One of the great things about teaching English is that I get to assign all the literature I like. I learned a long time ago that I just don't teach effectively if I'm teaching something I just think is crap. Then after I assign it, I get to spend the whole class time explaining how good it is!
But why should I get all the fun? In this thread, I'd like to invite you all to introduce a work of art--any genre or medium--that you like. Tell us about it and then tell us what makes it good.
(As always, I'm partly fishing for good music I haven't heard.)
-Andrew
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One painting I have always liked is this one:
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It's called "Riding Couple" painted by Wassily Kandinsky in his earlier years(1905) before he started up with the geometric shapes and such.
As for music, I'd recommend Andrew Bird. He plays violin and guitar, sings and whistles. Terrific.
http://www.myspace.com/andrewbird
I've recently fallen in love with a book called "The Opposite House" by Helen Oyeyemi. It's her second book and she's my age (24), which is just ridiculous. I studied it in a class called "Literature of the African Diaspora" so that should give you an inkling of what the book is about. It's complicated, beautiful, unique, and eye opening. It's the kind of book you can read over and over again and find new revelations each time.
ReplyDeleteMusic: John Frusciante is a brilliant solo guitarist, but you may know him from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Pretty much everything he plays and sings is a masterpiece.
The poem, Go, Lovely Rose, written by Edmund Waller, is an enjoyable literary work. The rose with its beauty and freshness is being used as the symbolic courier to deliver a message to the narrator's lady of interest. He instructs his envoy, the rose, to tell his lady that he loves her. He compares the beauty of the lady to the beauty of the flower, the rose, in a very charming way when he says:
ReplyDelete"When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be."
Youth, he continues, will not last indefinitely. Therefore, it should be enjoyed and viewed by men. To this poet, beauty should not be hidden because his lady’s beauty, like the rose itself, with time will loose its sweetness and its loveliness.
This poem is good because it has an ingrained message and inspires reflective thought. It addresses human issues which are timeless. The message here is to take advantage of life and enjoy one’s good looks and youth to the fullest. It also draws attention to the fact that someone, because of shyness for example, can easily miss out on life’s precious experiences. Overall, Waller's poem is appealing and verbalizes the main idea with a dose of feeling. It leaves the reader thinking about beauty, nature, and time. It also, forces the reader to take a closer look at his or her own life and evaluate one’s course of action, or inaction. Go, Lovely Rose, in a sense is a wake up call which should be answered. This poem reminds the reader to appreciate all growing things in life, since with time they not only change but will also die. And, it is an appropriate reminder, for this upcoming Valentine’s Day, not to be overly coy about true feelings.
First I need to plug a band I found out about recently called The City Drive. As far as Art goes I really enjoy Rob Gonsalves work. He does very interesting paintings that play with transitions from one thing to another.
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Jake Edmister:
ReplyDeletea little late sry! -- but i love Ernest Hemingway and although i would love to post the entirety of A Farewell to Arms Here...I can't so - i'll go with one of my favorite short stories by him A Clean Well Lighted Place -- a lot of people hate on Hemingway saying that he's very critical towards women and is merely a brauny ... i guess harsh sort of author ... but i really find a lot of compassion and sentimentality in his work and relate to it a lot.
http://www.mrbauld.com/hemclean.html
Jake--that's a beautiful, heartbreaking story. And so damn true. Sure, Hemingway could be an ass, and I wouldn't want to have been married to him (for several reasons) but he's a fabulous writer. I love The Sun Also Rises as well, but also check out In Our Time, his first collection of short stories.
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