John Kutsch Red Lily Essay

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John Kusch’s “Red Lily” seamlessly weaves together the arts of poetry, music, and imagery to concisely convey their respective meanings to his audience. By composing together these three forms of media Kusch creates a more compelling commentary on his subject of love and death than a work which would utilize only one. Primarily, the pain of lost love and love’s fleeting innocence have a greater impact on the audience when paired with the atmosphere musical and visual supplements bring. Originally, the piece starts with darkness and a lifeless, shrill sound as the narrator reminisces on faded memories as he “envied how each living thing let’s blood decide” (Kusch). Resultantly, an atmosphere of nostalgia signals to the audience the narrator’s separation from his past self, further supported as new words appear: “Blood runs in one direction: survival” (Kusch). Paired with a red-tinted image of a playing child, this sentence indicates past memories are tainted by the irreversible state of time (Kusch). Back to the present, the red-tinted picture becomes clear. More words appear, saying “The heart meets itself life …show more content…

Death being this moment, is inevitable and unavoidable as “there is no decision” to be made. (Kusch). The chilling sounds continue but get more intense as a lily, tinted in red, appears (Kusch). The narrator compares his loved one to such a lilly, but instead of “pure white” it is “the full red glass” and emphasized in bold, red text are the harsh words: “You are as certain as the blood.” (Kusch). The intensity of the music and words create tension in this scene and although it appears the narrator is belligerent toward his loved one it is rather this person’s death that is inflaming his emotions. Therefore, Kurch acknowledges the happiness love brings, but in this case emphasizes the eminent pain it will

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