Excellent piece! As Shelley said, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world"—and of course that sentiment can be applied to all the arts.
Interesting to see how the focus of the conversation has moved around among the various artistic disciplines. Time was (in the English-speaking world at least) poetry was where artists went to discuss vast, weighty themes—Pope's "essay on Man," for instance. Now it would appear that film is the epicenter for these kinds of conversations.
I would add Max Ernst's painting "Europe After the Rain II" to your list. It's a fine meditation on the loss of certainty which happened among artists and thinkers in the aftermath of the 20th century's ferocious wars.
Excellent piece! As Shelley said, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world"—and of course that sentiment can be applied to all the arts.
Interesting to see how the focus of the conversation has moved around among the various artistic disciplines. Time was (in the English-speaking world at least) poetry was where artists went to discuss vast, weighty themes—Pope's "essay on Man," for instance. Now it would appear that film is the epicenter for these kinds of conversations.
I would add Max Ernst's painting "Europe After the Rain II" to your list. It's a fine meditation on the loss of certainty which happened among artists and thinkers in the aftermath of the 20th century's ferocious wars.
Oh to use poetry in public discourse again. Thanks for the painting recommendation. I'll look it up!