I have the feeling that women in Buddhism were treated far better than any other religion I have studied in this class. Women may have had a struggle to join in, but they were allowed with restrictions. The restrictions placed on them made it very difficult for nuns to be ordained. I found it interesting that Buddha named his son Rahula, meaning bondage just before leaving him for seven years. There are always sacrifices for religion it seems, but to give up a newly born son and wife for seven years seems harsh. I read several times of how Buddha declared that women have the capability of enlightenment and have the same spiritual potential as men. Buddha also set rules to prevent monks from using nuns as servants, for the women were to have equal rights. This is phenomenal after reading of the Hindu culture and their tradition of making their women slaves to their husband and in-laws.
Buddha was unable to reach his goal until women re-entered his life, and with the vision of his dead mother. It seems to take the wisdom of women for men of religion to understand the message of God, or the path to enlightenment in this case. I find this to be very significant in my mind, that men may not have been able to reach their goals without women’s assistance. According to Lalitavistara, his dead mother Mahamaya then came to him in a vision and urged him to try a middle path between this extreme asceticism and the princely life of pleasure (Fisher, 98).
It was not surprising that women wanted to join Buddha’s mendicant order, after learning what Buddhism is all about. Buddha refused three times before Ananda interceded for the women and pleaded their worthiness for the path, and then Buddha accepted with the condition of Eight Special Rules placed upon them. There is debate on why Buddha refused women. Was it because the Buddha wanted to protect the women from the harsh life of a mendicant? Or was he worried the women would distract the men from their path? Either way this was a big step for women in Buddhism. To allow them the freedom of moving through the countryside independently as wandering mendicants, forsaking any family responsibilities, was already such a revolutionary step that the restrictions were perhaps placed on them to make their new status more acceptable both to monks and to society at large (Fisher, 102). This statement makes sense but I don’t know if I believe that the Buddha would impose these rules on women just for the sake of others being accepting of the change of women’s status. Some of the Eight Rules were insulting to read such as: a nun should salute a monk and rise before him. This rule makes women visibly subordinate to men. It would be insulting to me if I were told I must salute and rise before my male peers.
Visakha, the intelligent, wealthy mother of a merchant family supported the Sangha financially and gave the Buddha advice about managing the lives of the monastic. I was surprised to learn of this woman, in a time when women were totally under men’s control and protection, was able to give advice to the Buddha, and have him listen. I was also interested in reading the following excerpt from Young’s text on page 311, “Dependence on others is the great suffering, self-dependence is the highest bliss; yet, when born in the race of Manu, all females are dependent on others.” Why are women dependent on others? Because they are forced to be or because of biological characteristics that cause them to be dependent?
Before this course I was not aware of most of the treatment of women, and roles of women in religion. It was not surprising to me to learn that women were and continue to be oppressed in religion because society views women as a lesser class of humans. I did gain encouragement from the special women I read of in each religion that were able to push through the boundaries and limits placed on them and become an inspiration to other women. It seems women were given a great injustice by being labeled as sinful, or impure, or lesser because of Eve, or possibly because of one “bad” woman in history. Despite all the negative information I read on women in religion, I am proud to be a women. Through all the religions we have studied one main theme took place and that was that women are the source of wisdom, fertility, and the back bone of all religions. That is my opinion after all I learned in this course.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich was born in Greifswalk, Swedish Pomerania, on the Baltic Sea in 1798. His father was a strict Lutheran candle-maker and soap boiler. His mother died when Friedrich was seven. At the age of thirteen, he witnessed his brother fall through the ice of a frozen lake and drown. His sister died in 1782, while his second sister succumbed to typhus in 1791.
In 1790, Friedrich studied art with Johann Gottfried Quistorp at the University of Greifswald. In 1794, Friedrich entered the Academy of Copenhagen, concentrating solely on understanding the intricacies of 'landscape painting.' In 1798 Friedrich moved to Dresden, the German center of the 'Romantic Movement'. His work was mainly naturalistic and topographical, with India ink, watercolor and sepia ink. Landscapes were his preferred subject. In 1801 he began taking trips to the Baltic coast, Bohemia, the Riesen Mountains and the Harz Mountains. “The subtle atmospheric effects characteristic of Friedrich's maturity were rendered from memory. These effects would eventually be most concerned with the depiction of light, of the illumination of sun and moon on clouds and water, optical phenomena specific to the Baltic coast and that had never before been painted (www.caspardavidfriedrich.org, 2010).” Friedrich was gifted as an observer and interpreter of landscape, “he was particularly adept at expressing nature through the eyes of a pious believer, ‘The divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand’, he wrote (Gifford, K., 2010)”.
Friedrich produced his first major painting, The Cross in the Mountains, now known as The Tetschen Altar, at the age of 34. This painting was of an altarpiece panel which depicted a crucified Christ in the midst of natural surroundings. This painting became a trendsetter because it was the first time an altarpiece was painted with a landscape. Friedrich’s friends were said to have publicly defended him against critics whom rejected this painting. Friedrich wrote a program providing his interpretation of the picture. His commentary on the painting “compared the rays of the evening sun to the light of the Holy Father. That the sun is sinking suggests that the time when God reveals himself directly to man is past (www.caspardavidfriedrich.org, 2010).” Least known of Friedrich’s works are his small and surprisingly sunny scenes. Friedrich had an interest in clouds and studied them often, which you can see in many of his paintings. Friedrich brought a new way of seeing landscape to Romanticism. Even though snow in paintings was not a new idea, Friedrich saw it differently than other artists before him, “close to silent death or miraculous rebirth, never as a rococo confectioner’s seasonal sugaring (caspardavidfriedrich.org, 2010).”
Another work of Friedrich’s was “Abbey under Oak Trees.” This painting was centered on a death scene. During the time he painted this, Friedrich’s work was of a Mysticism style with a mixture of Realism and Romanticism. In his landscape paintings inconsequential figures seem contemplative, enamored by the vastness of nature, and transfixed in its enigma. In his painting, “Monk by the Sea,” a lonely figure is painted alone on the shore of the open sea.
Megaliths, as symbols in the landscape, were significant and meaningful to many Romantic painters and poets. Megaliths are large stone structures or monuments, possibly used for burial. In Germany, paintings with megaliths as a motive gradually increased during the first half of the nineteenth century, and peaked just after Friedrich's death then pretty much ended around 1870. Megaliths make perfect expressions of Romantic melancholy as well as symbols of human vanity and death.
Nostalgia and sentimentalism were a common characteristic of German Romanticism. Subjective feelings and emotions, sensual and bodily experiences were emphasized against reason, science, and authority. Romanticism was a revolution against the optimistic Enlightenment idea of humans being more powerful than nature and the belief that reason would overcome. The Romantic Movement rejected the 18th century’s orderly imposition on nature. Romanticism preferred the wide open wildernesses of an indifferent and unpredictable nature with endless forests, towering clouds, and deafening waterfalls from icy giant peaks (Hunt, 2006).
Friedrich’s Chalk Cliffs on Fügen portrays the immensity of incredible nature away from human pretense and small achievements. Vertical white jagged cliffs polarize the flat horizontality of the blue sea where tiny boats float unaware of their frailty. A few humans point or crawl to the edge of the abyss peering down dizzy drops they cannot possibly go. The far ocean stretches to the highest edge of the canvas. The oceans that once beckoned to explorers, now look deep and daunting (Hunt, 2006).
The recognition of Friedrich as an artist began with an 1805 prize at a Weimar competition. On January 21, 1818, Friedrich married Caroline Bommer, the daughter of a dyer from Dresden. The couple had three children. Friedrich’s canvasses from this period had female figures, the palettes were brighter, and the symmetry and soberness were lessened. Chalk Cliffs on Rügen was painted after his honeymoon, which is a good example of his change in style. After marriage, Friedrich incorporated larger figures into his canvasses. The subject of The Woman at the Window is the artist’s wife.
In June 1835, Friedrich suffered a stroke that caused partial limb paralysis. After the stroke his ability to paint was reduced to only painting in water color and sepia, and symbols of death appeared frequently in his work. By 1838, he was almost incapable of artistic work. He died in 1840.
With Romantic art, the artists were allowed and encouraged to express their raw emotions in their art. This is true with Friedrich. In his early paintings he revealed his curiosity in clouds, passion for nature landscapes, and mystery through his dawn or dusk illuminations. When he met his wife, his paintings seemed to show more feminine figures. After his stroke, he portrayed morbid, despair, and death in his paintings. Friedrich experienced so much tragedy early on in life, it is no wonder he was such a great romantic artist.
References
Caspardavidfriedrich.org. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.caspardavidfriedrich.org/biography.html
Eisler, Colin. (2010). Gothic Romantics: Caspar David Friedrich and His Following. Retrieved from http://www.artchive.com/artchive/F/friedrich.html
Gifford, Katya. (22 May 2010). Caspar David Friedrich. Retrieved from http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=r&p=a&a=i&ID=812
Hunt, Patrick. (2006). Goya, Friedrich and Romanticism: Reification of Nature. Retrieved from http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2006/04/goya_friedrich_and_romanticism_1.html
Labedzki, Annette. (2010). The German Romantic Landscape Painter – Caspar David
Friedrich. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-German-Romantic-Landscape-Painter---Caspar-David-Friedrich&id=131704
In 1790, Friedrich studied art with Johann Gottfried Quistorp at the University of Greifswald. In 1794, Friedrich entered the Academy of Copenhagen, concentrating solely on understanding the intricacies of 'landscape painting.' In 1798 Friedrich moved to Dresden, the German center of the 'Romantic Movement'. His work was mainly naturalistic and topographical, with India ink, watercolor and sepia ink. Landscapes were his preferred subject. In 1801 he began taking trips to the Baltic coast, Bohemia, the Riesen Mountains and the Harz Mountains. “The subtle atmospheric effects characteristic of Friedrich's maturity were rendered from memory. These effects would eventually be most concerned with the depiction of light, of the illumination of sun and moon on clouds and water, optical phenomena specific to the Baltic coast and that had never before been painted (www.caspardavidfriedrich.org, 2010).” Friedrich was gifted as an observer and interpreter of landscape, “he was particularly adept at expressing nature through the eyes of a pious believer, ‘The divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand’, he wrote (Gifford, K., 2010)”.
Friedrich produced his first major painting, The Cross in the Mountains, now known as The Tetschen Altar, at the age of 34. This painting was of an altarpiece panel which depicted a crucified Christ in the midst of natural surroundings. This painting became a trendsetter because it was the first time an altarpiece was painted with a landscape. Friedrich’s friends were said to have publicly defended him against critics whom rejected this painting. Friedrich wrote a program providing his interpretation of the picture. His commentary on the painting “compared the rays of the evening sun to the light of the Holy Father. That the sun is sinking suggests that the time when God reveals himself directly to man is past (www.caspardavidfriedrich.org, 2010).” Least known of Friedrich’s works are his small and surprisingly sunny scenes. Friedrich had an interest in clouds and studied them often, which you can see in many of his paintings. Friedrich brought a new way of seeing landscape to Romanticism. Even though snow in paintings was not a new idea, Friedrich saw it differently than other artists before him, “close to silent death or miraculous rebirth, never as a rococo confectioner’s seasonal sugaring (caspardavidfriedrich.org, 2010).”
Another work of Friedrich’s was “Abbey under Oak Trees.” This painting was centered on a death scene. During the time he painted this, Friedrich’s work was of a Mysticism style with a mixture of Realism and Romanticism. In his landscape paintings inconsequential figures seem contemplative, enamored by the vastness of nature, and transfixed in its enigma. In his painting, “Monk by the Sea,” a lonely figure is painted alone on the shore of the open sea.
Megaliths, as symbols in the landscape, were significant and meaningful to many Romantic painters and poets. Megaliths are large stone structures or monuments, possibly used for burial. In Germany, paintings with megaliths as a motive gradually increased during the first half of the nineteenth century, and peaked just after Friedrich's death then pretty much ended around 1870. Megaliths make perfect expressions of Romantic melancholy as well as symbols of human vanity and death.
Nostalgia and sentimentalism were a common characteristic of German Romanticism. Subjective feelings and emotions, sensual and bodily experiences were emphasized against reason, science, and authority. Romanticism was a revolution against the optimistic Enlightenment idea of humans being more powerful than nature and the belief that reason would overcome. The Romantic Movement rejected the 18th century’s orderly imposition on nature. Romanticism preferred the wide open wildernesses of an indifferent and unpredictable nature with endless forests, towering clouds, and deafening waterfalls from icy giant peaks (Hunt, 2006).
Friedrich’s Chalk Cliffs on Fügen portrays the immensity of incredible nature away from human pretense and small achievements. Vertical white jagged cliffs polarize the flat horizontality of the blue sea where tiny boats float unaware of their frailty. A few humans point or crawl to the edge of the abyss peering down dizzy drops they cannot possibly go. The far ocean stretches to the highest edge of the canvas. The oceans that once beckoned to explorers, now look deep and daunting (Hunt, 2006).
The recognition of Friedrich as an artist began with an 1805 prize at a Weimar competition. On January 21, 1818, Friedrich married Caroline Bommer, the daughter of a dyer from Dresden. The couple had three children. Friedrich’s canvasses from this period had female figures, the palettes were brighter, and the symmetry and soberness were lessened. Chalk Cliffs on Rügen was painted after his honeymoon, which is a good example of his change in style. After marriage, Friedrich incorporated larger figures into his canvasses. The subject of The Woman at the Window is the artist’s wife.
In June 1835, Friedrich suffered a stroke that caused partial limb paralysis. After the stroke his ability to paint was reduced to only painting in water color and sepia, and symbols of death appeared frequently in his work. By 1838, he was almost incapable of artistic work. He died in 1840.
With Romantic art, the artists were allowed and encouraged to express their raw emotions in their art. This is true with Friedrich. In his early paintings he revealed his curiosity in clouds, passion for nature landscapes, and mystery through his dawn or dusk illuminations. When he met his wife, his paintings seemed to show more feminine figures. After his stroke, he portrayed morbid, despair, and death in his paintings. Friedrich experienced so much tragedy early on in life, it is no wonder he was such a great romantic artist.
References
Caspardavidfriedrich.org. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.caspardavidfriedrich.org/biography.html
Eisler, Colin. (2010). Gothic Romantics: Caspar David Friedrich and His Following. Retrieved from http://www.artchive.com/artchive/F/friedrich.html
Gifford, Katya. (22 May 2010). Caspar David Friedrich. Retrieved from http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=r&p=a&a=i&ID=812
Hunt, Patrick. (2006). Goya, Friedrich and Romanticism: Reification of Nature. Retrieved from http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2006/04/goya_friedrich_and_romanticism_1.html
Labedzki, Annette. (2010). The German Romantic Landscape Painter – Caspar David
Friedrich. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-German-Romantic-Landscape-Painter---Caspar-David-Friedrich&id=131704
Neo-Romanticism
Internationally acclaimed artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude spent more than 40 years creating highly celebrated works of art across the globe. Together this unique, dynamic married couple changed the concept of “public art” by creating temporary works that are truly transitory by design. I chose this art because it struck me as uniquely current day Romanticism. The fact that the artists do not charge for viewing of their art, shows characteristics. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have never accepted, nor will Christo accept in the future, any subsidies, royalties, grants, or sponsorships of any kind for their temporary public works of art. Similarly, the artists do not make any endorsements of businesses, products, political movements, other artists, or anything else. All of the artists’ income is comes from the sale of original works of art by Christo to private collectors, galleries and museums. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have always maintained a position of total artistic freedom, with no constraints or financial considerations imposed upon their works of art by any outside party. This is what reminds me of romanticism. The artists’ goal has always been to create works of art of joy and beauty, without charging any viewing fees.
Christo and I believe that labels are very important, but for bottles of wine, not for artists, and we usually don’t like to put a label on our art. If one is absolutely necessary, then it would be environmental artists because we work in both the rural and the urban environment.
One of the primary roles that Christo and Jeanne-Claude assumed in creating The Gas is helping the world to see in new or innovative ways, as with almost all of their work. Their artwork is designed to transform our experience of the world, jar us out of our complacencey and create new ways for us to see and think aout the world around us. (A world of Art, Ch1, Part 1, P4).
In my opinion Christo and Jeanne-Claude are neo-romantics in that they make their art in nature, the real world, and then paint it or use photography. They do not conform to average artists’ ways of using what is in front of them; they create their art and then record it. They seem to be so much more involved in their art and encourage others to be involved in their art. In the following picture of a 1800s painting, there are many similarities. The most important, is the feeling that is brought out in the pictures.
References:
Sayre, Henry M. (2010). A World of Art. Custom Edition for University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Pearson Learning Solutions.
Christo and I believe that labels are very important, but for bottles of wine, not for artists, and we usually don’t like to put a label on our art. If one is absolutely necessary, then it would be environmental artists because we work in both the rural and the urban environment.
One of the primary roles that Christo and Jeanne-Claude assumed in creating The Gas is helping the world to see in new or innovative ways, as with almost all of their work. Their artwork is designed to transform our experience of the world, jar us out of our complacencey and create new ways for us to see and think aout the world around us. (A world of Art, Ch1, Part 1, P4).
In my opinion Christo and Jeanne-Claude are neo-romantics in that they make their art in nature, the real world, and then paint it or use photography. They do not conform to average artists’ ways of using what is in front of them; they create their art and then record it. They seem to be so much more involved in their art and encourage others to be involved in their art. In the following picture of a 1800s painting, there are many similarities. The most important, is the feeling that is brought out in the pictures.
References:
Sayre, Henry M. (2010). A World of Art. Custom Edition for University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Pearson Learning Solutions.
Roots of Romanticism
Romantics were about feeling, passion, being unique, and expressing one’s self in raw emotion. Romantics reacted against all movements before them. Romantics reacted against uniformity, conformity, need for only reason and logic. I can see how the Scientific Revolution was the main force against which Romantics were reacting because the Scientific Revolution was cold and scientific. The scientific revolution doubted the middle ages beliefs. The Romantics may have approved of going against societies automatic acceptance of ignorant beliefs, but the scientific method used to discover the truth went against the grain of the Romantics. Romantics were against rationalizing nature as in the Scientific Revolution.
During the industrial revolution, Romantics were concerned with individualism. Byron in literature and Beethoven in music are both examples of romantic individualism. The most influential exemplar of individualism was Napoleon Bonaparte. He dramatically rose to the head of France in the chaotic wake of its bloody revolution, led his army to a series of triumphs in Europe to build an influential Empire, and created new styles, tastes, and even laws with disregard for public opinion. He was the inspiration for authors like Dostoyevsky (Brians, 1998).
Classicism, I would have thought would have been the main force against which Romantics were reacting. Classicism seemed to me like the most unfeeling and conformed. Classicism was about form, simplicity, proportion, and restrained emotion. Nothing in Classicism resembles Romanticism. Shakespeare disregarded structural models of Greek drama and exploited freely the supernatural elements of folk legend. Romanticism legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art. Neoclassicism was seen as decorous imitation of classical models, which were on their own dull, by the Romantics. The Raft of the Medusa (Theodore Gericault) represents a break from the calm and order of the then-prevailing neoclassical school.
While Enlightenment was against rigidity of social structures protecting privilege, it was focused on reason and intellect. Romantics would relate with allowing a diverse acceptance of religion, although Enlightenment was more against Christianity rather than tolerant of it and wanting Christians to be tolerant of their religious beliefs. Romantics rejected Enlightenment as mechanical, impersonal, and artificial. William Blake’s writings are an example of anti-Enlightenment in the 1970’s.
Rationalism was reacted against because once again it was about logic and reasoning instead of emotion. Philip James De Loutherbourg portrayed nature overcoming human in An Avalanche in the Alps, 1803.
Brians, Paul. Romanticism. 1998. Retrieved on September 17, 2010..
During the industrial revolution, Romantics were concerned with individualism. Byron in literature and Beethoven in music are both examples of romantic individualism. The most influential exemplar of individualism was Napoleon Bonaparte. He dramatically rose to the head of France in the chaotic wake of its bloody revolution, led his army to a series of triumphs in Europe to build an influential Empire, and created new styles, tastes, and even laws with disregard for public opinion. He was the inspiration for authors like Dostoyevsky (Brians, 1998).
Classicism, I would have thought would have been the main force against which Romantics were reacting. Classicism seemed to me like the most unfeeling and conformed. Classicism was about form, simplicity, proportion, and restrained emotion. Nothing in Classicism resembles Romanticism. Shakespeare disregarded structural models of Greek drama and exploited freely the supernatural elements of folk legend. Romanticism legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art. Neoclassicism was seen as decorous imitation of classical models, which were on their own dull, by the Romantics. The Raft of the Medusa (Theodore Gericault) represents a break from the calm and order of the then-prevailing neoclassical school.
While Enlightenment was against rigidity of social structures protecting privilege, it was focused on reason and intellect. Romantics would relate with allowing a diverse acceptance of religion, although Enlightenment was more against Christianity rather than tolerant of it and wanting Christians to be tolerant of their religious beliefs. Romantics rejected Enlightenment as mechanical, impersonal, and artificial. William Blake’s writings are an example of anti-Enlightenment in the 1970’s.
Rationalism was reacted against because once again it was about logic and reasoning instead of emotion. Philip James De Loutherbourg portrayed nature overcoming human in An Avalanche in the Alps, 1803.
Brians, Paul. Romanticism. 1998. Retrieved on September 17, 2010.
American vs. European Romanticism
In America there was no extreme reformist tendency to introduce the kind of conspiratorial socialism that emerged in Europe. Instead, Romanticism in America took its own particular style from the strong legacy of 17th century rebellious Puritanism, a severe Calvinist form of Protestantism. American Romantics developed a philosophy of individualism with the unique American frontier. American colonists felt a sense of sacredness in the new land. James Fenimore Cooper idealized the self-reliance of frontier culture in historical romances like The Last of the Mohicans (1826). Moby Dick by Herman Melville reflected a moral ambiguity in the American soul- a conflict between pioneering free will and the “mystical blackness” of Puritan doctrine. (Boreham & Heath. 2002).
American Romanticism was more about individualism and social relevance in that everyone should have a chance to maximize one’s own worth. With Emerson looking inward to find divine essence, which he claims we all share in common, and Emily Dickinson not going “public” by publishing her verse, American Romanticism is distinctly different from European in each artist. American Romanticism evolved from a frontier that promised opportunity for expansion, growth, freedom, Europe lacked this element. The spirit of optimism invoked by the promise of an uncharted frontier was portrayed in many paintings of American Romanticism. Immigration to America brought new cultures and perspectives to the American Romanticism. Growth of industry in the north that further polarized the north and the agrarian South and search for new spiritual roots influenced the American Romanticism and made it distinctly different from European Romanticism.
Although America did not have the ruins of a classical civilization or an intellectual heritage comparable to Europe’s, it did have a wilderness more primeval than anywhere in Europe, or at least it did for a while. In painting, Romantic art returned to the idealized landscape, but not the landscape of classical civilizations. Instead, painters like Bierstadt, Church, and Moran used their keen observations of the West to transform it into the promised land of America
Bierstadt’s paintings of the Rockies or Moran’s portrayals of the geological wonders of the west depict the American landscape in primeval majesty which transports the spectator to a virgin land of nearly prehistoric character. Almost every landscape painting done by these artists lacks any sign of human civilization, European or other, and instead focuses solely on the primacy of the landscape. To the artists, the admiration of nature was merely technique; they wished to convey the impressions of the wilderness.
The one artist that seems to be unique from European romanticism and that would be Emily Dickinson. She is the true definition of Transcendentalism. She was being true to herself and being an individual at all costs, as opposed to conforming to a world of followers. Keeping Dickinson's famous reclusivity in mind, one could say that in her lifetime she was neither a leader nor a follower. Dickinson never tied herself to a specific school of thought or philosophy, she was simply herself. Dickinson spent the latter part of her life as a recluse, due to an extremely sensitive psyche and possibly to make time for writing (for stretches of time she wrote about one poem a day). Her day also included homemaking for her attorney father, a prominent figure in Amherst who became a member of Congress. She sometimes shows a terrifying existential awareness. Like Poe, she explores the dark and hidden part of the mind, dramatizing death and the grave. Yet she also celebrated simple objects – a flower, a bee. Her poetry exhibits great intelligence and often evokes the agonizing paradox of the limits of the human consciousness trapped in time. Her wit shines in the following poem (288), which ridicules ambition and public life:
References
Boreham & Heath. (2002). Introducing Romanticism.
The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Essayists and Poets Fresh new vision electrified artistic and intellectual circles. (03 May 2008). Retrieved from http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080512215714eaifas0.1850855.html
Strickland, Dr. Brad. American Romanticism Overview. (1997). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/AMERICAN%20ROMANTICISM%20overview.htm
Reuben, Paul P. American Transcendentalism: A Brief Introduction Ch 4. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. Retrieved from http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/4intro.html
Johns, Joshua. (1996). A Brief History of Nature and the American Consciousness
Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/nature/cap2.html
American Romanticism was more about individualism and social relevance in that everyone should have a chance to maximize one’s own worth. With Emerson looking inward to find divine essence, which he claims we all share in common, and Emily Dickinson not going “public” by publishing her verse, American Romanticism is distinctly different from European in each artist. American Romanticism evolved from a frontier that promised opportunity for expansion, growth, freedom, Europe lacked this element. The spirit of optimism invoked by the promise of an uncharted frontier was portrayed in many paintings of American Romanticism. Immigration to America brought new cultures and perspectives to the American Romanticism. Growth of industry in the north that further polarized the north and the agrarian South and search for new spiritual roots influenced the American Romanticism and made it distinctly different from European Romanticism.
Although America did not have the ruins of a classical civilization or an intellectual heritage comparable to Europe’s, it did have a wilderness more primeval than anywhere in Europe, or at least it did for a while. In painting, Romantic art returned to the idealized landscape, but not the landscape of classical civilizations. Instead, painters like Bierstadt, Church, and Moran used their keen observations of the West to transform it into the promised land of America
Bierstadt’s paintings of the Rockies or Moran’s portrayals of the geological wonders of the west depict the American landscape in primeval majesty which transports the spectator to a virgin land of nearly prehistoric character. Almost every landscape painting done by these artists lacks any sign of human civilization, European or other, and instead focuses solely on the primacy of the landscape. To the artists, the admiration of nature was merely technique; they wished to convey the impressions of the wilderness.
The one artist that seems to be unique from European romanticism and that would be Emily Dickinson. She is the true definition of Transcendentalism. She was being true to herself and being an individual at all costs, as opposed to conforming to a world of followers. Keeping Dickinson's famous reclusivity in mind, one could say that in her lifetime she was neither a leader nor a follower. Dickinson never tied herself to a specific school of thought or philosophy, she was simply herself. Dickinson spent the latter part of her life as a recluse, due to an extremely sensitive psyche and possibly to make time for writing (for stretches of time she wrote about one poem a day). Her day also included homemaking for her attorney father, a prominent figure in Amherst who became a member of Congress. She sometimes shows a terrifying existential awareness. Like Poe, she explores the dark and hidden part of the mind, dramatizing death and the grave. Yet she also celebrated simple objects – a flower, a bee. Her poetry exhibits great intelligence and often evokes the agonizing paradox of the limits of the human consciousness trapped in time. Her wit shines in the following poem (288), which ridicules ambition and public life:
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – Too?
Then there's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you
know!
How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one's name – the livelong
June –
To an admiring Bog!
References
Boreham & Heath. (2002). Introducing Romanticism.
The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Essayists and Poets Fresh new vision electrified artistic and intellectual circles. (03 May 2008). Retrieved from http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080512215714eaifas0.1850855.html
Strickland, Dr. Brad. American Romanticism Overview. (1997). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/AMERICAN%20ROMANTICISM%20overview.htm
Reuben, Paul P. American Transcendentalism: A Brief Introduction Ch 4. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. Retrieved from http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/4intro.html
Johns, Joshua. (1996). A Brief History of Nature and the American Consciousness
Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/nature/cap2.html
Women in Christianity
Women have been affirmed or empowered in Christianity and also, restricted and controlled in Christianity. The Jesus Movement began with a virginal Jewish woman who was visited by the Holy Spirit. She became pregnant before her marriage to Joseph. “According to the New Testament of Christian Bible: an angel appeared to her with news that she would conceive outside her marriage, to be called Jesus, a child whom God would give the throne of David- the great King of the Jews,” (Fisher, 188). While virginal births are not uncommon, nor is Christianity the first to have a virginal birth in their religion, Mary’s conception and Jesus’ birth shows an important example of Christianity’s affirmation or empowerment of women. The Christian bible includes Mary’s conception. The movement was unique in that Christianity accepted all levels of society, especially those considered unclean by Jewish temple priests and Rabbis. This is the first religion we have studied in this class that seems to see all followers as equal. “Women had been considered impure because of their bleeding during menstruation and childbirth and were thought of as possessions of men, (Fisher, 188).” This is also restated on page 188 in Women in Religion, Jesus referred to them as “poor” and invited them to eat together at the same table in a community that excluded no one from God’s grace and recognized not hierarchy.
Women were involved in the Jesus Movement despite the surrounding male dominant society. “Significantly, it was women who dared to stay with Jesus during the crucifixion, attempted to tend his body in the tomb, and first witnessed his resurrection.” (Fisher, 194) These must have been very strong women. Women were the majority of Jesus’ followers and supporters and stood by him during the crucifixion when even the men were too frightened, or ignorant. Page 191 of Fisher’s book tells of Jesus’ women visiting his tomb, and that Mary Magdalene is said to have seen Jesus, along with other women, after the Crucifixion. Yet when the women told their men, they were not believed because the men’s religion discounts women’s credibility as witnesses. Later the men see for themselves that the women were correct. This must have been frustrating for the women of that time. To be brushed off like that when something so important had happened!
The story of the Samaria woman on page 193 of Women in Religion, who asks Jesus why he would ask her to give him a drink of water describes of how Jesus, a teacher, spoke about theology with a woman, which shows that Jesus saw women no differently to men. Jesus was criticized when the sisters of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil to prepare him for death. (Fisher, 193) I don’t know if this was criticism of the expensive oils more than the women taking care of Jesus, or not? Either way, it is a great example of the roles women played in the Jesus Movement.
“Early Christianity opened counter-cultural roles for women, but these were gradually withdrawn from the second to fifth centuries” (Fisher, 194). Apostle Paul, the most influential figure in the shaping of what became Christianity, writings marked a shift away from the egalitarian impetus of the Jesus Movement toward a more hierarchical, institutional faith. Paul proposed many restrictions on women in Christianity such as, women should be silent in churches, should not teach or have authority over man, and women were to keep their place at the bottom of the order of Creation. “Thus women are to be submissive to men because they were created last and because they brought the downfall of humanity by their susceptibility to deception and sin. Their only hope of redemption is through faithfully carrying on the traditional role of motherhood” (Fisher, 199).
I believe the main reason for the double emphasis that has run throughout Christian religious history is due to society. “Generally these movements challenge the norms of their society and when the founder dies, in order to survive, the movement usually modifies its more radical views and begins to conform to their society’s practices, especially with regard to women” (Serinity, 41). This statement mirrors my own opinion on why there is contradiction in the history of Christianity. I read a statement on page 42 of Anthology of Sacred Texts By and About Women which stated, “While for both Luther and Calvin women and men were spiritual equals, they also believed that woman’s subordination to men was ordained at the time of creation and must be maintained in order to fulfill God’s will.” How can men and women be equal with women being forced to be subordinate to men? The whole statement contradicts itself! Unless, they meant that men and women are equal but for society’s sake, women must appear to be less than men.
Women were involved in the Jesus Movement despite the surrounding male dominant society. “Significantly, it was women who dared to stay with Jesus during the crucifixion, attempted to tend his body in the tomb, and first witnessed his resurrection.” (Fisher, 194) These must have been very strong women. Women were the majority of Jesus’ followers and supporters and stood by him during the crucifixion when even the men were too frightened, or ignorant. Page 191 of Fisher’s book tells of Jesus’ women visiting his tomb, and that Mary Magdalene is said to have seen Jesus, along with other women, after the Crucifixion. Yet when the women told their men, they were not believed because the men’s religion discounts women’s credibility as witnesses. Later the men see for themselves that the women were correct. This must have been frustrating for the women of that time. To be brushed off like that when something so important had happened!
The story of the Samaria woman on page 193 of Women in Religion, who asks Jesus why he would ask her to give him a drink of water describes of how Jesus, a teacher, spoke about theology with a woman, which shows that Jesus saw women no differently to men. Jesus was criticized when the sisters of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil to prepare him for death. (Fisher, 193) I don’t know if this was criticism of the expensive oils more than the women taking care of Jesus, or not? Either way, it is a great example of the roles women played in the Jesus Movement.
“Early Christianity opened counter-cultural roles for women, but these were gradually withdrawn from the second to fifth centuries” (Fisher, 194). Apostle Paul, the most influential figure in the shaping of what became Christianity, writings marked a shift away from the egalitarian impetus of the Jesus Movement toward a more hierarchical, institutional faith. Paul proposed many restrictions on women in Christianity such as, women should be silent in churches, should not teach or have authority over man, and women were to keep their place at the bottom of the order of Creation. “Thus women are to be submissive to men because they were created last and because they brought the downfall of humanity by their susceptibility to deception and sin. Their only hope of redemption is through faithfully carrying on the traditional role of motherhood” (Fisher, 199).
I believe the main reason for the double emphasis that has run throughout Christian religious history is due to society. “Generally these movements challenge the norms of their society and when the founder dies, in order to survive, the movement usually modifies its more radical views and begins to conform to their society’s practices, especially with regard to women” (Serinity, 41). This statement mirrors my own opinion on why there is contradiction in the history of Christianity. I read a statement on page 42 of Anthology of Sacred Texts By and About Women which stated, “While for both Luther and Calvin women and men were spiritual equals, they also believed that woman’s subordination to men was ordained at the time of creation and must be maintained in order to fulfill God’s will.” How can men and women be equal with women being forced to be subordinate to men? The whole statement contradicts itself! Unless, they meant that men and women are equal but for society’s sake, women must appear to be less than men.
Women in Religion
The positive role of mothering was discussed in the first chapter of Women in Religion. Mary Pat Fisher explains that this role is important and positive for the child as well as the mother. The mother teaches her child to learn to love and the child learns spiritual lessons through the mother and grandmother. The mother grows spiritually through having a child with the deep, unselfish love involved in mothering a child. The role of protecting an infant from hostile environments, nurturing, and comforting the baby, are part of the mothering role. I enjoyed reading the statement from page 18, “The insights that occur naturally in the course of mothering are the need to give oneself completely to the physical and spiritual care of the infant, the need to know by empathetic understanding, the need to endure self-discipline, the need to accept the child’s development through trial and error, the necessity of letting go.” This statement really touched me as a mother. There is something profoundly beautiful about the mothering role. There is something special about the way a mother has an empathetic understanding towards her children. Self-discipline is essential to mothering, in disciplining one’s self to sleep on a different schedule, put the children’s needs first, and the patience that mothering takes. On page 15, Mary Pat Fisher writes that women play an important role in rituals that giving meaning to major life events or changes. This is a positive role in helping the family through difficult times such as deaths and illnesses, and to celebrate births, marriages, and coming into adulthood (Fisher, 15-18).
Mary Pat Fisher also discussed some of the minor, yet equally important roles that women play in religion such as cleaning the holy places, lighting candles, preparing the food, teaching the children, and visiting shrines to pray for their families. Although these tasks seem mundane, they are also important and must be done. A woman is naturally given the instinct, in most cases, to care for others and with these tasks; a woman is doing simply what she knows and excels at. Of course, this may not be true for all women, but many are content to take on this role.
Mary also speaks of women as Mystics, “or women who have followed an inner calling to communicate directly with the unseen” (Fisher, 20). She speaks of an enlightenment or deep spiritual awakening coming from an illness or difficulty. These women were most times viewed as evil, witches, and were misunderstood and feared by men. This seems to shed a darkness on something that is meant to be positive. A woman performing spiritual services, in my opinion should be viewed as positive and encouraged. In some cases, women were honored as shamans, oracles or gurus for their spiritual services.
From what I read in the book, women’s religious experiences have not been proven to be different from men. Society has put labels on women, and demanded women to be submissive and nurturing, which allows for the assumption that women are not capable of equal religious experience as men. Religious institutions mirror existing social patters of control of women by men. This leaves women to be expected to be submissive and dependent. The subject of a women’s body also hinders a women’s ability to fully experience religion in a man’s view. A woman’s menstruation being seen as shameful and polluted, along with the view of a born-nurturer can not live the life of a religious being. In some instances or certain religions women were made to cover their bodies and sometimes even their faces to keep from distracting men from their religious path. A question that entered my mind during this reading was: Why is it that because men desire women’s body, it seems we are punished and excluded from men’s roles and territory in the church when it is their thinking that turns to something sinful at the sight of a women?
The book states that women relate to objects and people in a direct and subjective manner, while men relate to things and people less easily and in an objective manner and abstract in approach to the world. It also states that under stress men are more likely to react with a flight or fight response where as women have a more chemical reaction where estrogen and oxytocin is released and they tend to be more caring and befriending. I don’t understand how this relates to how religious experiences differ from men and women. It was interesting to learn about these differences in men and women although; I did not see a connection to ability of religious experience. I believe that Mary Fisher is accurate in her assessments and descriptions of women’s religious experiences. I do not know much about the current women’s religious experience but it sounds correct to me after reading the chapter. I believe that it does not hinder a person from experiencing a full religious experience by gender or limited roles in the religious community.
Mary Pat Fisher also discussed some of the minor, yet equally important roles that women play in religion such as cleaning the holy places, lighting candles, preparing the food, teaching the children, and visiting shrines to pray for their families. Although these tasks seem mundane, they are also important and must be done. A woman is naturally given the instinct, in most cases, to care for others and with these tasks; a woman is doing simply what she knows and excels at. Of course, this may not be true for all women, but many are content to take on this role.
Mary also speaks of women as Mystics, “or women who have followed an inner calling to communicate directly with the unseen” (Fisher, 20). She speaks of an enlightenment or deep spiritual awakening coming from an illness or difficulty. These women were most times viewed as evil, witches, and were misunderstood and feared by men. This seems to shed a darkness on something that is meant to be positive. A woman performing spiritual services, in my opinion should be viewed as positive and encouraged. In some cases, women were honored as shamans, oracles or gurus for their spiritual services.
From what I read in the book, women’s religious experiences have not been proven to be different from men. Society has put labels on women, and demanded women to be submissive and nurturing, which allows for the assumption that women are not capable of equal religious experience as men. Religious institutions mirror existing social patters of control of women by men. This leaves women to be expected to be submissive and dependent. The subject of a women’s body also hinders a women’s ability to fully experience religion in a man’s view. A woman’s menstruation being seen as shameful and polluted, along with the view of a born-nurturer can not live the life of a religious being. In some instances or certain religions women were made to cover their bodies and sometimes even their faces to keep from distracting men from their religious path. A question that entered my mind during this reading was: Why is it that because men desire women’s body, it seems we are punished and excluded from men’s roles and territory in the church when it is their thinking that turns to something sinful at the sight of a women?
The book states that women relate to objects and people in a direct and subjective manner, while men relate to things and people less easily and in an objective manner and abstract in approach to the world. It also states that under stress men are more likely to react with a flight or fight response where as women have a more chemical reaction where estrogen and oxytocin is released and they tend to be more caring and befriending. I don’t understand how this relates to how religious experiences differ from men and women. It was interesting to learn about these differences in men and women although; I did not see a connection to ability of religious experience. I believe that Mary Fisher is accurate in her assessments and descriptions of women’s religious experiences. I do not know much about the current women’s religious experience but it sounds correct to me after reading the chapter. I believe that it does not hinder a person from experiencing a full religious experience by gender or limited roles in the religious community.
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