Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Continuing Project Preparations

While I find the subject of the reviews to be interesting and it generates a fair amount of questions for further research, I haven't made much progress this week in narrowing those down into something useful for the purposes of a project, and on top of that, I'm not confident that they would demonstrate enough learning specific to Leaves of Grass, as opposed to general musings about poetry, criticism, and the public. The subject also seems more suited to essays than more creative media, though I suppose it could be done. Perhaps the only thing I am less efficient at completing than essays are art projects, in spite of the fact that I prefer them. I prefer them too much; they mean too much to me to not be some version of perfect which I never achieve. Part of the reason I am an eternal senior English major is that I was originally attempting a second major in art as well, and I have plenty of classes for both but not enough for a degree in either. Someday I will purge my artistic demons, but I doubt that day will come within the span of a month or two. I am considering doing more with my motif entry on hair instead, which potentially has the opposite problem of being too specific. We shall see.

4 comments:

  1. You're very courageous for pursuing a double major especially with the slings of budget cuts and classes getting cut. I'm at one major, English lit, and it seems I've been in college for freakin ever and I finally get to graduate in May. Anyway, the hair motif is an interesting topic. I wonder if it's just head hair or other types of hair? You could do a little research on the symbolic meaning of hair in art and literature then make the connections to Leaves of Grass.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the encouragement, Gui. I finally went with just English for efficiency's sake, since I've only been a part-time student since returning/transferring several years ago. Most of the delays in my education have been from impractical decisions on my part, and I really feel for students having to start out with the disadvantages of our current financial and educational crises. More power to you for escaping in May! At any rate, I would definitely include the beard references with the hair motif for further research, and I like the idea of including other artistic references to hair; maybe I'll chew on that for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really like the hair theme that you blogged about before. I once knew a girl that worked at Pixar and she was responsible for "hair animation" -- all she did was deal with animated hair all day long! I know that's a random comment but it got me thinking about ways that you could bring the hair theme into the present. Here is a totally off the wall thought for you... what about some kind of comparison of Whitman hair references to the musical Hair?

    Here is a statement from the original writer of the musical: "hair was the hippies' flag – their... symbol not only of rebellion but also of new possibilities, a symbol of the rejection of discrimination and restrictive gender roles (a philosophy celebrated in the song "My Conviction"). It symbolized equality between men and women. In addition... the hippies' chosen clothing also made statements. Drab work clothes (jeans, work shirts, pea coats) were a rejection of materialism."

    I read that quote and it makes me think of many of themes of Whitman's poetry. Maybe there's a way to use clips of the musical to do something. Could be fun. Could also be a disaster :) Just a random thought. -Brian

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do not purge your artistic demons! In fact, this might be an excellent occasion to marry your artistic and literary demons . . .

    ReplyDelete