"Where ignorant armies clash by night…"
Refined and elegant, Bach's keyboard
counterpoints the elements -
a tropic cloudburst closing in
on ivory and ebony,
ricocheting off the eaves
and lacquered Asiatic leaves,
dripping from rosettes of bright
hibiscus, laying siege to art,
where prelude, fugue and lamplit
window meet encroaching dark…
With muffled, martial rumbling
of kettledrums, and rain-tipped pikes,
clouds swagger like the armies of the night
across forbidding skies,
until storm's minions fade away,
while Samuel Feinberg's ghostly hands
unerringly pursue their quest
beyond chaos to eloquence, and usher in
the presence of an honoured guest.
Epigraph from Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach"
Prelude, Fugue and Tropic Deluge
© Copyright: Jena Woodhouse, 2004
Свидетельство о публикации №104031900955
Свидетельство о публикации №104031900955
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Your vocabulary and rhythm are impressive. Is English your native language? I've played around with English words, but the result seems to be a pour translation of Russian thoughts into English nursery rhymes. Back to your work... You seem to be very fond of epithets used to describe nature. I receive serenity. Is that an intended result?
А Сенсен 19.03.2004 20:21 • Заявить о нарушении
А Сенсен 19.03.2004 20:21 • Заявить о нарушении
Thank you very much for your perceptive comments. As you correctly surmise, English is my native language, and nature, for me, is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and imagery that can nourish life and art. But this influence extends far beyond epithets. I know that I am not alone in believing that nature, in its nurturing, regenerative aspect - of which the creative genius of humanity is an integral part - holds the balance of power in the universe. Nor is it original to observe that being in harmony with those essential rhythms - which, as an integrating cosmic force, inevitably find expression through the channels of science, art, and all creative human endeavour - can lead to serenity.
If you receive serenity through my writing, I am very glad. This is one of the touchstones, for me, of what art ultimately seeks to communicate, and represents a state of dynamic equilibrium in the forces of nature and the human spirit.
Thank you again for your interest, and for giving me the opportunity to answer your questions.
Jena Woodhouse 20.03.2004 04:51 Заявить о нарушении
If you receive serenity through my writing, I am very glad. This is one of the touchstones, for me, of what art ultimately seeks to communicate, and represents a state of dynamic equilibrium in the forces of nature and the human spirit.
Thank you again for your interest, and for giving me the opportunity to answer your questions.
Jena Woodhouse 20.03.2004 04:51 Заявить о нарушении