Black is Beautiful in Shakespeare's Sonnets and Sidney's Astrophil and Stella
Germinating in anonymous Middle English lyrics, the subversion of the classical poetic representation of feminine beauty as fair-haired and blue-eyed took on new meaning in the age of exploration under sonneteers Sidney and Shakespeare. No longer did the brown hair of "Alison" only serve to distinguish her from the pack; the features of the new "Dark Lady" became more pronounced and sullied, and her eroticized associations with the foreignness of the New World grew more explicit through conceits of colonization. However, the evolving dichotomy between fairness and darkness was not quite so revolutionary; in fact, Sidney and Shakespeare lauded the virtues of fairness with the same degree of passion as their predecessors, albeit in a cloaked form. To counter their mistresses' exterior darkness, the poets locate an interior lightness that radiates beyond the funereal veil of hair or eyes‹raven-hair or jet-eyes is acceptable only if there is an innate brightness that illuminates the sensuality of the superficial.
Most of the poems addressing the light/dark antithesis choose at some point to make an open declaration that embraces or undermines the dichotomy and lays the groundwork for the rest of the poem. The dichotomous lines tend not to be as straightforward as they suggest. "I can love both fair and brown," from John Donne's "The Indifferent," seems to blur the line between the colors, but by revealing the gracious equanimity of his desire, Donne implicitly reinforces brown's aesthetic inferiority. Shakespeare parodies the antiquated contrarieties, which he acknowledges in Sonnet 127: "In the old age, black was not counted fair" (1). In...
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...line "But being both from me" as the couple's being "away from" the speaker, the line can also imply that the two inhabit his mind (11). With this reading, "To win me soon to hell, my female evil/ Tempteth my better angel from my side" means not that the Dark Lady will cast Shakespeare into misery through her upsetting the triangle, but that her power will shift Shakespeare's mind to the dark side. Her temptation is filled with reference to dirtiness of sin: "And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,/ Wooing his purity with her foul pride" (7-8). "Proud flesh" is the swollen flesh surrounding a wound; thus her "foul pride" may be a pun on her genitalia. The eroticization of her darkness is a salient pointer towards the fascination the poets hold toward darkness; beneath that impure exterior lies a devilish promiscuity unlike that of all the other fair-haired maidens.
But unlike to look upon, those ladies were, for if the one was fresh, the other was faded: bedecked in bright red was the body of one; flesh hung in folds on the face of the other; on one a high headdress, hung all in pearls; her bright throat and bosom fair to behold, fresh as the first snow fallen upon hills; a wimple the other one wore rounded her throat; her swart chin well swaddled swathed all in white; her forehead enfolded in flounces of silk that fraimed a fair fillet, of fashion ornate, and nothing bare beneath save the black brows, the two eyes and the nose, the naked lips, and they unsightly to see, and sorrily bleared. A beldame, by God, she may well be deemed of pride! (Norton 178)
There are several famous Western Composers in History, but the one composer that I wanted to know more about is George Frideric Handel. He was born on February 23, 1682 and he was a German- born British Baroque composer. He studied at the University of Halle before moving to Hamburg in 1703, where he served as a violinist in the opera orchestra. He was born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach. He spent most of his life in London and he was well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel was a son of a barber- surgeon and Handel’s dad wanted him to become a lawyer, but he was into music. Handel’s father didn’t want to by Handel an instrument because he didn’t want him to be a composer. His mom and his aunt was the only one that supported him. Handel started playing the violin,
Raves are often thought of as a “religious experience” displaying the audience as a “dance tribe” causing these electronic dance music culture “as spiritualties of life” (St John 12). There is no denying that the rave consists of “cultures whose participants committed to an ethos most famously expressed as Peace, Love, Unity and Respect (PLUR)” (St John 3). These participants have reported life- changing experiences, transcendence, and even conveying anecdotes of “ascension and re- enchantment” (St John 3). According to Graham St. John, “ [the] rave exemplifies the cultural phenomenon of religion, particularly that which, Bastide regarded ‘instituant’ or ‘savage’ religion rather than the domesticated or ‘instituted’ forms associated with institutional religion,” (St. John 3). Essentially, the rave functions as a religious community but not in the traditional sense; the DJ is thought of as the shaman and the dance floor is the communita (St John 5). Additionally, both the “ecstatic” experiences and ritual framework of raves intensifies the sense of belonging and demonstrates communal characteristics. The ravers experience a reconnection endemic and is considered to be “tribal” by the participants (St. John 9-10). Furthermore, this tribal nature of the ravers allows them to experience a sense of connectedness and inner peace with themselves. When a raver described this feeling as stating, “The MDMA experience makes you perceive by a kind of intuition, the real essence of your being. It’s not something elaborated by your conscious or unconscious mind, it’s something you suddenly realize you know without any doubt. You know the truth because you have experienced it. Now that you know that you, me, everything is one, or God as you wi...
Handel’s Messiah is a Baroque-era, awe-inspiring composition; rich with history, profound in meaning, and intensely intimidating when asked to dig deep into its inner workings. When first receiving this assignment, I was overwhelmed by what I was being asked to do. But after analyzing and critiquing the melody, adding figured bass symbols, macro-analyzing the chords, adding roman numerals, and commenting on the voice leading in chords moving in root position, I feel as if I have only scratched the surface of all Handel put into the Messiah. In this paper I will be discussing and critiquing the melody, addressing the effect of consonant and dissonant sounds, commenting on the uncommon motion between root position chords, and observing the aesthetic effect of what Handel did with this part of the Messiah.
George Frideric Handel was born musically inclined. As a child he was deprived of musical instruments because his father wanted him to pursue the law profession. However, George was allowed to take music lessons from a local organist, by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau, after Handel had impressed the Duke when he played the organ at the chapel. In his following years, Handel would travel to many places, accepting many different musical occupations. As Handel traveled, he was introduced to many of his musical influences. He wrote operas, oratorios, anthems, secular cantatas, and also wrote scarred music. Throughout his life, Handel would become famous for his compositions, particularly for his English Oratorios, however the most popular ones today include: “Messiah”, “The Water Music”, and “Royal Fireworks.”
Before we go any further, I think I should first dispel some rumors and ease your mind of the negative thoughts that must be sweeping through it. What do you think of when you hear the word rave? Drugs? Hoodlum kids running amuck? Loud music that interferes with the whole community’s sleeping habits? Violence? The dictionary defines the word “rave” as a numerous amount of things, such as “an act or instance” or the verb “to talk with extreme enthusiasm,” but this is one case where Webster has got it all wrong. What is the true definition of a rave? In most cases, a rave is simply a dance party where guests experience a sense of camaraderie and elevated consciousness through the presence of music. This means there is an abundance of dance expression, interaction with other such ravers, and a positive mood change. And while there are sometimes drugs involved, there is absolutely no deliberate disturbance of the peace and zero tolerance for violence. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s divulge into the history of this invigorating phenomenon.
German-English composer, George Frederick Handel, is one of the greatest composers of the Baroque period if not of all time. His work, Messiah, is one of the most famous and beloved works of music in the world. During his career in music, Handel composed Italian cantatas, oratorios (like Messiah), Latin Church Music, and several operas. Handel moved around from country to country writing, composing, and producing music for royalty such as Queen Anne and George of Hanover. In his life, Handel mastered several instruments including the violin and the harpsichord.
As in his portrayal of Desdemona, here too Shakespeare has presented a woman of beauty and culture. Her demeanor is gentle and refined though not lacking in strength or determination. Her emotions are deep, pure, loyal and e...
I have played music for over 11 years and I have studied different types of music, like Jazz and blues. But now there is a style that blends these two and more together. This style is called Jam bands. They have been around for years but it did not have a name until now. But it does not just have to do with the band it also has a lot to do with the fans. There is a type of dress and things that they say. I will tell the type of dress, the way the fans talk, and the different bands that are in the scene.
So began my two-year ethnography on the American rave subculture. The scene described above was my initiation into the underground subculture where rave kids, typically under twenty-one years old, are given secret invitations to attend private warehouse parties with dancing, drugs, and thousands of their closest friends. Because of my youthful and unorthodox appearance, I was invited to join the then-highly-exclusive underground scene and attended numerous raves in several major cities in North Carolina. Although my chosen subculture was not typically examined by academia, I conducted an academic ethnography of what Maton (1993) describes as a "group whose world views, values and practices diverge from mainstream North American and social science cultures" (747). As a result, I received three graduate credit hours for "supervised research in ethnography" and conducted what may be the only academic ethnography on raves.
One of the Baroque period’s greatest composers, George Frideric Handel, lived an eventful, passionate and successful but sometimes tragic life, following his dreams even when the odds seemed against him. The intricate music of George Handel’s shows his great attention to detail and his critical judgment. This can all be seen though his compositions of operas, oratorios and his other various musical pieces. “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshments of the soul,” (thinkexist.com). His belief that music was the glorification of God constituted the role of Handel’s compositions in the churches of his day.
George Frideric Handel is known as one of the greatest composers from the Baroque Era. One of his well-known compositions, composed in 1720, is "Air and Variations" or "The Harmonious Blacksmith" from Suite No. 5. An air refers to a song like composition while a variation is a movement within a larger work. This composition, also one of the first works for the harpsichord, has a rounded binary form. His work clearly demonstrates formal phrasing and movement.
The speaker uses metaphors to describe his mistress’ eyes to being like the sun; her lips being red as coral; cheeks like roses; breast white as snow; and her voices sounding like music. In the first few lines of the sonnet, the speaker view and tells of his mistress as being ugly, as if he was not attracted to her. He give...
The history of Rave Music is quite interesting. It has been around for decades. Some enjoy it, some don’t. There is some conflict as to where Rave Music actually started. Some people, non-ravers most likely, ask what is Rave Music?
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, also spelled Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was born in Votkinsk, in the city of Vyatka, Russia, May 7, 1840. Second in a family of five sons and one daughter, to whom he was extremely devoted. Once in his early teens when he was in school at St. Petersburg and his mother started to drive to another city, he had to be held back while she got into the carriage, and the moment he was free ran and tried to hold the wheels.