Chichester International
9th of OCTOBER:
There is one poem (the autumn) and one song (Ed Sheeran) both talks about the topic of the autumn
Adrienne.
The Autumn
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1833)
Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them —
The summer flowers depart —
Sit still — as all transform’d to stone,
Except your musing heart.
How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beneath the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall.
Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth
That flesh and dust impart:
We cannot bear its visitings,
When change is on the heart.
Gay words and jests may make us smile,
When Sorrow is asleep;
But other things must make us smile,
When Sorrow bids us weep!
The dearest hands that clasp our hands, —
Their presence may be o’er;
The dearest voice that meets our ear,
That tone may come no more!
Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,
Which once refresh’d our mind,
Shall come — as, on those sighing woods,
The chilling autumn wind.
Hear not the wind — view not the woods;
Look out o’er vale and hill —
In spring, the sky encircled them —
The sky is round them still.
Come autumn’s scathe — come winter’s cold —
Come change — and human fate!
Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,
Can ne’er be desolate.
Vocabulary :
Lofty: (adjective) of imposing height
Musing: (adjective) characterize by reflection or deep thought
Recall: (noun) the action or faculty of remembering something learned or experienced
Stirs: (verb) move or cause to move slightly
Doth: (verb) archaic third person singular present of do -> does
Mirth: (noun) amusement, especially as expressed in laughter
Impart: (verb) = spread
Jests: (noun) a thing said or done for amusement; a joke
Bid us weep: (verb) make an effort to make us shed a tear = try hard to make us cry
Clasp: (verb) grasp sth or smn tightly with one's hand
Scathe: (noun) harm, injury
Doth: (verb) archaic third person singular present of do -> does
Ed Sheeran ~ Autumn Leaves
Another day, another life
Passes by just like mine
It's not complicated
Another mind, another soul
Another body to grow old
It's not complicated
Do you ever wonder if the stars shine out for you?
Float down
Like autumn leaves
And hush now
Close your eyes before the sleep
And you're miles away
And yesterday you were here with me
Another tear, another cry
Another place for us to die
It's not complicated
Another love that's gone to waste
Another light lost from your face
It's complicated
Is it that it's over or do birds still sing for you?
Float down
Like autumn leaves
And hush now
Close your eyes before the sleep
And you're miles away
And yesterday you were here with me
Ooh how I miss you
My symphony played the song that carried you out
Ooh how I miss you
And I, I miss you and I wish you'd stay
Do you ever wonder if the stars shine out for you?
Float down
Like autumn leaves
And hush now
Close your eyes before the sleep
And you're miles away
And yesterday you were here with me
Touch down
Like a seven four seven
Stay out and we'll live forever now
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30/03/1853-29/07/1890) is a Dutch painter and draftsman. His work is full of naturalism, inspired by impressionism and pointillism, announced fauvism and expressionism.
“What’s drawing? How to do we arrive there? It is the action of clearing a passage through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can. How should we go through this wall, knowing it is useless to hit hard? I think one should undermine the wall and cross it slowly and patiently.” Van Gogh
“I tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green.” Van Gogh
“I dream my paintings then, I paint my dream.” Van Gogh
Van Gogh produced several series of paintings. To refine his art, he likes to paint several paintings on similar subjects concerning nature: flowers, cornfields, blossoming orchards, etc.
Van Gogh was particularly interested in painting flowers. He made several landscapes with different flowers: lilacs, roses, laurel, etc.
He also made a series of (self) portraits.
He made two series of sunflowers: the first shows freshly picked sunflowers posed on the ground. In the second, the sunflowers are in vases, sometimes fading. The flowers are painted with thick brushstrokes with paint surplus.
Gauguin shows in one of his paintings Van Gogh hand painting sunflowers. Van Gogh is quite happy with the results showing the "tired and charged with electricity" Letter 16.
Reflections on Van Gogh differ depending on the point of view we chose. For example, Salvador Dalí expresses himself in 1972 on what he does not like about this painter: "Van Gogh is the shame of French painting and universal painting ...” For some, his life, worthy of a romantic hero, indeed myth, of the misunderstood painter or cursed artist. He is poor, depressed, antisocial, with a fiery temperament, etc. For others, Van Gogh is a complex artist, intelligent and cultured. His painting is the "fruit of a long, meticulous, hard and referenced." Whatever the chosen point of view, Van Gogh is a recognized and admired painter. In his last letter found in his pocket on the day of his suicide, he wrote, Letter 28: "Well we can only make our paintings speak."
One of the most famous series of paintings of Van Gogh made is that of cypress trees. These trees, landscape features in the south of France, inspired Van Gogh. He wrote to his brother, Letter 18: "The cypress still concern me, I would do something like the paintings of sunflowers because it amazes me that no one haven’t yet made them like I see them."
For art historians, Van Gogh is a pioneer who opened painting to new ways. For example, Derain and Vlaminck are directly attached to the art of Van Gogh "by the use of pure colour in broad strokes." For art lovers, he's still a master at the equal of Leonardo da Vinci or Rembrandt with a very important production and a drastic artistic career in duration and its styles. For the general public, his work is now available in major museums.
