I knew not who had wrought with skill so fine
What I beheld; nor by what laws of art
He had created life and love and heart
On canvas, from mere color, curve and line.
Silent I stood and made no move or sign;
Not with the crowd, but reverently apart;
Nor felt the power my rooted limbs to start,
But mutely gazed upon that face divine.
And over me the sense of beauty fell,
As music over a raptured listener to
The deep-voiced organ breathing out a hymn;
Or as on one who kneels, his beads to tell,
There falls the aureate glory filtered through
The windows in some old cathedral dim.
I wholeheartedly with your analysis of James Weldon Johnson's "Before a Painting," especially considering your identification of the juxtaposition of life inside and outside of the painting being created. The fragmented lines, created through the usage of commas, allow the artist to differentiate his instrinsic talents of creating "life and love and heart" in art with the conformity of the crowd (3). The artist stands "reverently apart" from the crowd, admiring the life that he has created in his paintings (6). Once acknowledging the futility of pursuing the life he has created in his paintings, the artist sees that "the sense of beauty fell" (9). This allows him to move on and to make the most out of the life he has created for himself. The artist has been able to distinguish the imagination from reality, and has comprommised his standards of how society should operate to live renewed.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly with your analysis of James Weldon Johnson's "Before a Painting," especially considering your identification of the juxtaposition of life inside and outside of the painting being created. The fragmented lines, created through the usage of commas, allow the artist to differentiate his intrinsic talents of creating "life and love and heart" in art with the conformity of the crowd (Johnson 3). The artist stands "reverently apart" from the crowd, admiring the life that he has created in his paintings (Johnson 6). Once acknowledging the futility of pursuing the life he has created in his paintings, the artist sees that "the sense of beauty fell" (Johnson 9). What does this acknowledgement create? Closure. A chance for atonement, redemption, and salvation. Coming to this realization allows the painter to move on and to make the most out of the life. An actual life. A life outside of the borders of individual paintings. And yes, this truth of the world is inevitable. The connotation of this experience is only determined through an individual response. Fortunately, the artist has been able to distinguish the imagination from reality, and has compromised his standards of how society should operate to live renewed.
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