{"id":2467,"date":"2025-04-26T22:45:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=2467"},"modified":"2025-04-26T22:45:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:45:25","slug":"michael-field-not-the-saint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2025\/04\/26\/michael-field-not-the-saint\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Field (not the saint)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The poem \u201cThe Magdalen\u201d by Michael Field is an ekphrasis poem that describes St. Mary Magdalene <\/em>by Timoteo Viti. In the Bible, Mary Magdalene is a reformed prostitute who found God and became a follower and eventually a saint. This painting in particular depicts her standing alone in what could be best described as a tomb (similar to Jesus) with her hands in prayer, long hair, and a shawl which are all symbols of her reformation. Because she was able to find God, she was washed of her \u201cpast sins\u201d. Michael Field describes her sins as \u201cdone away\u201d and no longer giving her \u201cannoy\u201d. They also tend to focus on the very feminine features she has, such as her eyes, lips, and fair skin.<\/p>\n

Their focus on Mary Magdalene out of all saints is particularly interesting in the way in which they chose her. Their description of her is very straight forward describing the painting almost exactly as it appears, while also imposing their own narrative. The fact that they chose a reformed prostitute is interesting, as during the Victorian times, prostitutes were considered \u201cdeviant\u201d and \u201cother\u201d. Michael Fild (a pseudonym for Katherine Harris Bradley and Edith Emma Cooper) was also considered \u201cother\u201d as they identified as a couple and that was frowned upon. They also did not cross the religious boundary imposed when describing her; Mary Magdalene, a saint, is not a sexual being but instead an emblem of \u201ccorrect\u201d femininity.<\/p>\n

In contrast, when they are communicating the painting Sleeping Venus <\/em>by Giorgione, they impose the typical \u201cmale gaze\u201d found in Victorian literature. Phrases representing her curves and the malleability of her body offer a similar view that men had of women, as in the poem \u201cIn an Artist\u2019s Studio\u201d. Similar to the poem, they are describing her in a way that forces her to be an object instead of a human. She is there for their pleasure, not the description given to Mary Magdalene. This again reiterates the male gaze-like view imposed. (ik this is a really weird way to leave off, I\u2019m debating if this will be my final project idea, so please forgive me. I\u2019m trying my best, I promise).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The poem \u201cThe Magdalen\u201d by Michael Field is an ekphrasis poem that describes St. Mary Magdalene by Timoteo Viti. In the Bible, Mary Magdalene is a reformed prostitute who found God and became a follower and eventually a saint. This painting in particular depicts her standing alone in what could be best described as a … Continue reading Michael Field (not the saint)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5608,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135984],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5608"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}