Sethos I was the father of Ramesses II (also known as Ozymandias). In the wallpainting, Sethos is receiving pharaonic regalia to emphasise his power and military success.
Link: Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley
A thread on some links between art and literature...
All available in an editable booklet >> https://t.co/QQQ5j31ekw #TeamEnglish
Sethos I was the father of Ramesses II (also known as Ozymandias). In the wallpainting, Sethos is receiving pharaonic regalia to emphasise his power and military success.
Link: Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The smile of Mona Lisa, also known as a Lisa Gherardini, is playful and ambiguous – almost like she is hiding a secret.
Link: My Last Duchess, by Robert Browning
An illustration of the dangers of pride and ambition. From soaring so high, Icarus is barely noticeable after his fall and life simply carries on around him.
Link: Jekyll and Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
A wild-eyed scientist, onlookers who seem both intrigued and horrified, and a strong contrast between darkness and light.
Link: Jekyll and Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
A melancholy figure stands alone amidst a sweepingly dynamic, powerful landscape.
Link: The Prelude, by William Wordsworth
A brutal, unglamorous and disturbing picture of body parts that seem to have been carelessly discarded and thrown into a pile.
Link: Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
The rocks in Johan Dahl’s Norwegian Mountain Landscape first appear to be gentle and inviting, but on a second glance seem much more dramatic and threatening.
Link: The Prelude, by William Wordsworth
The sea is darkly turbulent and the grey sky is full of menace. The city of the Stockholm, brightly lit in the distance, is made to seem very small by comparison.
Link: Storm on the Island, by Seamus Heaney
A blood red, claustrophobic cityscape in which ghostly figures seem to climb, trample and scramble away from imminent danger.
Link: London, by William Blake
A strangely calm image that, at least initially, doesn’t seem to depict a battle scene. The distance of the viewer’s perspective evokes a fleeting sense of contemplation and control.
Link: Kamikaze, by Beatrice Garland
The vacant, troubled stare of the sailor in the foreground contrasts with the celebratory scene behind him. He seems completely out of place and isolated whilst life goes on around him.
Link: Remains, by Simon Armitage
A dark, abstract image evocative of a primitive human body in the throes of both construction and deconstruction.
Links: Jekyll and Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
An overcrowded cart leaves a burning city as people twist in anguish and despair. A white lamb is clearly visible, placed next to a shadowy image of Jesus to represent the sacrifice of innocent people.
Link: War Photographer, by Carol Ann Duffy
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I just finished Eric Adler's The Battle of the Classics, and wanted to say something about Joel Christiansen's review linked below. I am not sure what motivates the review (I speculate a bit below), but it gives a very misleading impression of the book. 1/x
The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x
Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x
The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x
It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x
As someone\u2019s who\u2019s read the book, this review strikes me as tremendously unfair. It mostly faults Adler for not writing the book the reviewer wishes he had! https://t.co/pqpt5Ziivj
— Teresa M. Bejan (@tmbejan) January 12, 2021
The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x
Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x
The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x
It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x