In Words- Poems
After having looked at specific words, as well as having made some small books, it is a natural progression that I start to look at descriptions of mountains by authors and poets.
I will start by looking at poetry, something that I have never been overly interested in but which seems the appropriate way of abstractly describing what I might feel when I am around mountains.
My first internet search led me to: 5 Great Poems About Mountains of which I will select a few I feel I identified with in some way.
A good collection to start with and some great notes about the poems, something I found very helpful as I find it hard to interpret them.
Having looked at the idea of Majesty, this one provides a good reference to royalty: Purple of Ages. It is even saying that royalty bows to it, the mountain being a warrior clad in mail of ices and thighs protected with granite, here being compared to steel.
Purple of Ages
I would like to look a little into the colour purple and it's links to royalty. The colour purple has long been a favorite colour of mine but I have never used it much in my work. I wonder if this is on purpose of if the strange royalty of the colours has dissuaded me from using it often.
Why is purple a reference to royalty?
In the article "The color purple:from royalty to laboratory", the preface reads:
I can now identify a link between the previous words I looked at: Majesty, Nature and Freedom.
I discovered the book "No Lonesome Road" which have selected poems by Don West. A lot of them are written around mountains, West having grown up around mountains in Georgia. Although his work in this book in mainly based on southern Appalachian culture, there are a few that go a little bit beyond, to talk a little more about the mountain more so than the people.
This is one I enjoyed as it speaks about what I would like to happen to me when I die. I also like the comparison of the mountain people to the rocks and trees. This more so than the poetry I have found prior, is descriptive in a more obvious way.
I was reading an article and was reminded of the work of Wordsworth. Although not too familiar with his work, I bought a book of his many years ago from a dusty old book shop for £3.95, mainly because of the aesthetic of the book rather than it's content. An old book bound in red with gold lettering and detailing, a gilded edge and a hand written note inside that tells me that this was a Christmas present to Kathleen in 1906. I have discovered that many of his poems have a aspect of mountains in them. They are quite romantic poems and most of them are rather long. One that I think has some good descriptions is "Michael". I will not place here the full poem but the areas I think most relevant to me.
Bibliography
Articles
Krafts, K. P., Hempelmann, E., Oleksyn, B. J. (2011). The color purple: from royalty to laboratory, with apologies to Malachowski. Biotechnic & Histochemistry, 86(1), 7-35.
Books
Don, W. Biggers, J., & Brosi, G. (Eds.). (2004). No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Hutchinson, T. (Ed.). (1906).The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. Oxford: Henry Frowde
I will start by looking at poetry, something that I have never been overly interested in but which seems the appropriate way of abstractly describing what I might feel when I am around mountains.
My first internet search led me to: 5 Great Poems About Mountains of which I will select a few I feel I identified with in some way.
A good collection to start with and some great notes about the poems, something I found very helpful as I find it hard to interpret them.
“AH, TENERIFFE!”
By Emily Dickinson
Ah, Teneriffe!
Retreating Mountain!
Purples of Ages — pause for you —
Sunset — reviews her Sapphire Regiment —
Day — drops you her Red Adieu!
Still — Clad in your Mail of ices —
Thigh of Granite — and thew — of Steel —
Heedless — alike — of pomp — or parting
Ah, Teneriffe!
I’m kneeling — still —
Purple of Ages
I would like to look a little into the colour purple and it's links to royalty. The colour purple has long been a favorite colour of mine but I have never used it much in my work. I wonder if this is on purpose of if the strange royalty of the colours has dissuaded me from using it often.
Why is purple a reference to royalty?
In the article "The color purple:from royalty to laboratory", the preface reads:
"The color purple, so critical to the staining of blood,
once was the sole purview of the rich and powerful.
Purple dye was obtained from mollusks and
required an enormous amount of time and effort
to produce. Purple garments, which were worth
more than their weight in gold, became a symbol
not only of wealth, but of royalty. In fact, under
certain Roman Emperors, the wearing of purple
by anyone outside the royal family was a crime
punishable by death. The value and significance of
purple as a textile dye declined over time. In the
quest for the ultimate blood stain, however, purple
became the equivalent of the Holy Grail. Simple in
structure, but visually complex and lush, the blood
stain required 80 years of scientific development
to arrive at its present state. Early versions of the
stain, composed of methylene blue and eosin, produced
a limited spectrum of red and blue colors that
allowed differentiation of certain types of blood cells and diagnosis of a limited number of hematologic
disorders. Later renderings of the stain, however,
produced a surprising hue not attributable to either
staining component: a beautiful, distinctive shade
of purple. The development of this mysterious
purple color marked the beginning of a new era in
hematology in which structures previously unseen,
such as the nucleus of the malarial plasmodium,
became visible. The pursuit of the elusive color
purple and the subsequent refinement of the stain
reflect a saga of rigorous, though often secretive,
scientific study as well as of an occasional fortuitous
accident. We trace this journey as it touched 14 men
over an 80-year period. A special place of honor is
reserved for the true father of the stain, Ernst Malachowski."
Having previously related "majesty" to "imposing, I would say that the two link very well together with purple. The idea that under the rule of certain Roman emperors, wearing purple was punishable by death is really is very imposing.
It being visually "complex and lush" creates a contrast to this. The dictionary defines lush as: "(of vegetation, especially grass) growing luxuriantly." It then in turn could refer to the grassy mountain sides.
This is my visual response to the above research. Combining the colour of royalty with the idea of being imposing. I tried to give a slight impression of a crown here but don't feel that it worked particularly well. I kept continuing with this idea in my sketchbook.
It being visually "complex and lush" creates a contrast to this. The dictionary defines lush as: "(of vegetation, especially grass) growing luxuriantly." It then in turn could refer to the grassy mountain sides.
Imposing Majesty
The first sketch is looking at another way that the mountain could be represented at regal, or higher than, by trying to create more of a robe.
I combined the idea form the poem 'Night on The Mountain' (bellow) with the words "he fog has risen from the sea and crowned, The dark, untrodden summits of the coast," which gave me the idea of crowning the mountain with a cloud of fog. Above are some ideas of how this could be done.
I can now identify a link between the previous words I looked at: Majesty, Nature and Freedom.
GREEN MOUNTAIN
By Li Bai
You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown,
I have a world apart that is not among men.
I like the simplicity of this one. I captures the way I feel when I'm in the mountains without going into too much detail. "Free of care".
I have been trying to figure out a way to give the mountain a crown without just drawing a full picture of a crown. Clouds! So simple and yet it took this poem to make it apparent to me.
Like the first poem "Ah, Tenerife!" this also talks of the idea of majesty but rather on the side of malevolence which is something close to what I have been exploring: imposing. This speaks of the destructiveness and harshness of nature itself. I like how he describes the mountains in this scene as "a shape of ancient fear".
The author of this article, of which I could not find the name, wrote this at the end: "Mountains encompass a rainbow-spectrum of meaning. They are beautiful and ugly, peaceful and malevolent, holy and unholy — sometimes all at once. The shape shifting nature of mountains will continue to inspire and provoke us with wonder, and will continue to scare us, as well." This marks the end of this article.
NIGHT ON THE MOUNTAIN
By George Sterling
The fog has risen from the sea and crowned
The dark, untrodden summits of the coast,
Where roams a voice, in canyons uttermost,
From midnight waters vibrant and profound.
High on each granite altar dies the sound,
Deep as the trampling of an armored host,
Lone as the lamentation of a ghost,
Sad as the diapason of the drowned.
The mountain seems no more a soulless thing,
But rather as a shape of ancient fear,
In darkness and the winds of Chaos born
Amid the lordless heavens’ thundering–
A Presence crouched, enormous and austere,
Before whose feet the mighty waters mourn.
I have been trying to figure out a way to give the mountain a crown without just drawing a full picture of a crown. Clouds! So simple and yet it took this poem to make it apparent to me.
Like the first poem "Ah, Tenerife!" this also talks of the idea of majesty but rather on the side of malevolence which is something close to what I have been exploring: imposing. This speaks of the destructiveness and harshness of nature itself. I like how he describes the mountains in this scene as "a shape of ancient fear".
The author of this article, of which I could not find the name, wrote this at the end: "Mountains encompass a rainbow-spectrum of meaning. They are beautiful and ugly, peaceful and malevolent, holy and unholy — sometimes all at once. The shape shifting nature of mountains will continue to inspire and provoke us with wonder, and will continue to scare us, as well." This marks the end of this article.
I discovered the book "No Lonesome Road" which have selected poems by Don West. A lot of them are written around mountains, West having grown up around mountains in Georgia. Although his work in this book in mainly based on southern Appalachian culture, there are a few that go a little bit beyond, to talk a little more about the mountain more so than the people.
MOUNTAINEER'S DESIRE
By Don West
I have no passion
To be deep
Scented down
In a black coffin,
Silk lined
And cushioned . . .
But this flesh
Shall be burned
To grey embers
And strewn
High up in
The Mountains
Among the
Hard faced
Silent rocks,
Where time
Has gnawed
Cracks and
Crevices,
Where stunted
Mountain trees
Send roots down
Against the
High wind’s fury,
And where
Mountain people,
Silent,
And solitary,
Like the rocks
And trees,
Pass by . . .
I was reading an article and was reminded of the work of Wordsworth. Although not too familiar with his work, I bought a book of his many years ago from a dusty old book shop for £3.95, mainly because of the aesthetic of the book rather than it's content. An old book bound in red with gold lettering and detailing, a gilded edge and a hand written note inside that tells me that this was a Christmas present to Kathleen in 1906. I have discovered that many of his poems have a aspect of mountains in them. They are quite romantic poems and most of them are rather long. One that I think has some good descriptions is "Michael". I will not place here the full poem but the areas I think most relevant to me.
MICHAEL
by William Wordsworth
IF from the public way you turn your steps
Up the tumultuous brook of Greenhead Ghyll,
You will suppose that with an upright path
Your feet must struggle; in such bold ascent
The pastoral mountains front you, face to face.
But, courage! for around that boisterous brook
The mountains have all opened out themselves,
And made a hidden valley of their own.
No habitation can be seen; but they
Who journey thither find themselves alone
With a few sheep, with rocks and stones, and kites
That overhead are sailing in the sky.
It is in truth an utter solitude;
Nor should I have made mention of this Dell
But for one object which you might pass by,
Might see and notice not. Beside the brook
Appears a struggling heap of unhewn stones!
And to that simple object appertains
A story—unenriched with strange events,
Yet not unfit, I deem, for the fireside,
Or for the summer shade. It was the first
Of those domestic tales that spake to me
Of shepherds, dwellers in the valleys, men
Whom I already loved;—not verily
For their own sakes, but for the fields and hills
Where was their occupation and abode.
And hence this Tale, while I was yet a Boy
Careless of books, yet having felt the power
Of Nature, by the gentle agency
Of natural objects, led me on to feel
For passions that were not my own, and think
(At random and imperfectly indeed)
On man, the heart of man, and human life.
Therefore, although it be a history
Homely and rude, I will relate the same
For the delight of a few natural hearts;
And, with yet fonder feeling, for the sake
Of youthful Poets, who among these hills
Will be my second self when I am gone.
There is more to this poem, he goes on to tell a tale of shepherd. This is different from the other poems, I feel like it is more of a story than the others and isn't based on the mountain but on many aspects surrounding it. It is ultimately told fro his point of view and makes me feel as if I am there. This poem makes me think of the people who live within the mountains or close by. This is something I have looked at briefly and may well look at again.
One of my favourite lines which I think sums up one of the reason I love mountains is: "It is in truth an utter solitude".
Articles
Krafts, K. P., Hempelmann, E., Oleksyn, B. J. (2011). The color purple: from royalty to laboratory, with apologies to Malachowski. Biotechnic & Histochemistry, 86(1), 7-35.
Books
Don, W. Biggers, J., & Brosi, G. (Eds.). (2004). No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Hutchinson, T. (Ed.). (1906).The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. Oxford: Henry Frowde
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