I think I will begin discussion with my thoughts on the Early Sunday morning poem and Edward Hopper's artwork. First off, I apologize for the typo in the first sentence...it should say "it opens with a poem about Edward Hopper's painting." I spent a lot of time in the early part of this chapter and was intrigued by the interplay between the poem and the painting. I have always been a fan of poetry---the skill of a poet to say more with less---the powerful word choices that poems require make it, to me, the most powerful of genres. The poem really helped me to understand the picture... phrases of the poem still echo in my mind... "Somewhere someone may be practicing a flute...but not here..." "faceless windows" "awnings rolled up" It all contributes to the mood---emptiness, loneliness. But even more powerful, for me was the idea of "the sun that again is right on time...but I do not believe the day is going to be hot." It just seems to lead me to this idea that many of us in society are doing what is expected yet feel empty...day after day the sun rises yet it doesn't make things warm...is that symbolic for society--not fulfilling our promise, our potential? Ellin tells us that the poem affected her too...it led her to listen as she looked at Hopper's work. I too found myself listening... I actually ran a search on Hopper because I wanted to see these paintings in color. One difference between my thinking and Ellin's came as I viewed "Hotel by the Railroad." _http://hirshhorn.si.edu/dynamic/collection_images/full/66.2507.jpg_ (http://hirshhorn.si.edu/dynamic/collection_images/full/66.2507.jpg) Ellin hears in the silence the woman's slippered foot, the sound of the man smoking. Ellin feels that it appears he will say nothing to the woman. All I can hear is the man's thoughts...frantic..."What can I say so she will hear me this time? Is it worth trying again? Should I even bother? I have to reach her...make her see..." The quiet and the calm are the woman's---her indifference. He looks still, but is far from calm. He is looking away so he doesn't have to see her indifference...looking at the train is easier than having to face the life he is living. It is easier to think that he might be able to say something that will reach her if he isn't face to face with her indifference. When you see the painting in color, you realize that the woman and the man in this painting are older. How long has the man been in such pain? What has happened between the two of them? Is her indifference her own way of dealing with some unimaginable pain? Again, the theme to me appears to be loss...the loss of what might have been...disappointment in unfulfilled expectations. I sit here, at the computer, wondering where all this came from? I have a few great museums nearby here in Baltimore and Washington DC and have had many opportunities to see some great works of art...some Picasso, DaVInci drawings...I have been awed before, moved emotionally, but never drawn in to the art in such a way that I am creating the story...the world in the painting... like I am with these works by Hopper. I think that the poem is so powerful to me because it seems like John Stone, in writing the poem, seems to be using his writing to understand the painting. We are let in on his struggle in a powerful way and we seem to be brought into dialogue with him. This interplay, between the poem and the art seems to me to be about dialogue...one artist talking to another and to us. And while this chapter is about dwelling in ideas...using silence to think, there is still dialogue in my head, between the poet and the painter and me. The dimension of understanding, "Dwelling in ideas" requires time to be silent....but as I am here in the silence of my basement, writing to all of you, what is going on in my head is far from silence! :-) I think I really like Hopper's work...though I must say all that I have looked at and thought about may send me spinning into a midlife crises if I don't watch out! ;-) Jennifer In a message dated 4/26/2008 8:24:41 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
* Chapter four is titled "Dwelling in ideas" and it opens with a poem about Edward Hopper's poem Early Sunday Morning. As we began our discussion, I suggested that we try to be metacognitive ourselves...what are we doing to understand as we read? What were you thinking about as you read/studied and tried to understand these works of art? As Ellin shares her interpretations, what were you thinking about? Do you see/hear the same things? What do you think of Hopper's work? What do we have to learn as teachers of reading/thinking? **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851) _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
