjugated and lives in a patriarchal society.

The other poem I interpreted was Emily Cashman's. The poem suggest the power of team work is enormous. The line "Grasp hands and swiftly turn" symbolizes that when people put their work together, they have the ability to make something momentous.  Eventually, when the group becomes too momentous, hands can break and the group dynamic completely goes out of whack. The people in the painting move away with their heads bowed as the team work dynamic is forever

Good Ole Chuck Close

Naked under the fluorescent light
The shine of cheeks
The gleam of dreams shattered,
Made clear
And a loss of magic

The thread that connects perception and reality
Pulled taught
It snaps

The flick of a wrist
Stroke of a brush
Deceived those masterpieces of machinery
For once,
Man was delicate

The rims curve seductively into the eyes,
Where the soul seems pending
Life's confidence of its own existence
Publicly housed inside those pupils

Ekphrasis - Caleb Combs

A magnificent starry night,
One of the beauties of life.
It is a breathtaking sight,
One that must be respected.

The moon like pure gold
And the stars swirling around.
The moon watches over the town
As the stars continue to swirl.

People live on in their homes,
The church watches over them like the moon,
And as each and every night comes,
The church protects them.

Worries are washed away
By the promise of something more.
We are always reminded of this
On each and every starry night.


Van Gogh, Vincent. The Starry Night. 1889. Oil on canvas. Saint Remy-De Provence

david chen

Wood, Gramt. American Gothic. 1930. Art Institute of Chicago

A plain house for plain people.

Some plain, seemingly, normal people. 

While that just might be true...

If one looks closer the truth presents itself.

Details tell the story. 

Some things are left better unspoken. 

The farmer is nothing more than a brute.

Note the menacing eyes,

Lethal weapon grasped.

Unfortunate, such oppression is at hand.

The victim glances at said savage. 

Past memories surface from ancient prisons,

From the ancient house with modern objects,

Come forth pies baked fresh.

Yet, said pastries feverishly eaten

With none remaining for her

By the maniac, married to her.