{"id":798,"date":"2018-11-15T10:51:49","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T15:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=798"},"modified":"2018-11-15T10:58:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T15:58:07","slug":"perception-vs-objectivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2018\/11\/15\/perception-vs-objectivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Perception vs. Objectivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper published their collection of poems, Sight and Song,<\/em> under the pseudonym Michael Cooper in 1892. In the preface of their collection, Bradley and Cooper reveal that their poems are supposed to be \u201cobjective\u201d reflections of art, void of subjective \u201ctheor[ies or] fancies\u201d (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/node\/228). Objectivity in poetry is difficult, however, because art in itself is interpreted by a subjective audience.<\/p>\n

The preface of their book quotes Gustave Flaubert, who said: \u201cTransport yourself, by mental effort, into your characters, not attract them to yourself\u201d (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/node\/228). The act of transporting oneself into a character is bound to reflect one\u2019s own interpretation and association of people with certain actions and events. Even if Cooper and Bradley are to go \u201cinto [the] characters\u201d of whom they write, they are going into their <\/em>perception of those characters. \u00a0For instance, in their poem \u201cL\u2019Indiff\u00e9rent,\u201d they write that the boy \u201cdances.\u201d Since the painting displays only a snapshot of the character, Cooper and Bradley have no way of knowing whether he truly \u201cdances,\u201d or is simply walking or posing. Furthermore, the poets connect his presence to that of Mercury, the Roman messenger god (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/book\/l-indiff%C3%A9rent). Although the Victorian Era is known to invoke mythological figures, the intentional choice to connect his \u201cwingy hat\u201d to Roman mythology reflects the poets\u2019 understanding\u2014conscious or not\u2014that this boy is himself a messenger (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/book\/l-indiff%C3%A9rent). Perhaps if other members of society had seen this painting and were writing about it, they would see the boy as a young aristocrat, not a messenger at all.<\/p>\n

L’Indiff\u00e9rent https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/book\/l-indiff%C3%A9rent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Additionally, Cooper and Bradley are caught up on the age of the \u201cgay youngster\u201d (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/book\/l-indiff%C3%A9rent). They write that \u201cthough old enough for manhood\u2019s bliss,\/ he is a boy,\/ who dances and must die\u201d (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/book\/l-indiff%C3%A9rent). Whereas another viewer might see the painting differently, Cooper and Bradley\u2019s gaze falls on his age and mortality, leaving out, for instance, a description of the background, which is full of trees and a mix of light and shadowy colors. This could reveal another symbolic element of the painting that Cooper and Bradley are unable to convey to readers because their perspective accentuates different elements of the painting.<\/p>\n

Michael Field\u2019s other poem, A Piet\u00e0,<\/em> incorporates ideas of decadence when describing Christ. \u00a0The poem begins by stating: \u201cBy a swathe of the delicate, lifted skin :\/ \u00a0The half-closed eyes show grey,\/ Leaden fissures \u2018 the dead man\u2019s face is clay\u201d (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/book\/a-piet%C3%A0).<\/p>\n

A Piet\u00e0 https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/book\/a-piet%C3%A0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The extremely descriptive language of \u201cdelicate\u201d skin, and \u201chalf-closed,\u201d \u201cgrey,\u201d eyes around a \u201cclay-like\u201d face allows Cooper and Bradley to paint their own picture in the readers\u2019 heads. This is influential because many of the readers would not have seen the painting first-hand, or if they had it would have been in a newspaper. The freedom to rewrite the painting and influence how the audience would picture its details gives Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper the liberty to put forth their own spin on the effect of the painting. They can manipulate how the audience perceives it and what the audience should take away from it. Thus, their ability to adjust the audience\u2019s perception contradicts the preface of their collection of poems, Sight and Song,<\/em> which states that art should be more than \u201csubjective enjoyment\u201d (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/node\/228).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper published their collection of poems, Sight and Song, under the pseudonym Michael Cooper in 1892. In the preface of their collection, Bradley and Cooper reveal that their poems are supposed to be \u201cobjective\u201d reflections of art, void of subjective \u201ctheor[ies or] fancies\u201d (https:\/\/michaelfield.dickinson.edu\/node\/228). Objectivity in poetry is difficult, however, because … Continue reading Perception vs. Objectivity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3740,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125359],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}