A thorough background allowed me to make a more skilled analysis Of the painting-poem allegations and how it affected me. In the beginning, I found it beneficial to analyze each piece individually. Burgher seems to depict typical peasant scenery in sixteenth century Belgium. The farmer in the forefront who is plowing his field on the rocky hillside appears to be the obvious subject. Meanwhile, a shepherd and a fisherman farther away also tend to their daily chores. It takes careful observation to even notice Circus; eventually, noticed a tiny pair of white legs thrashing around in the turquoise water.
If not for the straightforward title, many would likely overlook the most important aspect of the painting! The obscurity of the main character, who is obviously struggling just to stay alive, makes a forceful impact on an unsuspecting viewer. Using the painting as a guide, I was able to re-read the poem with more careful consideration of Addend’s intended meaning. The more times compared the painting to the poem, the more I extended my interpretations. Using free verse and a conversational tone, the author applies a psychological approach to Burgher’s painting.
Opening with generalizations and moving to specifics, the poem focuses on Circus’ fate in “Landscape” to verbally illustrate that individual human suffering is often viewed with apathy by Others. Combining images of suffering and tragedy with the ordinary images of everyday life suggests that individual tragedies are individual burdens, as our fellow man Often responds With indifference. The poem gives meaning to the cliche “Life goes on. ” Each time a person suffers a personal catastrophe, often abandoned and alone, there are Others Who continue with their daily lives with no regard to the suffering and pain of their fellow man.
The first stanza gives only a general depiction of the injustices of the world, perhaps spiritual, perhaps social. A subject is never specifically identified. Aden alludes to Burgher in the second line, but only generally, by mentioning the “Old Masters”. He begins the poem with indifference, much like that he criticizes: About suffering they were never wrong The Old Masters: how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along At this point, the poem still had little meaning to me.
However, Aden specifically preferences “Landscape” in the first line of the second stanza, as an example of human reluctance to acknowledge or sympathize with suffering: In Burgher’s Circus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it not an important failure; It Vass this second stanza that prompted me to make a more comprehensive analysis of “Landscape”. This time, both favors of art had an impact on me. The central image of the painting and the main theme Of the poetry had both escaped me when I analyzed them separately.
However, shifting back and forth between the poem and the painting, serious issues began to weigh more heavily on my heart and conscious. The concrete images in the painting brought to life the emotions expressed in the poem. I felt disappointed in myself as realized that this poem was written about people just like me. I tried to attribute my immunity to such human suffering to the gloomy news reports that are so routine in today’s society. Yet, “Landscape” is almost 500 years old and the same indifference existed, perhaps even to a greater degree, in a time and place so efferent from here and now.
The irregular line length and erratic rhythm that underscore this poem distract readers from the rhymes “course”/”horse”) at the end of every line, The rhyming is so subtle that was not even aware of it when casually reading. The simplicity to the language doesn’t require careful reading, so it is natural to quickly read the words like prose, rather than poetry. With this irregular form Aden was reinforcing in yet another way his claim of habitual inattentiveness. After learning to unscrew the hidden connotations of both pieces, I began to understand that Aden didn’t merely translate the Burgher’s painting into words.
Nor do I think that was his intention. “Muse des Beaux Arts” demonstrates Addend’s dissatisfaction with the ways of the world, but also his resignation that the world will never change. However, the literary value of the poem is lost without a personal analysis of Burgher’s painting as a guide. NOTE: I found much of this interpretation on the internet.
