I feel like I have to justify any blog post I do/state that it's beneficial or funny so it doesn't look like I'm thinking "hey everyone, come see how great I am!" I am not going to do that (instead, I'll end up inserting a more sophisticated disclaimer right here, right?-Take that awareness of the awareness!) But here's assignment for advanced composition: name something that worries you, and construct an essay with that thing and Van Gogh's Starry Night Over the Rhone.
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Depending on lighting and the quality of the camera when the picture was taken, the overall tone of Starry Night Over the Rhone is blue or green. I think it’s green, but the closest I'll ever get to it are search engines and digital images of different sizes and shades. My favorite version is deep, sickly green; it has the calming effect of completion and symmetry. Rather than abrupt transitions or sudden cutoffs, the distinctive lines are blurred and lights fade softly. The subjects of the picture are calm, quiet under a sky of stars that look germy and the streetlights reflecting down like static waves, like trails of sneezes.
The sneeze is the release of tension; it cleanses the nasal cavity. Sneezing is the body’s natural defense against viral infections, pathogens and other harmful particles. It can be induced by extremely minty tastes and or an overstuffed stomach. There is also what is known as the photic sneeze reflex, when exposure to light overwhelms the nerves and contracts the pupils. The sneeze is designed to cope with overstimulation. To sum it up neatly, it clears the head.
The sneeze is powerful; it’s been called ‘a force akin to a fire hose,’ recorded to expulse air at the power of 135 feet per second. Stifling something of that magnitude has its effects. Suppressing a sneeze can burst the eardrums and possibly spread germs the body expels into the sinus tissues. Stifling can cause the face to swell, the bleeding of the retinas, and can even rupture dormant brain aneurisms. To stifle the sneeze is to violently reprimand our body for its natural reactions.
I’m supposed to analyze the painting, but I’ll allow Starry Night Over the Rhone to carry me away with it. My eyes will involuntarily close, I’ll allow the composition and components to grant me harmony, clear away my mind's dissonant particles.
PSA: Don't stifle sneezes, friends. I hate it.
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that's awesome. i almost spit coffee all over my screen reading that.
ReplyDeleteon a more serious note, this reminds me of explicating sonnets or a section of verse into 5 page papers for literary theory.
lit theory was one of the best classes i;ve ever taken. and writing papers like that over brief poems, and rewriting them, really helped my writing and how to craft a paper. you are very well read and that is going to pay off soon in your writing assignments. i almost took advanced comp. but decided against the added work load after a nervous breakdown. so i wound up taking advanced grammar later.
studying english and philosophy i think, if i had anything to do with it, should require a minor in classics. That or it should qualify you for a minor in them. i know you are reading the greeks and romans (and probably are ahead of me there). try to get a bit of history and mythology under your belt as well should you find time to do so. i don't see how schools can offer a major in english without a class on classical mythology. in hindsight, having no such background, i am convinced that i never really understood most of the english literature i was reading as it frequently refers to classic literature or, when it comes to shakespeare's plays, rips off the story completely.
edith hamilton has a book on mythology that is a pretty good crash course. i also recommend Fagles' translations of the iliad, odyssey, and the latin Aeneid and to finish things off, Hesiod's theogony. supplement this with a couple of "Who's Who" books or dictionaries of mythology so you can read who these myriad of characters are.
i've not read any books on greek drama yet but i've read some of the plays. best playwrights ever.
you seriously need to keep writing.
you've got the fire.