Interpreting art through poetry.
Marc Latham’s blog mixing mirroring images of textured photography by Julien Coquentin and digital images by Catrin Welz-Stein from the emorfes blog fold fact and fiction into a dream travel narrative. Here’s two of the six images used:
Today we have a clever and timely (sorry!) FM poem by Sarah James that was first published on her poetry site for the 21st Century Poets: Make it New project. It was inspired by the photo below it.
Thanks to Sarah for creating and sharing it.
time to wonder
the cuckoo clock hook
hangs weightless
an upside-down question mark
waiting for
an answer to catch
Today we have the tenth and final ekphrastic poem interpreting and describing Romantic paintings.
Hannibal and His Men Crossing the Alps is the second from J.M.W. Turner, and is thought to have been inspired by a storm experienced by Turner on Otley Chevin near Leeds.
Structure and Explanation
The poem works from top to bottom of the painting, with the mountains and light in the middle of the painting providing the folding middle line.
The storm fills the top half, and Hannibal’s army the bottom.
The words per line mirror with a 2-2-3-5-4-4- 5 -4-4-5-3-2-2 count.
The Poem
That’s All We Need!
swirling storm
arching cobralike
ready to strike
sheer skin of many greys
twisting as if crazed
below aiming head above
mountains silhouetted against distant light
observe Hannibal lead the
dispersing as in panic
men and elephants of war
hoping to survive
scattering birdlike
gimme shelter
The Painting
Copied from Wikipedia
In the ninth of ten ekphrastic poems interpreting and describing Romantic paintings we have the second from Thomas Girtin.
J.M.W. Turner, who was friends with Girtin and is widely considered to be Britain’s greatest landscape artist said that he would have lived in poverty had Girtin not died young.
Structure and Explanation
The poem works from the top right corner of the painting down through the castle tower doorway, which provides the folding middle line, and continues down to the left hand bottom corner of the painting in the lower half of the poem.
The poem has a simple structure of 3-5-5-4- 4 -4-5-5-3 words per line.
The Poem
Gatekeeper of Light: Girtin’s Bamburgh Castle
Grey skies swirling
around blue sky a burring
heaven sent hole in cloud
letting sun shine down
On Bamburgh Castle tower
gatekeeper opens to leave
light exit the doorway onto
seagull flock circle a twirling
Storm seas whirling
The Painting
Copied from Wikipedia.
Today’s ekphrastic (thanks Caroline!) poem is the eighth of ten in the series, and second by Thomas Gainsborough, who was the leading British landscape painter in the 18th century, and an inspiration to those who followed in his footsteps at the end of the century and in the next.
Explanation and Structure
I just restructured this, and worked the poem from the top of the painting to the bottom, using the glowing sunset and campfire, which also mirror each other somewhat, as the folding middle line.
from Thomas Gainsborough’s Gypsy Encampment, Sunset circa 1778-80
Greenygrey Gypsy Camp
Grey cloud green trees
dominate evening sky
darkness and light
signify the upcoming night
above the
corn-colour sunset and gypsy campfire
show how
two horses wait patiently
brown and white
provide contrast to
Green banks grey pond
The Painting
Copied from the Tate Gallery.
In the BBC’s recent Changing of the Bard programme Ian Hislop talked about the Romantics and described Wordsworth as an alcoholic, Byron an adulterer and William Blake a madman.
I like William Blake. For any film buffs wanting to see a good film with William Blake abstract relevance that the great man would probably have admired I recommend Dead Man.
And today we have the second of Blake’s paintings to be interpreted through Folding Mirror poetry.
Explanation and Structure
This is a folding mirror poem inspired by Blake’s Dante and Virgil Penetrating the Forest (1824-7).
Here, the line word counts (6-8-8-7- 9 -7-8-8-6) and punctuation mirror each other on either side of the middle.
The human heads in the painting are used as the central focus, and the two sides of the poem start from the middle line and spread out to the beginning and end of the poem from the heads.
The middle line connects the two halves of the poem rather than standing alone.
Using this form, the poem draws attention to the similarity of the features at the top and bottom of the painting, while switching words around in the lines to create a reflective mirror effect.
The Poem
Humanity Amongst the Pillars of Creation
Sky blue, sky white, sky grey
blending living colours, on the tree canopy, with
branches reaching, as if preaching, in synchronicity with
human arms expanding upwards, requiring direction, for
heads talking in darkness, as if awaiting collection, for
bodies blending into planet, resembling tree-trunks, with
dresses flowing, as if rooting, communicating with earth
twisting life forms, on the forest ground, with
Earth grey, earth white, earth blue
The Painting
Copied from the Tate Gallery.
Thanks to the Norfolk poets for their three poems this week, and there will be more from them in a little while. Also, thanks to Sarah James, who reviewed today’s poem and offered her advice on its improvement (only one word needed changing, mind!)
For the rest of this week the site will be finishing off the Romantic art interpretations with five more poems for five paintings by the same five artists as appeared in the first half of the series.
John Constable and Stonehenge
Explanation and Structure
We start today with John Constable’s Stonehenge, which impressively captures the haunting spirituality of the location.
The poem tries to join in with the timeless contemplation portrayed in the image.
The poem is a simple but accurate mirror, with a line-word structure of
5-7-5-6-5-7-5. The line length and punctuation also mirror pretty well.
I used an article on stones to find out their names.
Hope you enjoy it, and its quite timely what with the longest day only weeks away. Cheers!
The Poem
Barren fields, hills of life…
giving fallen Station stones and Aubrey holes
people who sit and ponder
Sarsen trilithon: three stones standing proud
through time wind and rain
how magical Blue stones and Horseshoe setting
Bring stories, of past ages…
The Painting
Copied from the British Museum website.
The fifth artist to feature in the Romantic interpretation series is J.M.W. Turner. This will conclude the first round of five paintings and poems, with another five from the same artists to follow.
Introduction and explanation
I thought I had completed all ten in the series before publishing any, but then couldn’t find any Turner ones when it came to his turn. And Turner was my favourite artists before the series! I tell you, the poet’s mind!!
So I did this one yesterday after finding the painting both beautiful and a nice fit for the Folding Mirror theme, with it’s horizon pretty much dividing the painting in two.
Thus, the poem works from the top of the painting down, with the horizon the middle.
The Structure
The structure mirrors in words per line (6-5-5-3-4-11-4-3-5-5-6).
The line lengths are pretty much the same, and the punctuation too. The only difference is that the commas in the third from outer lines are one word different from each other; with the top half after the first word and the bottom half after the second word in the line.
The Poem
ruddy sky brightened by setting sun
shimmering golden rays falling down
but, in reality rising up
through mauve dusk
to lilac hills, where
sailing ship and cathedral stride the natural horizon
on golden pond, a
cream light stretches
to boat, men and birds
between trees with autumn leaves
ripples darken the corners to ochre
The Painting
Copied from Wikipedia
Today’s fourth poem in the interpretations of Romantic art series is Thomas Girtin’s Kirkstall Abbey. The abbey is still standing, and is now on the edge of Leeds.
Poem Explanation and Interpretation
The poem has the same amount of words per line on each side, with the lines working out as containing a
5-7-7-8-9-5-9-8-7-7-5 word structure.
The line lengths in the two halves are not exact, but roughly form diagonal lines from the shortest on the outside lines to the longest on the inside pair.
The punctuation and capital letters do not match exactly.
The poem divides the painting into a top half above the arch of the river Aire containing the abbey and nature, while the bottom half contains people and man-made structures.
This has been interpreted as being symbolic of the past, present and future as Girtin saw it during the Enlightenment period.
Clouds spread up on high
casting a shadow beyond the blue sky.
The sun shines down upon Kirkstall Abbey;
illuminated and shining light bright in reverent glory
framed by a living olive green horseshoe above where
Aire divides nature and society
over rustic farmhouses interrupting a line of green trees
with people passing on through; making their way
to meet God beyond the flowing water.
Two people and a horse walk away;
on their way to civilisation
The Painting
Copied from Wikipedia
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