...Grant Wood, American Gothic English Assignment American Gothic American Gothic is a classic American painting by Wood Grant. The traditional painting was created in the year 1930. Wood paints an image of two farmers in the Midwest. Due to time period that the painting was created in (1930s), American Gothic refers to the Great Depression. Wood paints the two farmers expressions with much importance. The man looks right at the viewer with strong determined eyes. He is holding his pitchfork with strength. The woman looks of to the left of the painting. Her expression portrays fear and sadness. Behind the two subjects is a house lit up by the afternoon sun. American Gothic is a very simple painting; two people and a house. The viewers eyes looks first at the man’s intense stare and then continues to wander around the painting. Wood's choice of clothing, hairstyle, color all play important rolls in determining the time setting and to give the painting an overall mood. First of all, the color scheme is very muted one. This gives the painting a depressing mood and a one- dimensional feeling. The many vertical and horizontal lines generate eye movement from pitchfork to the coat of the man on up to the faces of both figures to the window between them; then, as the roof angles, the viewer's eye is led toward the left and right with the roofs of the house and barn. The repetition of shape with the pitchfork and the window helps the viewer to see the...
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...The song I chose for the “perfect marriage of music, lyric, and performance” mold is Crossroads by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. This is honestly one of my favorite songs of all time. All of the elements of the song just seem to flow together and seem right for each other. The song's beat is a slow and deep beat. It gives you the feeling of floating away. It plays in with the lyrics and delivery of the message perfectly. I would say this song really is “music to my ears”. The lyrics of this song are hands down the best I have heard in any Rap, Hip-Hop or R&B ever; not to mention how meaningful they are. They don't necessarily tell a specific story of any kind, but rather the struggles that everyone seems to endure when they are faced with dilemmas. Some of the dilemmas discussed are life, death, money, and just the everyday grind associated with being an underprivileged person trying to make a living. The lyrics bring to your attention that everyone has their own judgment day, how you react to it is on you. You just have to have faith in the Lord and expect that he has the best planned for you and your afterlife, no matter what some of the unethical things you did on earth may be. The song explains the good things about dying, and the bad. Bone Thugs made the comment in the lyrics that when they die, they want to be buried next to loved ones and can't wait to see them in heaven. In retrospect, they sing about praying everyday to the lord, still he takes them away, but deep down they...
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...Nav Kaushal Mr. Martin July 10, 2012 Character Analysis of Dorian Gray Dorian Gray was a handsome, innocent, lovely and wealthy young man, who has seen the world as a beautiful place. Later, he turns into an evil little creature who breaks people's heart, always seeking for pleasure, becomes vain, and only care about his looks. However, Dorian had couple strengths as in he was the most attractive and charming fellow in his town, also he was never afraid to speak his mind, "If Lord Henry Wotton goes I shall go too" (Wilde, 19) it shows that if Dorian wanted something to happen, he will mention it to you in person. Dorian's weaknesses were, he was really easy to influence; Lord Henry played a huge part influencing Dorian in many wrong ways, "Then he rose from the table, lit a cigarette..." Henry influenced the most innocent human being to smoke like him. Also he was impressionable, naive, and lustful. Dorian made plenty of choices, mostly the horrible ones. He made a choice to forget Sibyl Vane for rest of his life because she did not perform on stage at a level he was expecting from her, even when she begged him for a second chance "I will work so hard, and try to improve" (85) that choice ended up killing Sibyl Vane. He made a choice to make best friends with Lord Henry, which made him realize who he actually is as a person, but in a suffering way he would not want to find out. Lord Henry taught Dorian about the outside world, which he was totally unaware of. Also, Lord Henry...
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...The Gothic Cathedral Unit 3 AIU Online The Gothic Cathedral’s In 1163 was when Notre Dame Cathedral also known as Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris, “Our Lady of Paris”, was first started to build. The beautiful cathedral was mostly completed in 1250. Many different architects worked on the site, this would explain the different styles types and different heights of the west front and towers. The towers were finished in 1245 and the entire cathedral was finally finished around 1345. The building of the cathedral retells the stories from the Bible with its portals, stained glass and paintings. The sculpture and stained glass plays an important role of the French Gothic architecture. The enlarged round openings instead of normal arcades could be seen from the outside as a high Gothic style. The Eiffel tower is a popular monument in France but nothing like the Notre Dame Cathedral. With more than 13 million visitors each year, The Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the most popular monuments in Paris, even in all of France. Still to this day the Catholic Church is active and the cathedral plays a significance role in religious events. Before leaving for holy wars the crusaders would stop at the Notre Dame de Paris and pray. The Notre Dame de Paris has had an eventful history. The statues of the Saints on the west front were above the portals; they were mistaken for kings and taken down. Eugene Emmanuel Violett-le-Duc and Jean-Baptgiste-Antoine Lassus started the restoration...
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...The tale opens with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking for his help. Although Poe wrote this short story before the invention of modern psychological science, Roderick's symptoms can be described according to it. They include hyperesthesia 感觉过敏(hypersensitivity to light, sounds, smells, and tastes), and acute anxiety.急性焦虑 It is revealed that Roderick's twin sister, Madeline, is also ill。The narrator try every possible method to cheer his friend, and Roderick sings "The Haunted Palace", then tells the narrator that he believes the house he lives in to be sentient有感情的.Roderick later informs the narrator that his sister has died and insists that she be entombed for two weeks in a family tomb in the house before being permanently buried. The narrator helps Roderick put the body in the tomb, and he notice something strange. Then the writer use a storm to introduce the climax of the story. Both the narrator and Roderick notices that the tarn surrounding the house seems to glow in the dark although there is no lightning. The bedroom door is then blown open to reveal Madeline standing there. The narrator then flees the house and roderick is scared to death. At the end, a flash of light cause the narrator to look back upon the House of Usher, in time to watch it break in two, the fragments sinking into the tarn. "The Fall of the House...
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...William Faulkner’s captivating story “A Rose for Emily” is a shining example of gothic literature. Faulkner expresses sadness for the love that is not returned, and a drive that Miss Emily Grierson uses to get what she wishes for. He adapts a gloomy and mysterious tone in order to compare Miss Emily’s rejection to young adults today. Faulkner opens his story by expressing the amount of respect that is shown at Miss Emily’s funeral. It is said that the entire town attended this event, but also that some only showed up to see what the inside of her house looked liked because no one had been inside in over ten years. He explains this to show the mysterious appeal of Miss Emily. By explaining the mystery in Miss Emily, he conveys a dark tone that baffles the audience. Faulkner then shifts the story toward explaining what Miss Emily’s house had once looked like. It was a big grim house that was once white. It was the only one left on the street and many believes that it was an abomination to the community. It is evident that Miss Emily and her house are connected in a way. Miss Emily’s family was once one of the most prominent in the town because of the relationship the father had with Colonel Sartoris, but as she grew older the opinions of her social status changed along with her. Her father not only had great power within the community, he also had power over her as well. This authority is shown through the portrait that Faulkner painted in the story: Miss Emily a slender...
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...Literature Creation Methods of Poe’s Gothic Tales ——Review of The Fall of the House of Usher 英81 高云君 2008012742 As one of the most famous works by Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher is the a masterpiece in American gothic literature. The prose is full with of elements and details which are unsettling and macabre. It was slightly revised in 1840 for the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. Poe’s gothic novels have always been my readings before bed since I was younga child. In my childhood, following the unnamed narrator and walking towards that old and creepy house, I was immersed in the horrible storyline and experience the fantastic feeling of nightmare. Today when I look back on this literature work, I get some deeper understanding and . Ⅰ. Hellish environment setting ：Use of double space The whole environment and different scenes in the story are so hellish that the reader feels a kind of inexplicable asphyxia. I summarize some typical elements Poe uses to build a gothic atmosphere. Day: a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn. Location: a singularly dreary tract of country. House and surrounding: upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain - upon the bleak walls - upon the vacant eye-like windows - upon a few rank sedges - and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees. The precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn. If that can be called the exterior space, then the internal...
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...The Architectural Predicament “Breaking the norm of time period and the rejection of what was believed to be of pure form,” best describes the idea of mannerism. The building of St. Maria Novella in Florence by Leon Battista Alberti stands in all its glory as the perfect example of the above statement. One look at the building and one would believe it to be the perfect example of mannerism with its architectural style and façade which breaks the norm. However the fact that its existence precedes the era of mannerism leads it to be a series of predicament. “Architecture is invention” is a statement by the brazilin architect, Oscar Niemeyer. However Darwin’s famous theory of evolution says otherwise. The theory believes that everything takes place as a process of evolution and nothing is an invention. This contradiction of ideas very well describe the thoughts of the Renaissance architects who were desperately trying to hold on to the old idea of classical styles yet wanting to break free by creating something new which ultimately led to a series of predicaments Contradicting the very idea of space and time, St.Maria Novella exists in the High Renaissance era (1480-1520) but stands as an example of an architectural style which was yet to make its mark in the years to come. It stood as an example of the mannerism era (1520-end of sixteenth century) which would be challenging the very idea of the high renaissance era by the breaking the norms and leading to a beautiful mix of...
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...Metropolitan Museum As I walked into the museum I personally was not too thrilled about it, I felt as if I wouldn’t be amused by anything there. I was wrong. I decided to look at the Ancient Greek art first and I fell in love with the Bronze man and centaur, It was so small, fragile, overall abstract. His legs were firm, and detailed, his hair had plenty of texture. As small as it is, and sitting in a glass case it was the first thing that got my attention, its rust bronze color gave it a better lust. It was overall very detailed, and it gave a story I want to know. The males head on a animal body gave a strong statement. The Bronze man and centaur is from the 8th century. Furthermore, as I continued to walk through the museum I than walked towards the Terracotta krater, when I first glanced at it I was exited primarily because I had read upon Greek vases in class and knew the way the Greeks sculptured these vases very geometric. The color on the vase was very vibrant, it was a sort of bronze and some black colored details. A story was illustrated on the vase, I could see some human figures as well as animals and small children, It illustrated death ad a family from my observation. Walking towards the end I looked at one more piece of art, I had no choice but to look at it since it was in the center of the room, it was the Marble column from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis. I couldn’t help myself but touch it, it was so smooth and beautiful! I was hoping to not get in...
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...666 Stockbridge Road At the end of the deserted cul-de-sac 666 sat much like the other twelve houses that split even and lined on either side of it. Each house looked very much the same: the same beige siding, the same beige shutters, the same ruler edge driveways and even the same porch, perfect for summer evenings. Pushing the heavy gates open, the touch of the iron bars as cold as ice seized up my hand completely. With every breath I drew a misty and chilly exhale followed. Even though I could feel the unevenness of the old cobbled path below me, they were smooth in contrast to the crunching of the old dead leaf that I stepped on. Towards the center the steps were worn smooth but nevertheless covered in dirt however the steps near the sides were rougher and more difficult to make out because overgrown thorns, moss and weed covered them like a blanket. Carrying up on the path the grass carried on forever into the horizon, a dull grey color as if it had lost the will to live and stopped growing altogether. Weeds and dandelions poked out from the cracks in the walkway leading up to the house and the vines formed a twisted maze upon the side of the house reaching their tentacles towards the roof. Ominous, great black clouds circled overhead drawing nearer and nearer to number 666, the demanding winds fed into the clouds screaming for my attention. As the house drew nearer everything around me became quieter and more distant- the trees murmuring couldn’t be heard anymore and...
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...the Gothic elements of “A Rose for Emily” Gothic can be defined as “literature dealing with the strange, mysterious, and supernatural designed to invoke suspense and terror in the reader.” (Pickering, 2004, p. 1425) Gothic literature generally presents the same themes and motifs: love lost, hidden secrets, love and death hand in hand, beauty, youth, grotesque characters, macabre eroticism, etc. Gothic literature also explores taboo subjects such as murder, suicide and incest. “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, is representative of the Southern Gothic stories since the themes of love lost, death, and murder are present in it. There are many elements that hint at the Gothic nature of the story: Emily’s description, her house, the poison she bought, and finally the ending. Emily, the protagonist, used to be the perfect young and rich lady living with her father, but now she is an old woman living alone in her crumbling house. However, the inhabitants of the city she where she lives respect her. Throughout the story, the author describes her as being weird and lonely. “She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough.” She is described as a living death. This description creates suspense for the readers. Then, later on in the story, Emily denies her father’s death and refuses to let people come in her house...
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...The Classical Period The Classical Art Period consisted of ancient Greek and Roman art and fell between the years 900 BC and 31 BC. During the Classical Period, Athens and Sparta were dominant cities in the Greek region. These cities were suspicious of one another, but managed to live peacefully together until the 5th century, BC. Cultural and political differences between the two cities caused a rivalry to form. The rivalry was eventually quelled after a brutal war which ultimately ended in the demise of both cities and the rise of Macedonia as the dominant power in the region. Eventually, the social structure in the Classical Period became somewhat of a democracy and an open society which we have emulated in the United States (“History of Greece: Classical Greece”, 2014). Many other wars occurred over the course of the Classical Period, and this culture of war contributed to the realism of the art of the time. The brutality of war and the effects it had on Greek society inspired artists to focus on man, rational thinking, and logic (“History of Greece: Classical Greece”, 2014). Greek artists in the 5th century, BC began to realistically imitate humans and animals through art (Boardman, 2012). These Greek artists gained a better understanding of anatomy and the human body’s mechanics, giving them the ability to realistically render the human form in multiple positions without appearing awkward. Logic was valued over emotion in sculptures. This means that facial expressions...
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...The Red Room The Red Room at Gateshead is the place where Mr Reed, Jane’s uncle, had died. “Mr Reed has been dead nine years; it was in this chamber he breathed his last; he lay here in state; hence his coffin was borne by the undertaker’s men; and since that day, a sense of dreary consecration has guarded it from frequent intrusion.” Themes The Gothic * “curtains of deep red damask” and “crimson cloth” indicate blood, linking to Mr Reed’s death. * Strange noises and odd furniture such as the mirror that distorts Jane’s image gives an eerie mood, making the reader wary of what is to happen. (links to identity) * Jane imagines how the ghost haunts the room, heightening the sense of horror she feels. The supernatural is a key element in a Gothic novel. * There is an overall sense of foreboding and spookiness that makes the reader empathise with Jane as she is so young. * The lack of realism heightens the sense of the supernatural. * The romantic scene of the rain in the moors sets up the Gothic theme for the rest of the novel. Passion * The purity of her childhood as she endures intense and bitter feelings that arise due to unpleasant life experiences. * She cannot control her temper, and is therefore punished. She is labelled a “picture of passion” as women were expected to remain calm and ladylike. Her anger comes as a shock to everyone at Gateshead, hence her punishment. * Red is the colour of passion, as well as danger and embarrassment...
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...“The River” By Flannery O’Conner Analysis The Bible has and always will have the uncanny ability to express meanings and truths in personal and powerful ways. Magnificent stories that carry themes and lessons that are seen by some, but lost to others. In the short story “The River” by Mary Flannery O’Conner a similar approach was used. O’Conner uses the powerful symbolism and brilliant metaphor of The River to craft a story that dives deeply into the themes of Faith and Salvation that express her personal convictions on the secular and Christian world views. This is especially true in Harry’s baptism scene as well as the final scene that take place at the river. In the story “The River” Harry’s Parents seem to show little or no interest in him. Their life is consumed with entertainment and the social life. Harry is either left alone to fend for himself or stuck with baby sitters for long periods of time. On one particular occasion Harry ends up going to a religious gathering at a river with one of his babysitters Mrs. Connin. There he is taken into the water and baptized by bevel the preacher. He is told how much he “Counts” and is loved in the eyes of God. Upon returning home, Harry finds that his parents are having another party. Disappointed, he realizes that living with his parent’s is hopeless and he never will matter to them. Harry then decides to take matters into his own hands. He reflects on how wonderful it was at the river the day before. He leaves the...
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...Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture styles as well as literature writings of Dante was two of many great "first" ofthe High Middle Age period that impacted the Western legacies. Romanesque and Gothic architecture is very popular styles in Christian churches and bulidings. The literary writing of Dante, the arthur of one of his most famous writings, the Divine Comedy, is known for creating a pathway for many, many poets to be creative and very detailed with writing. Both of these "first "legacies have impacted not only the western civilaiztion but artists and builings all over the word. Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture period both occurred during the Middle Ages with the Gothic period taking place during the later half. Gothic and Romanesque architecture were related in many ways, but they also contrasted in style too. Over time, masons began to test the waters and push the limits. They thought of new ways to add lighting and ways to allow more height to the building without it being to heavy and weak. Many of the reasons for the change in styles had a lot to do with society and the changes it faced. There was a greater intensity occurring in piety and literature. The Gothic style embodied this new urban society. Romanesque and Gothic shared similar characteristics, but Gothic architecture was a greater departure from its previous predecessor. Each of these eras had their own structural innovations that changed the way architects and builders designed...
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