Analysis Of Entropy And Acceptance Of Landscape

Entropy and Acceptance: a Response to an Anonymous 19th Century Landscape

There is a certain freedom in anonymity. It’s a form of liberation from responsibility, from social constructs, from context, therefore creating the ultimate, unimpeded outlet for expression and reflection. That is, perhaps, what makes the painting Landscape, by an anonymous nineteenth century painter, so intriguing. Once thought to be attributed to Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (an early 1800’s French painter) as a study for the more famous landscape, Saul Pursuing David, the painting has since been ruled a rough replication, merely with the absence of Decamp’s famous biblical figures (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). After its forgery status was discerned, however, Landscape

It’s almost as if someone is observing the sunset, revelling in the sense of smallness that comes from being eclipsed by the heavens above (in Japanese, this sensation is known as “yūgen”) (“Yūgen”). The clouds will continue to drift, the globe will turn, but for just that moment, one can bathe in insignificance & anonymity, and revel in the mountain’s awe. To those on the East Coast, the scene may seem reminiscent of post-Hurricane-Sandy landscapes and the eerie calm that remains after destruction. Taking inspiration from this disaster-esque allusion, I then began to examine the foreground of the painting, noticing the swift motion of the rocks, brush, and branches. Despite the apparent destruction (the fallen tree branch, the tumbling rocks), the forefront is fluid and blurred; the unfocused nature instills paradoxal peace into the painting. For me, this of idea of calm after disaster mimics the chaotic nature of my own life and the wish to embrace the disorder and simply watch the world turn. Therefore, I sought to recreate this scene not as the focal image of my poem, but as the resolution — the final realization of peace that emerges after embracing entropy, symbolized by a vicious

In order to imbue this ambiguous nature into my poem, I therefore employ a series of extended metaphors and imagery. In the first stanza, “Left alone on a wounded road, / I wander in pastures once green, / Marred by turbulent breath/ Under roaring skies” (Poret 1) the terms “roaring skies,” “turbulent breath,” and “wounded road” are purposefully left vague, enabling speculation among the reader. If one is facing a perilous journey (ex. a responsibility, a physical conflict), the “wounded road” may be interpreted quite literally, however if one’s dilemma is psychological, the, “turbulent breath” may be his or her own, and the road may be interpreted as a kind of internal struggle. There are also hints of allusions within the first stanza, diversifying the potential themes of the poem. The phrase, “I wander in pastures once green,” can be both a lush descriptor of the loss of beauty, or a religious allusion to the famous Psalm 23: The Shepherd's Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures;” (“The Shepherd's Psalm: Psalm 23”). Whether one interprets this religious allusion as a reaffirmation of faith in difficult times or an existentialist rejection of it all depends on the reader’s aforementioned context and