The Principles of Art Applied to Literature

      The principles of art, sometimes referred to as the principles of composition or the principles of design, are a set of ideals that an artists lives by. Through these principles, the elements of art - shape, color, line, etc. - come together to form a work of art. The artist employs the principles of design to control the elements of their choice, to exercise their will upon a chosen aspect of their composition. For example: An artist might use the principle of Balance to bring their shapes and lines into an aesthetically pleasing arrangement that allows the eye to comfortably wander the canvas. Or perhaps the artist will choose to use Emphasis to illustrate the importance of a certain texture or color. All of these principles are at play in every work of art in any medium, either together, or in singularity. However, it is not only in art that these guiding principles are found. Indeed, these principles of composition can be seen in the works of the skilled writer.

      Allow us to explore the principles of art and their application to literature and writing:

17th Century "Fish Nets Drying in the Sun" By Kaiho Yusho

Rhythm:

      To start things off, let us examine the principle of Rhythm. Rhythm is most easily expressed through the idea of time and cycles. We think of Rhythm in human terms as the passage of time and the rhythmic cycles such as the phases of the moon and the changing of the seasons. The most obvious display of Rhythm is dance and music. But art too uses Rhythm.
      In art, Rhythm is employed by repetition. The repetition of lines, shapes, or textures bring a Rhythm to a piece of art. For example: longer swooping lines add a slow vibration to a work, while short snappy lines invoke quickness and rapidity.
      As for literature, poetry is the prime example of Rhythm in writing. Poetry uses rhyme and meter to arrange words and lines in a rhythmic stance. Many poetic pieces are designed to be read aloud or recited. This natural employment of Rhythm in poetry allows for the poem to flow as the orator reads the lines. Just as lines in art can lend to slower or faster Rhythms, the lies of a poem affect how slow or fast the piece is read. Longer lines give a poem a slower and melodic feel, while short choppy lines add a sense of quickness to the piece.

1931 "Cow's Skull with Calico Roses" By Georgia O'Keeffe

Balance:

      Balance is all about strategic placement. One of the most exemplary American artists to use Balance was Georgia O'Keeffe. By using symmetry, a piece of art can come into balance, adding visual appeal. When it comes to Balance, there are two types to consider: symmetrical Balance and asymmetrical Balance.
      Symmetrical Balance occurs when a piece is nearly perfectly balanced on the center of gravity and the axis. Asymmetrical Balance on the other hand occurs when one portion of a work appears visually heaver than the other.
      Balance in art is used to ensure that the viewer's eye never get caught or stuck in one area. Balance can be used in a similar fashion in literature.
      In writing it is important to keep the attention of the reader, just as it is important in art to keep the interest of viewer. By Balancing a piece of literature the reader should remain interested and alert, not fading away to be lost in the pages. For poetry, meter, as discussed in "Rhythm," can be applied here to Balance. By employing a steady meter, the balance of the lines in a poem should keep the piece in line. Organization of line length, vocabulary, and overall direction, are all elements of Balance in literature.
      For literary works, a writer must walk a steady line on content. To keep a reader interested a writer must not find themselves rambling or stumbling off-topic too often. It is important to remain on the task at hand. However, if a piece is too serious, or too flighty it may fall apart. There are many different ways to balance the mood of a piece of literature. For example, in play-writing, it is common for actors to pause and issue an aside. An aside is a special note from the actor communicated only to the audience. These asides are often comedic and add a release to tension in some cases.

1905-06 "Le Bonheur de Vivre" By Henri Matisse

Unity & Variety:

      Unity and Variety often go hand-in-hand in art. Any piece of art strives to connect Variety in a United format. When thinking of Unity and Variety it is easiest to picture them as a scale or spectrum, one extreme is completely bland and the other is chaotic; it is key for an artist to find the perfect balance between the two.
      The combination of Unity and Variety in once piece can be achieved in several ways. A painter can arrange a Variety of choice colors across their canvas in a way that Unifies the entire theme as a whole. This arrangement closely connects with Balance. Two masters of Unity and Variety are artists Henri Matisse and Jackson Pollock. The key to harmonizing Unity and Variety is finding a balancing point where the Variety of shapes, colors, lines, textures, or light come together to for a coherent Unity. The idea of Unity and Variety is to entertain the viewer's eyes, allowing them to see the balance and placement of different aspects, forcing the eye to follow the work through its entirety.
      In literature, Unity and Variety play a great role in entertaining the reader. As we discussed in "Balance," a piece needs to keep the reader interested. This can be done by  employing a Variety of lines in a work, such as using both longer lines and shorter lines. Or by using a Variety of vocabulary, some lengthy high-class words, with some other more simplistic words. The hardest part about this is finding the right balance. If a piece uses too many long sentences, a reader might become lost or disinterested; use too many short lines and piece might seem too simple and thoughtless. Use the spectrum of Unity and Variety to achieve the best balance for a work of literature.

1814-15 "Execution of the Third of May, 1808" By Francisco de Goya

Emphasis:

      Emphasis is perhaps a very obvious principle, as it should be. Emphasis is the act of placing significance or importance on one part of a piece than on another. This can be done by using light to exemplify and strengthen a specific aspect of the work, or by using complementary colors in stark contrast. In simplest terms, Emphasis adds importance. On the other end of Emphasis is Subordination, the use of downplaying certain aspects so as to make something else seem more important.
      In literature, one of the best tools used to add Emphasis is repetition. The repetition of a certain object or phrase can add importance or relevance to a piece. This can be seen is such works as Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, The Black Cat, or The Masque of the Red Death. These tales all use repetition to Emphasize a certain aspect of the work.

1950 "Le Chariot" By Alberto Giacometti

Scale & Proportion:

      Scale and Proportion are more easily seen in art than in literature, but the significance is nonetheless important. In art, Scale and Proportion are used to add a new element of perspective to something, such as enlarging a simple object to extreme size or distorting the size of a figure's head in comparison to its body.
      In art, as in literature, the whimsical idea of shrunken people or giant worlds has been used for a long time and can be seen in works such as The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and even The Lord of the Rings. However, this is more of content than application.
      When writing, the author must keep in mind their audience and the purpose of their work. It is important to think about the Scale and Proportion of a piece when writing. A good example would be to compare the poetry of Emily Dickinson to Homer's The Iliad or The Odyssey. These two works couldn't be more different in Scale or Proportion. When thinking of what kind of piece is to be written, it is imperative that Scale and Proportion come into thought.


      As we can see, the principles of art can be applied to writing and literature just as they are applied to canvas and clay. By examining art, one can come to understand literature.

Reference material: Mark Getlein: Living with Art

Manifest Destiny & the Image of Westward Expansion

      In short, Manifest Destiny was the belief that America and Americans had a "divine destiny" to settle the lands west of the Mississippi, to tame the Indian and claim the territory for a greater purpose. While there were deep religious, economic, and racial incentives behind westward expansion, we will not investigate this aspect directly. But let us turn our gaze to the images portrayed by pen and paint of this "Manifest Destiny."

John L. O'Sullivan

      The term "Manifest Destiny" was first used and coined by journalist John L. O'Sullivan in 1845 in the Annexation essay in the Democratic Review. In this essay O'Sullivan addressed the issue of the annexation of the Republic of Texas. This first essay attracted little attention. However, months later John O'Sullivan used the famous phrase once again in an essay in the New York Morning News. This essay was directed at the ongoing territorial disputes with Great Britain on Oregon. In this essay O'Sullivan stated, "And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." It was this essay that spurned the notion of a divine mission of westward expansion.

      Manifest Destiny had a very religious background, suggesting that God himself had blessed the American
people and the American West, calling the American people to settle this divine land and cleanse the territory of the "heathen" Indians. Many of the Puritan ministers and leaders were instrumental in inspiring westward expansion and were some of the first to cross the Mississippi and fulfill their divine mission. Many writers idealized the Great West with stories of heroic explorers, epic battles with Native American, the beauty of the expansive landscape, and great tales of wild game. Likewise, artists answered the Manifest Destiny call with their art.

1848 "Boon's First View of Kentucky" By William Ranney

      The great landscape artists of America painted vast and epic landscapes, portraying the divine nature of the natural landscape. The depictions of nature in these paintings hint at the divinity of nature and the purity of the natural world. These artists also used subtle messages that spoke of environmentalist beliefs and the possible destruction that man may bring to the land. With the divine mission of expansion comes the responsibility to protect it. And though the artists and writers would set free images of the heroic and fantastic West as a playground filled with great opportunity and unfathomable beauty, the reality of the Great West was far from ideal. Travelers would often encounter hostile bandits and Indians, suffer from new diseases, and death was a common occurrence when on out on the trail. While the West was a place of grand beauty, it was also a home to great hardship.

      One of the most famous artistic representations of Manifest Destiny comes from artist John Gast in his 1872 piece American Progress. This piece depicts the idea of Manifest

1872 "American Progress" By John Gast

Destiny as an giant angelic woman leading the way westward with a school book in her arm and a star in her hair, more than a little reminiscient of the Stature of Liberty. The divine woman also carries in her arm a coil of power-lines, laying down the line in her wake followed by a railroad and railcar, symbolizing the right of man to civilize the wild land.

      Another painting that speaks of the Manifest Destiny mission is The Oregon Trail, by Albert Bierstadt. "In the year that marked the completion of the first continental railroad, Bierstadt presented a striking allegory of westward expansion. Drawing on his encounter with German immigrants on their way to Oregon, Bierstadt uses the cliffs, trees, and glowing orange-red sky to suggest the spiritual imperative of the move west. The cattle, oxen, and other livestock, along with the covered wagon, create a nostalgic mood. The teepees in the distance are reminders of the Native American presence, but the overall intent of the image is to suggest the centrality of the whites' pioneer experiences to the national character" (Baym C 8).

1869 "The Oregon Trail" By Albert Bierstadt

      While the Manifest Destiny writers wove tales of brave pioneers exploring the glorious wilderness, the artists of the time were inspiring Americans with their largescale landscape paintings and depictions of adventuring heroes. Both were instrumental in instilling in the American people a drive for westward expansion.

Writer Profile: The Cary Sisters

      Alice and Phoebe Cary were sisters, poets, and role models. The two sisters wrote both on their own and together, collecting a folio of wondrous works. Coming from a loving family stricken by near-poverty and blossoming into influential writers and women, Alice and Phoebe Cary fought to secure their names and their livelihoods.

Alice Cary

      Alice, born in 1820, and Phoebe, born in 1824, were children in a large and loving home of nine brothers and sisters. The two sisters were best-friends and were rarely seen apart from one-another. They would share their days together helping their father in field or assisting their mother with care of the younger children. Their parents, Robert and Elizabeth Cary, were very religious, following the teachings of Universalism. Robert and Elizabeth brought their children up under this umbrella of faith and purity. While working in the field, Robert Cary would sing hymnals to his daughters or recite poetry to them, stirring in them the passion of literature. (Edwards)

      Though the Cary household was filled with love and kindness, the family was not well-off. While their Ohio home was rather nice - granted them by Alice and Phoebe's grandfather, Christopher Cary by the government for his service in the Revolutionary War - the income the family raised from farming was just barely enough to survive. The Cary family was only one of the many "frontier families" trying to make a living out West (at this time in American history, Ohio was considered part of the Western Frontier). The Cary family experienced great tragedy and sorrow in their early life on the frontier. In 1833, Rhonda, the eldest Cary sister, died of tuberculosis. Later that same year, Lucy, only three years of age, also passed of tuberculosis. Alice and Phoebe were devastated, they looked up to Rhonda and to see their little sister Lucy pass so young was heartbreaking. Alice would write two poems dedicated to her departed sisters, The Sisters for Rhonda, and My Little One for Lucy. Then perhaps the most tragic death of all befell the Cary family: in 1835, Elizabeth Cary passed away. (Edwards) (Gu)

Phoebe Cary

      Alice and Phoebe loved writing from an early age, a quality passed to them by their parents. Though the girls were not afforded a proper education in their childhood, they were schooled by their mother and father, particularly by Elizabeth. Robert thought the girls poetry, but their mother learned them on writing, history, religion, and even politics. Since the girls did not have much in the way of an education, they often felt inferior to other children. Later in life the sisters would pursue a higher education. (Edwards)

      After the death of Elizabeth, Robert Cary remarried, and for Alice and Phoebe this spelled their doom. Elizabeth had always supported the girls in their effort and passion for writing, but their new stepmother did not take kindly to the girls' "hobby", saying that writing was a "sinful  waste of time" for girls. Alice and Phoebe's new mother practically forbade the girls to write. However, this did not stave their passion for writing. Alice and Phoebe continued to write in their bedrooms at night, writing by candlelight when their stepmother went to sleep. The young sisters would constantly send their work to publishers in secrecy. Finally, in 1838 when the girls were 18 and 14repectfully, they each were published writers. (Edwards)

      Once they were published, Alice and Phoebe continued to write and were published regularly in journals and papers around Ohio. They wrote prolifically, especially Alice, and readers became quite fond of their work. Then in 1850, the sisters came together and published Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary. This book caught the sisters their first "big break." This publication earned them enough money to move to New York to pursue their future of becoming true big-time writers. (Edwards)

      Alice, the more prolific writer, had great success as a poet, drawing reviews from the great writers of her day; Edgar Allan Poe once complemented Alice for her poem Pictures of Memory as "one of the most musically perfect lyrics in the English language." She also saw success with her sketches on frontier life such as Clovernook, or Recollections of our Neighborhood in the West in 1852 and Pictures of Country Life in 1859. She was also an advocate of justice and women's rights, being nominated as president of the New York Women's Club. Though she was reluctant to accept the position, preferring to display her views in her writing than in public view. (Edwards) (King)

      Phoebe was more open with views on equality than her sister Alice, writing open mockeries of marriage and the treatment of women in her paradises. She was also very outspoken when it came to women's rights. For a shot time, Phoebe was the assistant editor of Susan B. Anthony's newspaper The Revolution. Phoebe Cary was also deeply religious, writing several hymnals and religious verse, some of which became commonplace in many church services. (Edwards)

      Phoebe was also a very caring and compassionate person. In the later of their lives, Alice became very ill, partly due to her extreme daily writing habits, and was bedridden. Phoebe never left her sister's side, ignoring her own health problems. Alice's condition continued to worsen as malaria took hold of her. She finally passed in 1871. Phoebe became very depressed and stopped eating after loosing her best friend and sister. Her friends and family sent her away to the East Coast hoping that the new scene would brighten her spirits. Sadly it did not. Just six months after Alice passed away, Phoebe too departed from our world.

(Edwards)

      The Cary sisters left behind an endearing and enduring legacy. Alice and Phoebe Cary have given this world hundreds of poems and stores to enjoy,  great songs to fill our hearts, and a hope in a brighter future.

Sources:
http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/carysisters.html
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Phoebe_Cary
http://www.librarycompany.org/women/portraits/cary.htm

Transcendentalism & the Hudson River Painters

      When we look at mid-nineteenth century literature the prevalent style of the times was Transcendentalism. Hand-in-hand with the visions and philosophies of the Transcendentalists was a group of artists belonging to the Hudson River School of art, the Hudson River painters. These two groups often shared in the same dream, their goals and themes overlapping. Let's have a closer look, shall we?

Henry David Thoreau

      Transcendentalism was a literary movement that is characterized by an emphasis on intuition and the individual conscience. They believed that these qualities "transcend" experience and serve as better guides to the senses than can logic and reason. The Transcendentalists were heavily influenced by the thoughts and ideologies of the earlier writers of the Romanticism period. Like the Romantic writers, the Transcendentalists praised the individual spirit and the lush beauty of the natural world. To them, divinity was everywhere, within each individual and especially in nature. Among the Transcendentalists were writers such as Henry David Thoreau, W. H. Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Margaret Fuller.

      The Hudson River School was essentially the very first coherent American school of art. Their prime focus was painting the great American landscape, the most popular form of American painting. The movement was set in motion by two of its most famous artists of the time, Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand. Heeding Emerson's words to "ignore the courtly Muses of Europe," the Hudson River painters set out to create a truly unique form of art, an American art. (Hampson)

1831, "A Wild Scene" By Thomas Cole

      The Hudson River painters were influenced by the divine essence of nature and the sweeping American landscape. Emerson struck a great chord with the Hudson River artists in his 1841 essay Thoughts on Art. He and the Hudson River artists agreed that painting should become a vehicle through which the universal mind could reach the mind of mankind. The Hudson River painters strongly believed that art was an agent of moral and spiritual transformation. The Hudson River painters also recognized the value of the individual and the allure and splendor of nature, often using light as a cleaver tool to communicate the divinity of nature, a style that would later be employed by the artists of the Luminist and Romantic movements. The Hudson River painters set out to create an artistic representation of the very thing the Transcendentalists were writing about. (Hampson)  

1849, "Kindred Spirits" By Asher B. Durand

      The writings and paintings of the mid-nineteenth century share a similar vision and philosophy. The Transcendentalists influenced the art world with their style and message, and the Hudson River painters gave an artistic voice to the ideologies and representations of the Transcendentalist mission. Together these two movements worked in unison to shape the thoughts of mid-nineteenth America.



For more information visit: 
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/hudson.html