One evening when it was warm I took a walk to the shops. It was still daylight and the atmospheric conditions were good. The lighting was that which accompanies the setting of the sun. However, it wasn’t the setting sun that caught my senses, glorious as it may have been, but the quality of the ambient light. It was as if I was looking through a veil.
As I walked home, I found myself thinking about the first line to a Shakespeare sonnet: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (sonnet 18). Much of my preoccupation at the time concerned the sky – particularly writing about it. Within 24 to 48 hours I had drafted three poems about the sky. The feel of the first line of sonnet 18 lead me to write my first line: What is there in all creation…?
The ‘What Is There In All Creation…?’ poem is written in four verses, each verse with an ABBA rhyming form. That is: line 1 rhymes with line 4 and line 2 rhymes with line 3. At the time of composing the poem, I had no knowledge of any other poem written in this style. This knowledge came later.
‘What Is There In All Creation…?
What is there in all creation that can compare to the sky?
She, at times, can be quite calm as well as electrifying
Also, sometimes, conveys sadness and happiness — quite confusing
This is because she is pure and 3 times very high…’
In my videobook, the music that accompanies this poem is J. S. Bach’s Prelude No. 1 from his Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One.
When you look at the sky, what thoughts go through your mind and what feelings do you experience? Could you put words to any of this, or not really? In many respects the sky is nebulous, which implies that it can be described in a multiple of different ways.
And the imagination…
Maybe try this as an exercise:
Go to the sky
Close your eyes momentarily
Open them and write down the first thing that comes to mind
Many years ago on my walks around a large office complex, I felt drawn to look out the windows at the sky. I cannot necessarily put it into words, but it did me good; her other worldliness, her perceivable yet unperceivable character, her secrets and mysteries, her colour spectrum…
In my first poem about the sky, I use a mono-rhythmic tercet scheme:
‘The Sky, The Sky
The sky, the sky in all its many shades of blue
Spectacled scientists tell us it has to be this hue
Approximately eighteen months ago I was checking my emails whilst listening to the radio. One email was from the Globe Theatre in London and I happened to be looking through their linked, online catalogue. The radio station was BBC’s Radio 3 and a musician was talking about their preferred recording of a Wagner composition.
At that time, I had been a Wagner enthusiast for a few years – even seeing part of one of his compositions at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall… A thought occurred to me…: “What would it be like to hear the whole piece performed by German musicians and singers…?”
The CDs
Anyway, back to the ‘lightbulb’ moment. As I was looking through said catalogue and deciding how to use my discount code, floating over the airwaves came Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’. And, almost simultaneously (I think), my eyes landed on the theatre’s ‘Shakespeare Dictionary’. 💡 How about combining the two? This could be a world first: The Ring Cycle written in Shakespearean language!
Anachronisms
On New Year’s Day, 1st January 2022, I officially started the research. I was excited and looking forward to penning the ‘Shakespearean Ring’. I had a couple of German to English translations — good… Simply use the Shakespearean lexicon, etcetera, instead of contemporary English — and everyone will understand… But will they…? Where’s my red marker!
Exeunt The Bard and his contemporaries
Stabreim v Couplet
Wagner’s ‘Ring’ (or ‘The Ring of the Nibelung’ to give you its full title) is a seventeen hour opera. He, himself, sourced various versions of the epic poem, writing and re-writing the text in stabreim. He also composed the music.
Definition of Stabreim: (Ger.). A versification style based on alliteration, common in German and other north European poetry of the early Middle Ages. It was adopted by Wagner when writing his own librettos …
Part 1: The Rhinegold
From left to right by nature’s design
Flows continuously the ready River Rhine
Lighter turquoise evenly spread
Becoming darker towards the bed
Near the floor the water dissipates
Leaving an increasingly breathable state
This vaporific man-sized space
Moves continuously and at apace
Across the floor of the riverbed
Where no man can naturally tread
Are rough rocks and undercurrent tides
And vertical caverns unimaginably wild…
Cleaned up scanned imageCommercial shield Photo lab’s upload portalPrint: Fuji Fine Art Museum Rough 300GSMMeasurementsTemplate ready to cut outPrint cut to templateSticking print to shieldAfter trimming print
The traditional folk song, Scarborough Fair, dates back to Medieval times and refers to an old fair in Scarborough, Yorkshire. The market fair included traders, merchants, entertainers and food vendors, starting from the 14th century until the 18th century. Today, several fairs are held in remembrance of the original.
‘Scarborough Fair’ Lyrics
The lyrics in ‘Scarborough Fair’ are about unrequited love; a man trying to attain his true love. The young man requests impossible tasks from his former lover, saying that if she can perform them, he will take her back. In return, she requests impossible tasks of him, saying she will perform hers when he performs his. In the Middle Ages, the herbs mentioned in the song represented virtues that were important to the lyrics. Parsley was comfort, sage was strength, rosemary was love and thyme was courage.
Simon and Garfunkel’s Version
“Paul Simon learned the song in 1965 while visiting British folk singer Martin Carthy in London. Art Garfunkel adapted the arrangement, integrating elements of another song Simon had written called “Canticle,” which in turn was adapted from yet another Simon song, “The Side of a Hill.””
History of the Folk Song ‘Scarborough Fair’ – LiveAbout
My Version
In my re-imagined/re-composed version and recording of the traditional tune, thought was given to the costume and the videography. During the editing light balance and overall visual appearance were adjusted to convey a dreamlike, fairytale atmosphere. When I was recording the vocals it seemed, at times, as though I was fighting an invisible enemy. This gave my voice a different quality: (a) a sense of weak, youthful innocence similar to a feeling of indolence (Scarborough Fair), (b) a strong, macho/masculine presence similar to a military officer recounting events on a battlefield (Canticle).
Dissertation submitted for the Degree of Photomedia BA (Hons)
Chapter 1 (extract)
The opening paragraph of Chapter 4 will give a taste of some of the meanings and aspects of Christian art and design. The next paragraph will outline what type of analysis the chapter’s images will go under, which Christian ideas, history and principles occur regularly, where Peirce’s semiotics theory connects with the analysis, and how being equipped with the right knowledge can aid personal understanding and experience.
Following this, there will be some pages of essential groundwork necessary to be able to read the photographs, such as the meaning of numbers, shapes, colours, halos and auras.
The first photograph to be analysed is a stained-glass window, which is a panel (perpendicular) tracery design. “Tracery is the term used to describe the varied forms of stone and glass decoration of the window head during the Middle-Ages…” (Dirszlay, 2001:231). Following this, attention will be given to the three scenes depicted in the window with any related Bible references.
The next photograph that will be analysed is one representing the Erpingham Chasuble. After its definition there will be a selection of details concerning what the design and the representation on the front communicates, and who it may have been made for. The last photograph that will be analysed shows the top section of Bishop Fox’s crosier. As before, there will be a definition followed by a selection of the details concerning what the design communicates.
Chapter 5/Conclusion will expand on the recipients of the messages expressed in Church art and design, how Church art and design can assist and enrich the Christian experience, and what the features of that experience are. This chapter/conclusion will also look at why iconic art is symbolic and what it is based upon.
This will be followed by an examination of the invisible, yet visible essence of the Church. Invisible because only the Omniscient God can see the true spiritual state of people; and visible because this spiritual state is proved, to a point, by the change in life style of people, and be photographed. Also, the extent to which photographs of Church art and design communicates Christianity will be written about. To finish, there will be a suggestion for possible future studies.
Saint Mark’s Church – Floating Quadrature (Inversion)
From:
TO WHAT EXTENT CAN PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHURCH ART AND DESIGN COMMUNICATE CHRISTIANITY?
Dissertation submitted for the Degree of Photomedia BA (Hons)
Chapter 1 (extract)
Although Christianity is a worldwide religion, this dissertation uses photographs of Church art and design based in the UK. When deciding which images to include, history will be no barrier, and where the message is most clear, illustrative, interesting, and that the pieces of work are photographed to a high standard, it is more likely to appear within these pages. These images are record photographs and are ‘representations of a representation’. That is, they portray, depict, symbolise or present the likeness of the subject matter using photography, and are therefore secondary sourced material (as apposed to primary sourced material); the subject matter itself also portrays, depicts or symbolises something, in this case, aspects of Christianity.
‘Aspects’ of Christianity in this case means not the whole of Christianity. The whole of Christianity involves believing unseen persons: God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Aspects of the church are also unseen. The Church here means a community of believers, and God is the only one that knows who the true believers are. In this respect the project is limited.
Having said this, the project will attempt to investigate what can be registered on film, and submits an analysis of what is being communicated. The contents of the message can bring about a particular understanding or revelation that results in change, which can be seen as evidence. (This will be looked at later on in the dissertation).
Chapter 2 looks at the meanings of the key terms that appear in the central question. It opens with ‘Christianity’ but within the first sentence a connection is made to ‘religion’. Religion is then discussed before moving onto the next key term – ‘Church’.
The term ‘Church’ with an upper case ‘C’ means something different from the word ‘church’ with a lower case ‘c’. This is unpacked starting with its Greek origins and continues with biblical references. What emerges from this chapter is that the Church is the local or worldwide collective of Saints. (A Saint is a person recognised for the holiness of their life (holy means dedicated to God and applies to all true Christians)).
The Church is also, amongst other things invisible, yet visible.
The origin of the church will also be traced and means the building where the Church meets. Chapter 2 also looks into orientation of traditional churches (e.g. facing east for worship), the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and a synopsis of Christianity, Christianity being the last key term in the central question.
In Chapter 3 the communication theory of semiotics will be looked at. (Semiotics being the study of signs and the way they work). The examples used to illustrate the theory are taken from the terms in the central question e.g. photographs, church art and design, communication and Christianity. The three main areas of study within semiotics are: the sign itself, the codes or systems into which signs are organised, and the culture within which these codes and signs operate; each of these will be explained more fully before moving on to the status of the reader and what the reader brings to any reading of texts.
The founders of semiotics – Peirce and Saussure – will also be looked at, but the focus will be on the former. Peirce has divided his theory into two models and both will be explained. The first is called ‘elements of meaning’, while the second is called ‘categories of sign-types’. In the second model the categories are not separate or distinct.
Saint Mark’s Church – Floating Quadrature
From:
TO WHAT EXTENT CAN PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHURCH ART AND DESIGN COMMUNICATE CHRISTIANITY?
I went to the National Poetry Library in London earlier this year. I was on a mission: to find out which magazines published similar poetry to mine. For the next two hours I looked at everything that was available. All, bar one, had absolutely no poems about music — not even remotely! In my first poetry book ‘Soaring Higher’ (see ‘books’ page) there are six full length poems with such tasty flavours!
This poem is about a musician — and no ordinary musician at that — but a Virtuoso. “But what is a Virtuoso?” I hear you cry. According to Grove Music Online:
“Virtuoso ( It., from Lat. virtus : ‘excellence’, ‘worth’ ) A person of notable accomplishment; a musician of extraordinary technical skill. In its original Italian usage (particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries) ‘virtuoso’ was a term of honour reserved for a person distinguished in any intellectual or artistic field: a poet, architect, scholar etc. A virtuoso in music might be a skilful performer, but more importantly he was a composer, a theorist or at least a famous maestro di cappella. In the late 17th and 18th centuries a great number of Italian”
“A Natural Virtuoso!”
“Just a few words I’ve penned over tea
That I hope will warm your heart and bless
Who in all the wide-world could it be?
An appreciative music lover no less…”
A piece of music that requires virtuosic technique is J. S. Bach’s famous showstopper: Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Fragments of the Toccata are included in a video of myself performing the poem.
What are your thoughts and opinions on the world around us? Are you happy or content with life, the universe and everything? What would you change? Considering the history of everything around us, would you change anything and everything? Do you long for everything to be perfect? And, do you want this to never end?
In my poem, The Ultimate Renewed Environment, I include an interpretation of the universal state beyond the end of the world.
“The Ultimate Renewed Environment”
“At the end of time
When the new order has begun
And everything as we know it
Has been changed in the twinkling of an eye…”
The music in this video is Beethoven’s 5th symphony. Although the piece is known world-over for its ‘fate knocking at the door’ opening, the second movement is comparatively serene, with elements of a longing tranquility. As if to say that there is a beautiful existence beyond cosmic judgement that will be well — very well, indeed!
“People have been trying by all means to gain peace. Therefore history of human beings, in one aspect, is the history of searching for peace. Peace has been talked, thought, taught and studied in many ways and many aspects”
“It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart”
“tranquility with harmony”
“love”
“authenticity”
“intuition”
“freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions”
“the state of peace within man himself that means there is no conflict inside one‘s mind’
Below is the first verse of my poem about peace followed by the full YouTube musical verson.
“My Peace”
“🍊 Before my eyes open in the morning
At the instance of emerging from sleep
Even before I am aware of anything external
I experience something so powerful and so deep…”
The music in the audiobook version of this poem, as here, is Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1.
