The body and the spirit are connected through the entity of emotions and feelings, which are formed through experiences, understanding, and knowledge about the world. As Australian poet Gwen Harwood’s poem’s “Triste Triste and “Alter Ego” seeks to find and reconnect an individual’s inner-self again through both the body and spirit, Kenneth Slessor’s poems “Sleep” and “ ” explores how the separation of the body and spirit can be seen as a positive component towards the core experiences of human life. As each of the poems captivates a sense of intertwinement within the body and mind, the poems seem to reflect and mirror one another, drawing upon similar experiences and emotions which are conveyed through the persona’s journey.
Gwen Harwood’s 1963 poem “Triste Triste” re-encounters upon memories of freedom, which are displayed through acts of sexual interaction and affection. As the poem conveys elements of sexual intimacy between two individuals, it emphasises the importance of the human relationship, and the spiritual sensations that have been drawn by this affection. The poem begins by expressing the
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interconnectedness of “space between love and sleep” (1), a time that is an intangible part of human experiences. This is a time where the internal yearning of physical passion is evoked towards the spiritual and bodily understandings of one another, a symbolic part of the post-coital interlude. It gives an individual a chance to break away from gender boundaries, as well as the physical confinements that may have been attached in the past (Hoddinott 2013, p. 23). The poet recognises that there is no possible joy or form of connection when one’s body is closed off from the other, more-so, a tension between the spirit and physical figures that has subsequently resulted in loss through sleep. Harwood specifically draws this tension to a metaphor, outlining that the “heart mourns in its prison” (2). This juxtaposes the imagery of love with the freedom of the bodily soul, where the heart can only become liberated by physical interaction and sexual intimacy. When the body becomes separated from this emotional connection, love is being pushed away, and the eyes slowly become “blood-back curtains” (3-4). Once again, the comparison interlocks barriers of love and sleep, which emphasises the closing end of spiritual and bodily freedom, and confinement on the heart through separation. Rather than searching for freedom and pleasure through feelings of love, the poem remains drawn toward the negativity of human detachment (Hoddinott 2013, p. 25). Particularly in the last stanza, the poet expresses the confinement of spiritual sensations with the body, where the transitioning of one emotion to another is felt through pain and suffering. As the focus is specifically set on the disconnection of two entities, the imagery of the “heart from its prison” (15) cries out that “I was with you in agony” (16) remains untied. Though, it conveys an unsettling feeling that the poet struggles to comprehend, as well as to restore the lost that has been disconnected. With this, the symbolism of “hammers and hammers” (18) further embodies this emotional detachment of human contact, where the repetition of the verb expresses how the heart is constantly in search for love. While the heart is not hammering against the body, it is beating away, particularly when feelings of love and affection are no longer existing through human life. Though, as the heart cannot be physically restored, emotions of sorrow and loss will remain buried inside the body, until an individual’s freedom and affection are restored by the love and affection from someone else. In comparing “Triste Triste” to Harwood’s other poem, “Alter Ego”, it examines the journey of self-discovery, and the longingness to connect her inner spirit and body with the “other self.” Because the poet is unaware of her own self, she attempts to explore and find herself through the motif of music, particularly with Mozart’s compositions (Beston 1975, p. 85). “Who stands beside me still, nameless, indifferent to any lost...” (1-2). From the first two stanzas, the readers display signs of confusion as to who this figure is, and why there is a sense of fear to this unknown shadow, especially when the reader recognises that this person is her own self. This is because the persona’s alter ego has been lost through a space of time, particularly with the negative construction that she had suffered from her childhood experiences (Beston 1975, p. 86). Again, the poet emphasis this emotion through the vivid imagery of her grief, describing her child’s love “Like a blown flame” (27). Due to this experience, the poet becomes unaware that the person she is seeing is her own body, even when the figure is believed to be ‘nameless.’ By showing no recognition of herself, it conveys a sense of detachment between the spirit and body, as well as the lack of physical and emotional connection that is suffered whilst searching for the self. Rather than seeking to find the self through experiences with nature, she resonates herself with music, and musical compositions of Mozart to convey an emotional attachment to the body and mind. In addition, it allows her to break away from societal boundaries and expectations, and to be drawn closer to the underlying layers of musical expression, which will ultimately lead her back to her true self. Given the fact that the poem uses enjambment and first-person narration, it gives the readers confidence that the persona will soon re-connect herself with music, where she will recognise her own alter ego through emotions of love and pain, and the spiritual and bodily experiences that are encountered before discovering the self.
Again, by reflecting on Mozart’s arrangements and the everyday sounds of nature, for example, the simile “dry crickets call like birds” (24), it brings the persona back to her first encounter of love, and the love of music that has been lost due to time. Therefore, as Harwood yearns to become one with her own self through the journey of music, she aims to restore this longing sensation with her spirit and bodily mind with music, but this can only be achieved through time and the journey to understand herself (Beston 1975, p.
87). By understanding the physical and spiritual connection of Gwen Harwood’s poems, Kenneth Slessor’s poem “Sleep” emphasises the metaphorical return of the child’s spirit to the mother’s womb through the process of sleep, allowing the body to disconnect itself towards the harsh reality of life. The poet opens with a question, that is seemly directed to her child. “Do you give yourself to me utterly, body and no-body... but as a child might, with no other wish?” (1-4). By opening the poem with a question that is direct and forwarding, it presents feelings of protection and shelter from the mother and the voluntary surrender that the child opts to sacrifice. Slessor incorporates an antithesis within the line; “Body and no-body, flesh and no-flesh” (2) to highlights how the body and spirit will become separated, once the body is shut off from the physical world due to sleep. Because the spirit has been removed from the body by an act of sleep, the emotional attachment of love and affection will become nothing by pain and suffering. However, as the poem continues, there is a shift in tonality as the mother begins to express her own sacrifice to the child. With the first-person narration in the second stanza; “I shall bear you... carry you” (6), it depicts a similar representation of labor, conveying the safety and protection of love that one mother has with their child. The tonality quickly shifts to a gentle and maternal tone, to where the poet aims to signify the love and affection that was initially removed from the body and spirit. This is because the mother promises to protect the child once the child has fallen asleep, allowing the child to return to her womb. Because of this, the metaphorical imagery of the child returning to her womb symbolises that the body and spirit will always remain connected, even when the person is detached. Comparably, this contrasts with Harwood’s poem “Triste Triste”, where she illustrates the feelings of loss and detachment when an individual has been separated by sleep. As each poet aims to convey a sense of detachment or liberation towards finding one’s experience and interaction with the body and spirit, it is evident that Gwen Harwood and Kenneth Slessor’s poems aim convey such positive and undesirable feelings of human experiences. As a result, all of the poems depict some form of emotions and understanding with the body and spirit, whereby, intertwining elements of love and affection as well as the pain and isolation that may have been felt when human interaction has been separated.
The speaker in “Five A.M.” looks to nature as a source of beauty during his early morning walk, and after clearing his mind and processing his thoughts along the journey, he begins his return home feeling as though he is ready to begin the “uphill curve” (ln. 14) in order to process his daily struggles. However, while the speaker in “Five Flights Up,” shares the same struggles as her fellow speaker, she does little to involve herself in nature other than to observe it from the safety of her place of residence. Although suffering as a result of her struggles, the speaker does little to want to help herself out of her situation, instead choosing to believe that she cannot hardly bare recovery or to lift the shroud of night that has fallen over her. Both speakers face a journey ahead of them whether it be “the uphill curve where a thicket spills with birds every spring” (ln. 14-15) or the five flights of stares ahead of them, yet it is in their attitude where these two individuals differ. Through the appreciation of his early morning surroundings, the speaker in “Five A.M.” finds solitude and self-fulfillment, whereas the speaker in “Five Flights Up” has still failed to realize her own role in that of her recovery from this dark time in her life and how nature can serve a beneficial role in relieving her of her
Sex is more than just a physical act. It's a beautiful way to express love. When people have sex just to fulfill a physical need, as the poet believes sex outside of love-based relationship only harms and cheapens sex. In the beginning of the poem, Olds brilliantly describe the beauty of sex, and then in the second half of the poem, she continues reference to the cold and aloneness which clearly shows her opinions about causal sex. Through this poem, Sharon Olds, has expressed her complete disrespect for those who would participate in casual sex.
Composers effectively reflect and communicate how universal human experiences can explicitly modify an individual’s understanding and acceptance of one’s sense of identity and maturation. Goldsworthy’s novel Maestro, Don McLean’s song ‘Vincent’ and Baz Luhrmann’s film Australia all inter-relate within the deeper realisation of the impact the appreciation of art, and the development of understanding the concept of love acting as a compelling emotion can create towards one’s self-image.
..., the content and form has self-deconstructed, resulting in a meaningless reduction/manifestation of repetition. The primary focus of the poem on the death and memory of a man has been sacrificed, leaving only the skeletal membrane of any sort of focus in the poem. The “Dirge” which initially was meant to reflect on the life of the individual has been completely abstracted. The “Dirge” the reader is left with at the end of the poem is one meant for anyone and no one. Just as the internal contradictions in Kenneth Fearing’s poem have eliminated the substantial significance of each isolated concern, the reader is left without not only a resolution, but any particular tangible meaning at all. The form and content of this poem have quite effectively established a powerful modernist statement, ironically contingent on the absence and not the presence of meaning in life.
In the three works, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, by Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson’s poems 340 (“I -felt a funeral in my brain”) and 355 (“It was not Death”), each display different aspects of the depths of the human mind through similar modes of rhetorical sensory overload. While Poe reveals the effects of denying one’s insanity, Dickinson displays the struggle and downfall of a depressed mind.
Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is perhaps the most well-known composer of all time. Countless accounts of his life have been created through the years, and all of them approach the topic of his life with a slightly different perspective. Amadeus provides a humorous and insightful look into the life of Mozart through the flashbacks of an elderly Italian man named Salieri. In his old age, Salieri confesses to a priest that he felt God taunting him throughout life because he always had a profound appreciation for Mozart’s music, but yet could never produce anything like it. Therefore, he turned bitter and spent his life trying to ruin Mozart and his career. Through Salieri’s lense, the audience learns about Mozart’s unique personality. Mozart is shown in the movie as a musical prodigy with an impeccable ability to play and compose. However, Mozart also has a childish, socially awkward side that causes him to be misunderstood by many adults. He lacks practicality and appreciation for social graces, instead preferring to make inappropriate jokes and attend wild parties. Our class’s textbook, The Enjoyment of Music, also
Western Music has developed in many ways since the middle ages through its form, sound, and message. Throughout these different periods in western music one thing has remained constant, the true essence of music, a way to communicate with someone on a much more divine level than be by rudimentary conversation. Though Ludwig Van Beethoven and Paul McCartney may seem completely opposite they have one in common through their music they changed the world’s perception of its self
As the child is, so will the man be… So it is in music that the songs which a child assimilates in his youth will determine the musical manhood…the musical influence upon his afterlife and also that the melodies which composers evolve in their maturity are but the flowers which bloom from the fields which were sown with the seed of the folk-song in their childhood. (Barham, 9).
And a musical genius Mozart was indeed! As I analyzed this piece, I was continually struck by his following of major voice leading and counterpoint rules. The times Mozart did break away from the standard were masterfully done, engaging to the ear, and he was always able to bring us back home. In this paper I will share with you what I learned about Mozart’s Requiem, Domine Jesu measures 1 through 43. I will start with the big picture and whittle it down to the minute details.
Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg Austria. Mozart was an esteemed composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. Unlike other composers in musical history, he wrote in all the musical genres of his day and excelled in every one. His taste, his command of form, and his range of expression have made him seem the most universal of all composers; yet, it may also be said that his music was written to accommodate the specific tastes of particular audiences. His father, Leopold was the author of a famous violin-playing manual which was published in the year of Mozart’s birth. His mother, Anna Maria Pertly, was born of a middle-class family active in local administration; Mozart and his sister Maria Anna were the only two of their parents’ seven children to survive. Mozart was extremely talented at an early age his father considered him the miracle of Salzburg, his early life and two of his biggest masterpieces are the three topics that will be discussed in this paper.
At first perusal, Anne Bradstreet’s writing adheres to a very Puritan sensibility: she argues that women, though they are worthy individuals, are naturally inferior to men and that earthly treasures are mere distractions from heavenly eternity. But, woven beneath the surface of her poems is the subtle revelation of her sexuality. Bradstreet eroticizes the complex relationship between nature, religion, her husband and herself, seemingly contradicting her religion, but by contextualizing the sexuality in religious terms, she shows that sexuality can be reconciled with spirituality.
This book discusses the life of Glenn Gould who was a profound pianist known for his classical music, Peter Ostwald a late violinist who wrote “The Ecstasy and Tragedy of Genius of Glenn Gould” believed that Gould was extraordinary gifted and that his music gained much appreciation among the people in the community. He not only saw Gould as a genius but also as a companion who struggled to find peace in his life through the sound of music. Gould didn’t act like a normal child he isolated himself from others because he felt that others around him did not share the same passion for music. His father noticed when he was born that instead of crying, “Glenn always hum” (Ostwald, 1997). This showed that Glenn was born with a passion towards music from the very early stages of life. Gould formed behaviors of an ambivalent attachment style towards his mother and behaviors of a secure attachment towards his father this impacted his ability to form long lasting relationships with people during his childhood progressing into his adult years. (My thesis)
The Classical Period brought forward new musical innovation. The sudden change in emotion and contrast in the music from the classical era is one of the many fascinating topics. However, the topic most talked about to this very day is Mozart’s Requiem. The mystery of which parts were composed by Mozart puzzles many. Even the rumor that surrounds Mozart’s cause of death is fascinating. Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus, added more controversy to this intriguing mystery.
But, “human persons have an ‘inner’ dimension that is just as important as the ‘outer’ embodiment” (Cortez, 71). The “inner” element cannot be wholly explained by the “outer” embodiment, but it does give rise to inimitable facets of the human life, such as human dignity and personal identity. The mind-body problem entails two theories, dualism and physicalism. Dualism contends that distinct mental and physical realms exist, and they both must be taken into account. Its counterpart (weak) physicalism views the human as being completely bodily and physical, encompassing no non-physical, or spiritual, substances.