MSGID: 1:153/716.0 082425c1   
   REPLY: 2:221/6.0 607ef684   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   Hi, Anton!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   AS>> This observation is most excellently demonstrated   
   AS>> in Clark Ashton Smith's prose poem "The Demon, the   
   AS>> Angel, and Beauty":   
   AS>>   
   AS>> http://eldritchdark.com/writings/   
   AS>> prose-poetry-plays/10/print   
      
   AH>> I found it very interesting.   
      
   AS>  I was reminded of it this very Sunday in the State   
   AS>  History Museum, while exploring with my 20x loupe   
   AS>  a 16th-century print of Durer's "Melencholia I", on   
   AS>  expositon from Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo.   
      
      
             Albrecht Durer, 1471-1528.  Once again you piqued my interest   
   because Dallas & I have a copy of "The Little Owl" dated 1508.  :-)   
      
      
      
   AS>  The angel and the putto are both rather gloomy.   
      
      
             I don't know much about visual art in general or about this artist   
   in particular... but I've always thought my owl looked a bit sad & began to   
   wonder upon reading your comments what was going on in Durer's mind.   
      
             Uncle Google tells me the work you're referring to dates back to 1514   
   ... the year the artist's mother died... and it's also widely believed that   
   his arranged marriage was not a happy one.  I see no further evidence of   
   sadness in what I can find on the Internet.  The images there are small,   
   however, and I am aware of other situations in which e.g. the audience   
   wouldn't realize Beethoven was deaf when he wrote his "Ode to Joy" if they   
   hadn't been told.   
      
      
      
   AS>  They have failed to penetrate the secret of Beauty   
   AS>  in spite of all the instruments they have tried to   
   AS>  measure it,   
      
      
                 Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,   
                 Or what's a heaven for?   -- Robert Browning   
      
      
             While I don't think art necessarily has to be beautiful it's   
   probably more attractive to people in general when it comes close at least.    
   In my youth I had a rare opportunity to spend some time alone with an aunt who   
   had received formal training in visual art whereas I was studying music.  We   
   found that many of the terms we used, such as form and texture, were   
   identical.  But being able to discuss the whys & wherefores doesn't turn   
   people into artists or musicians.   
      
      
      
   AS>  for Beauty is God or at least from God.   
      
      
             Summarizing the prose poem you mentioned above:   
      
    1).  The author uses a capital letter... not unusual, based on my observations   
         of poetry & of prayer books written around the same time.  He's uncertain   
         as to whether he ought to say "he", "she", or "it".   
      
    2).  The Demon says "I've never experienced it, and now I doubt it's real."   
      
    3).  The Angel's reply is more thoughtful.  It suggests to me that when I find   
         myself particularly moved by a bit of music... frisson... I am not alone.   
      
      
      
   AS>  It is a Platonic ideal.   
      
      
             I don't know much about philosophy either.  But when I see a photo   
   of the Rocky Mountains &/or drive alongside the Fraser Canyon I understand why   
   the psalmist was moved to say "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from   
   whence cometh my help," and why others believed the gods lived on Mt.   
   Olympus....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
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