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Showing posts with label Oscar Wilde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscar Wilde. Show all posts

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Dorian Gray vs Andrea Sperelli- Collegamento Wilde e D'Annunzio

 AESTHETICISM

 ITALY                                                                                                         ENGLAND

 GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO                                                                 OSCAR WILDE 

                                                            poet/novelist/playwright 

                                                                                ↘↙ 

Anti-conformist spirit 

Foppish way of dressing 

his greatest play                                                                                          his greatest play

 ↳                                                                                                                         ↳ 

La figlia di Iorio 1904                                                            The importance of being Earnest 1895                      


One of his NOVELS                                                                      His only NOVEL

 IL PIACERE (1889)                                                 The Picture of Dorian Gray(1891) 

ANDREA surrounds himself with many objects and lives a luxurious life, while speaking of DORIAN we must focus attention on an art object, which is the portrait to which his story of eternal youth is linked. Andrea loves a kind of widespread beauty, general, that applies to all the aspects of life and reality; while in the case of Dorian beauty is more personal, because it is he who is beautiful, it is himself a work of art. Both of them are against the bourgeois prejudices. Finally, both Andrea and Dorian go in search of a kind of pleasure that manifests itself in a thousand ways, so it is a pleasure:

 • physical: for example in the case of Dorian who seduces many women 

• aesthetic: as the continuous search for beauty

 • intellectual: such as wanting to surround themselves with works of literature

 • artistic: such as the fact of wanting to surround themselves with works of art 


Andrea Sperelli is a young count, who, like Dorian Gray, looks for beauty and despises the middle class world. He leads an extraordinary life, which he lives as a work of art, and rejects the basic rules of morality and social interaction. However, this extraordinary sensitivity also implies a certain corruption.

Dorian Gray is a young heir who makes friends with the corrupt and manipulative Lord Henry Wotton and the good-hearted Basil Hallward, who paints a portrait for him. After having this portrait painted, Dorian's ego is vastly inflated and he becomes very narcissistic which prompts Dorian to wish to become immortal and make his painting age instead of himself.

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Symphony in yellow by Oscar Wilde

 

Symphony in yellow by Oscar Wilde
An omnibus across the bridge                                                                                               Crawls like a yellow butterfly,                                                                                               And, here and there, a passer-by                                                                                           Shows like a little restless midge.
Big barges full of yellow hay                                                                                                  Are moored against the shadowy wharf,                                                                                And, like a yellow silken scarf,                                                                                              The thick fog hangs along the quay.                                                                                    The yellow leaves begin to fade                                                                                              
And flutter from the Temple elms,                                                                                        And at my feet the pale green Thames                                                                                  Lies like a rod of rippled jade.


THEMES

There seems to be quite a few 'themes' in this poem. I think one of the messages that came across to me was that people are always rushing for something and trying desperately to reach it without stopping to appreciate the nature that they are surrounded by. 

'Passers-by'(1st stanza) don’t stop and have a look at nature- they move on, which could represent the fact that people just don't notice what they have been given because they are too caught up in their own lives. 

Also in the 2nd stanza it shows that the 'yellow hay' in the 'barge' is moored on a shadowy wharf. Assuming that the hay represents the people, it shows that many people just pretend to know where their destination is while in fact they have no idea. Again, they are too rushed and hasty, driven by something human and sinful like greed, that they don't realize that they need to take things slow to figure out what their life is meant to be. 

Also this poem could be about people who are bright on the outside but empty on the inside, because they are lost and have no direction or that they seem positive, happy, and driven on the outside but there is still a vulnerability and insecurity that they are not willing to show in their outward appearance. 

That could be because they don't take the time to let God lead them to where they are really meant to be.


Answer the questions:


1)Where do you think the poem is set?
2)Make a list of all the things and objects in the poem that the narrator describes as yellow
3)What time of the year is the poem set?
4)Make a list of the similes (4) in the poem. Choose ONE of the similes and explain why you think it is effective.
5)Why might the river be compared to jade? Why is this a strange image to describe a river?
6)What is the narrator’s attitude of the city and the people who live there? Choose a tone and explain how diction and
imagery influenced your choice.
Think over the following aspects -YELLOW is the colour of flowers blooming and sunshine so it's connected to life, happiness and freedom, but in this poem it's also the colour of hay and fallen leaves. So it has a positive connotation- life and a negative one-death.
Also think over the contrast between a kind of elegant imagery such as the silken scarf and the jade ( a precious stone) and some plainer things like the barges, the midges, the fog and the wharf.
Finally reflect on this point - the last stanza shows transformation, because here the yellow apparently fades and sheds its leaves, which could signify a rebirth or something new after a cycle has taken place. The colour green becomes the main focus in the last two lines, which could also represent a new, fresh life.
As for a possible interpretation read the doc here attached!




Dandysm and fashion

 

History: Dandyism and fashion

The words ‘dandy’ and ‘dandyism’ were first used to describe a man who loved fashion and was particularly interested in his physical appearance. Dandies became common at the end of the 18th century in Britain and continued into the 19th century when they arrived in France too. Like Oscar Wilde, a typical dandy, they enjoyed a luxurious life, had very refined manners and were always dressed in the most fashionable, extravagant clothes. Nowadays it is common for men to be interested in their appearance but, in Wilde’s time, male vanity and an obsession for appearance and beauty was unusual. Dandyism became so important that some people compared it to a religion rather than an interest in fashion.

Original dandies wore lots of velvet, jewellery and lace. Their clothes were colourful and often completely impractical. One famous English dandy, George Brummel, apparently took five hours to get dressed every day. Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray is a typical Dandy; his only interest is in his own appearance and the beauty of those around him. His only desire is to remain in a state of perfect beauty. Even in his comic plays, like The Importance of Being Earnest, the dandy is always an important character.


THEMES 
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

  • SPLIT BETWEEN APPEARANCE AND REALITY------------physiognonomy (appearance reveals character)
  • ART for ART's SAKE
  • SIN AND REDEMPTION
  • VANITY
  • THE DOUBLE ------------Good and evil
  • THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF INFLUENCE/MANIPULATION
  • ("Corrupting influence")
  • THE SUPREMACY OF YOUTH AND BEAUTY
  • THE OVERREACHER



Monday, January 16, 2023

The Picture of Dorian Gray-video+ questions+ comment on the book

slides
 


  • Who's Basil?
  • Who does he decide to paint?
  • What does Dorian see in the painting?
  • What is he afraid of?
  • Who's Lord Henry Wotton?
  • What wish does Dorian express?
  • Who takes the painting?
  • Who's Sybil?
  • What does Dorian like about Sybil?
  • Why does Sybil commit suicide?
  • What kind of influence does Lord Henry have on Dorian?
  • Does Basil ever see the portrait?
  • Who kills Bail?
  • Why does Dorian destroy the picture?
  • How does Dorian look like after he dies?












Sunday, January 8, 2023

PREFAZIONE RITRATTO DORIAN GRAY

 

Significato Prefazione “Il Ritratto di Dorian Gray”

L’artista è il creatore di cose belle.
L’artista Ã¨ consapevole di essere il mezzo del proprio spirito, che per sua natura è creatore di bellezza e perfezione.

Rivelare l’arte e nascondere l’artista è il fine dell’arte.
L’arte che celebra l’artista non è arte.
L’arte che celebra l’artista non è arte. L’artista è consapevole di essere l’espressione materiale dello spirito e non della sua importanza personale.

Il critico è colui che può tradurre in diversa forma o in nuova sostanza la sua impressione delle cose belle.
Tanto le più elevate quanto le più infime forme di critica sono una sorta di autobiografia.
L’osservatore (critico) dell’arte percepisce in essa lo spirito .
L’arte non è mai definita ma parla e si esprime attraverso chi la osserva suscitandone infinite interpretazione, le quali sono la risultante della propria identità e del proprio vissuto.
Ogni uomo è un piccolo universo per questo motivo l’arte è sempre autobiografica.

Coloro che scorgono brutti significati nelle cose belle sono corrotti senza essere affascinanti. Questo è un errore.
Coloro che hanno perso l’anima nella ricerca dei piaceri e dei vizi vedono nelle cose “belle” i loro vizi.
Da ricordare che la parola corrotto deriva dal latino cor-ruptum che significa cuore rotto.
Sono uomini privi di sensibilità.

Coloro che scorgono bei significati nelle cose belle sono le persone colte. Per loro c’è speranza.
Essi sono gli eletti: per loro le cose belle significano solo bellezza.
Per gli uomini sensibili c’è speranza, la quale viene riattivata dall’arte per quanto essa possa essere fine a sé stessa.
Nonostante il mondo sia un posto corrotto dal vizio e dal potere, la sensibilità degli uomini definiti da Wild colti, non è stata intaccata.

Non esistono libri morali o immorali. I libri sono scritti bene o scritti male. Questo è tutto.
La morale per l’artista non esiste, poiché è la materia dell’arte stessa.
A causa della forma l’artista potrebbe essere mal interpretato e quindi il senso della sua opera (creazione) sarebbe vano.

L’avversione del diciannovesimo secolo per il realismo è la rabbia di Calibano che vede il proprio volto riflesso nello specchio.
L’avversione del diciannovesimo secolo per il romanticismo è la rabbia di Calibano che non vede il proprio volto riflesso nello specchio.
Personaggio shakespeariano, Calibano non sopporta la vista della propria immagine riflessa nello specchio. Preferisce rimanere nell’ignoranza della propria condizione. Preferisce non vedere come l’ha ridotto Prospero, il suo padrone, che con i suoi raggiri e le sue fasulle promesse non otterrà mai la libertà.
Con questa metafora critica le condizioni del popolo Inglese, che come Calibano rifiutano di vedere quel che sono realmente, vivendo in una pallida illusione immersa di piacer mondani.

La vita morale dell’uomo è parte della materia dell’artista, ma la moralità dell’arte consiste nell’uso perfetto di un mezzo imperfetto.
La morale dell’uomo è materia dell’artista, poiché l’uomo attraverso i suoi desideri, le sue fantasie e le sue perversioni sfugge appena può da essa. L’importante è mostrare agli altri la falsa immagine creata per la morale accettata e sostenuta da tutti.
L’artista non si può comportare in questo modo nei confronti dell’arte, perché l’arte lo rende libero di esercitare e di manifestare ogni cosa e per questo la può usare a suo piacimento libero dal condizionamento della società.

L’artista non desidera dimostrare nulla.
Persino le cose vere possono essere dimostrate.
L’artista non fa critiche morali o etiche mostra attraverso la semplicità della sua arte quello che sente. La bellezza dell’arte altro non è che il vestito del mistero, apparentemente semplice ma profonda nella sua essenza.

Lippincott dorian grayUscita del romanzo il ritratto di Dorian Gray

Nessun artista ha intenti morali.
In un artista un intento morale è un imperdonabile manierismo stilistico.
La morale è un regola che l’uomo impone a sé stesso senza capirne il vero motivo e significato, a differenza dell’etica che è un limite cosciente che l’uomo impone a sé stesso per lasciare spazio al prossimo suo.
La morale e la sua critica, riscuote sempre consenso, poiché è essa è la regola accettata dalla maggioranza degli individui, per essere accettati dagli altri l’uomo non divine consapevole e quindi nemmeno libero di esprimersi. Il modo di comportarsi accettato da tutti è un blocco espressivo per l’artista e per l’uomo.

Nessun artista è mai morboso. L’artista può esprimere qualsiasi cosa.
L’artista è osservatore dell’uomo e della vita, e nella sua arte imprima la sua libertà e il suo essere.
La morbosità è un limite nella quale l’arte stessa muore. Essere morbosi significa essere troppo dentro e quindi vincolati, attaccati a qualcosa, e la creazione derivante dalla libertà dell’istinto non si manifesterebbe nell’opera d’arte.


Il pensiero e il linguaggio sono per un artista strumenti di un’arte.
Ideazione-pensiero, creazione-linguaggio. L’arte si forma attraverso l’intelletto che è la peculiarità più elevata dell’uomo e ne da creazione nel mondo materiale attraverso il linguaggio: pittura, musica, scrittura.

Il vizio e la virtù sono per un artista materiali di un’arte.
L’uomo vive nella dualità costante per conoscersi. Il bene e il male spesso nella vita reale vengono manifestati proprio attraverso il vizio e le virtù. Mentre nel vizio perde tutta la sua luce, facendosi trasportare come una foglia dal vento d’autunno; nelle virtù dimostra il suo slancio verso l’infinito spostando tutti i suoi limiti, compiendo azioni di valore inestimabile per sé stesso e per l’umanità.

Dal punto di vista formale il modello di tutte le arti è l’arte del musicista.
Dal punto di vista del sentimento il modello è l’arte dell’attore.
La forma della musica comunica con l’ascoltatore attraverso le vibrazioni che essa emana, colpendo il corpo e facendolo risuonare come un diapason.
L’attore invece colpisce lo spettatore attraverso l’immedesimazione dello stesso nella parte che sta recitando.

Ogni arte è insieme superficie e simbolo.
Coloro che scendono sotto la superficie lo fanno a loro rischio.
Attraverso il simbolo utilizzato in ogni arte l’uomo diviene introspettivo, questa introspezione lo fa scendere nelle sue virtù e nelle sue oscurità, naturalmente a suo rischio e pericolo.
L’uomo che scende dentro sé stesso deve essere coraggioso e pronto a tutto, poiché potrebbe incontrare i suoi mostri e le sue paure.

L’arte rispecchia lo spettatore, non la vita.
Questo perché ogni uomo è un piccolo universo assestante. La vita Ã¨ la costante, ma il modo di interpretarla sarà per ogni essere umano sempre diverso.
L’arte funziona de specchio nel quale l’uomo si riflette mostrando a sé stesso chi è, come uomo e come essere.

La diversità di opinioni intorno a un’opera d’arte dimostra che l’opera è nuova, complessa e vitale.
L’opera d’arte è nel suo profondo di natura archetipica e gli impulsi che suscita nell’osservatore creano infinite interpretazioni.

Possiamo perdonare a un uomo l’aver fatto una cosa utile se non l’ammira.
L’unica scusa per aver fatto una cosa inutile è di ammirarla intensamente.

Tutta l’arte è completamente inutile.
Ai fini materiali l’arte Ã¨ completamente inutile non soddisfa nessun bisogno primario dell’uomo.
Il fatto di ammirarla intensamente serve a stimolare quelle sensazioni per far emergere la parte spirituale dell’uomo, per ricordargli che è molto di più di un semplice animale intellettuale.

*Nella prima parte della prefazione viene molto utilizzata la parola belle, Wilde la utilizza non solo per il fatto che era un esteta, ma perché è l’espressione che userebbe un bambino, per spiegare il suo stato di entusiasmo e felicità nel vedere riflesso nell’arte, la parte più nobile di sé.


Monday, March 29, 2021


 

Symphony in Yellow
by
Oscar Wilde



 

An omnibus across the bridge
Crawls like a yellow butterfly
And, here and there, a passer-by
Shows like a little restless midge.

Big barges full of yellow hay
Are moored against the shadowy wharf,
And, like a yellow silken scarf,
The thick fog hangs along the quay.

The yellow leaves begin to fade
And flutter from the Temple elms,
And at my feet the pale green Thames
Lies like a rod of rippled jade.


Answer the questions

1)Where do you think the poem is set?


2)Make a list of all the things and objects in the poem that the narrator describes as yellow


3)What time of the year is the poem set?


4)Make a list of the similes (4) in the poem. Choose ONE of the similes and explain why you think it is effective.


5)Why might the river be compared to jade? Why is this a strange image to describe a river?


6)What is the narrator’s attitude of the city and the people who live there? Choose a tone and explain how diction and
imagery influenced your choice.


Wednesday, February 10, 2021

A short summary of the Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray

 

The Preface to the Picture of Dorian Gray


 In the Preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray" Wilde rejected the didacticism that characterized the Victorian novel in the first half of the century. According to him art is the cult of Beauty and can prevent the murder of the soul, whereas the artist is an alien in a materialistic world, he writes only to please himself and is not concerned in communicating his theories to his fellow-beings.

His pursuit of beauty and fulfilment are the tragic acts of a superior being inevitably turned into an outcast. Wilde’s Preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray" may be considered the manifesto of the English Aesthetic Movement since it speaks about the subject of art and the role of the artist.

The artist is the creator of beautiful things but is not interested in communicating his ideas to mankind and he writes only to please himself.

He might consider the moral or immoral lives of people as part of the subject matter of his work, but art itself is not meant to teach the public anything. The true artist does not aim at proving anything and he makes no judgement of right or wrong.

What people call vices or virtues, are merely materials for the artist. Those who attempt to go beneath the surface of a work, or to find out a particular meaning in a symbol, do so at their own risk.

Wilde concludes the preface by saying that " All art is quite useless"; that is, art exists for its own sake (Art for Art’s Sake) and not for any moral purpose. On the contrary the two Romantic poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge, in their Preface to "Lyrical Ballads", point out the didactic role of poetry whose aim is to show the reader the negativity of Industrial Revolution. Dickens also had a didactic aim in his novels- he wanted to draw his readers’ attention on some of the social problems of his time.

 

 

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

THEMES DORIAN GRAY


The ending  of the story is CONVENTIONAL- THE VILLAIN is PUNISHED by his own soul 







Dorian tries to separate his external appearance from his internal reality. In society his appearance enchants everybody and even if he commits criminal acts nobody can believe that he can be corrupted. In fact he hasn’t got a real identity, people don’t know the real person but the character of Dorian. He is forced to live according to a code that doesn’t correspond to what he really wants.
The picture expresses the dark side of Dorian. Stabbing the portrait, Dorian kills himself.  The bad side of Dorian is a part of his personality. It’s his double. So, the contrast betweewn how he is inside and how he appears to the others brings him to death. 
The horrible picture is also a symbol of the immorality of the Victorian middle-class, while Dorian and his innocent appearance are symbols of the hypocrisy of his time.



Monday, February 3, 2020



THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
 END QUITE CONVENTIONAL
                                              THE VILLAIN is PUNISHED by his CONSCIENCE


DORIAN tries to overcome the division between senses and spirit, BODY and SOUL

Theory of the SPIRITUALIZATION of the senses


However Dorian is the victim of a new division between his hedonistic self and his moral self


HIS MORAL SELF incarnates itself in the picture and lives its own life

HIS CONSCIENCE suppressed for a time (almost 20 years), becomes his DOUBLE


The artist of life, the worshipper of beauty, cannot but hate the ugliness he has created

The portrait becomes the MIRROR of his REAL INNER SOUL



Sunday, February 10, 2019

The Picture of Dorian Gray     vs         Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde


COMMON IDEAS
There's always a dark side in every human being
Good and Evil are two different aspects of the same personality
They both criticize the Victorian society and its emphasis 
on respectability and outward appearance
There's a SPLIT between the world of appearances and the inner world
There's a real contrast between good and evil, true and false, moral and immoral





Dorian looks   wonderfully young and pure                                    


  1. The irregular, shameful and criminal habits do not change Dorian's physical appearance
  2. The picture reflects Dorian's evil soul (a symbol of his conscience)
  3. Dorian is fascinated by his own image but feels disgust when contemplating the transformation of the picture



Dr Jekyll is a respectable doctor, who has a very good reputation
   










  1. The transformation gives Hyde/Jekyll the possibility to follow bad instincts and do evil things without spoiling Jekyll's reputation, because it is Hyde who acts
  2. The mirror  reflects the evil side of Jekyll's nature
  3. Jekyll likes his other self but feels remorse for the murder

                                                   

AESTHETICISM
ITALY                                                                    ENGLAND

GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO
                                     
                      OSCAR WILDE

           
poet/novelist/playwright    



poet/novelist/playwright











his greatest play               his greatest play
↳                                                               ↳
La figlia di Iorio 1904                   The importance of being Earnest  1895
                                                                    
                            ↘↙
                    Anti-conformist spirit
                         Foppish way of dressing
                     Influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite 
                                          Movement
Who were the Pre-Raphaelites?








                                           



                                 ↘↙
                         Aesthetic ideal
Life is a creative act closely intertwined with art
The artist is beyond moral conventions
Art is an absolute value. It is the supreme form of life
My life is like a work of art
⏬                                                                                         ⏬
D'Annunzio Il Piacere                 Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray
                      1889                                        1891
translated in English as
The Child of Pleasure
https://www.helblinglanguages.com/it/it/blog/an-interactive-lesson-plan-the-picture-of-dorian-gray

Aestheticism
Walter Pater
He was the theorist of the Aesthetic movement in England

  • He rejected religious faith
  • He denied that the aim of art should be realism
  • He advocated the superiority of art over life
  • Art is the only means to stop time, the only certainty
  • Life must imitate Art
  • Life should be a work of art
  • Each passing time should be filled with intense experience, feeling all kinds of sensations (the main purpose of life is pleasure)
  • The task of the artist is to feel sensations, not to describe the world
  • Art has no reference to life
  • It has no moral or social purpose. It is self-sufficient


1891 
The Picture of Dorian Gray

  • The cult of beauty
  • The choice of a life beyond common reality
  • Life imitates art
  • Dorian experiments all kinds of experiences and sensations

Thursday, January 11, 2018

THEMES 
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

  • SPLIT BETWEEN APPEARANCE AND REALITY------------physiognonomy (appearance reveals character)
  • ART for ART's SAKE
  • SIN AND REDEMPTION
  • VANITY
  • THE DOUBLE ------------Good and evil
  • THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF INFLUENCE/MANIPULATION
  • ("Corrupting influence")
  • THE SUPREMACY OF YOUTH AND BEAUTY
  • THE OVERREACHER

The influence of Walter Pater 

Walter Pater was an English critic, essayist, and humanist whose idea of “art for art’s sake” became a cardinal doctrine of the movement known as Aestheticism.
In the concluding essay in The Renaissance, Pater stated that art only exists for the sake of its beauty, and that it has neither moral standards nor utilitarian functions.
Art shouldn’t  instruct or deal with  social, moral, or political problems.
The Artist is the creator of beautiful works of art.