An Aesthetic Thought for the Holiday Season
Hello. This is Altalena and welcome to a special holiday mini episode of “An Aesthetic Education”. In the world of aesthetic philosophy, literature is just as important, and according to some philosophers even more significant, than paintings and other visual arts in the search for beauty. The stories that we hold onto and the words that we find meaning in, form a defining aspect of our ability to comprehend and express what is beautiful.
Last week I posted on our Instagram asking our followers what their book of choice was for the upcoming cold winter days. We received over 50 responses, which was unexpected and very heartwarming. There were lots of wonderful recommendations including On the Road by Jack Kerouac, The Power of One by Bryce Courtney, All the Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, and much more.
It’s at this time of year, when the frantic holiday season begins to slow down, and we are able to spend some quality time with our loved one’s that a good book is always a welcome companion. To quote the playwright Tom Stoppard, “I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.”
A lot of what we do in life is searching to find the right words and put them in the right order. At the end of the year, it is important to capture those moments and memories that matter and collect them in a way that will allow you to recall them when you need them most. There can be no better way to do this than finding a novel or poem that speaks to you. That expresses ideas, emotions, and experiences of truth. That in turn becomes a space full of spots of time.
The great English poet of the 16th and 17th centuries, John Donne was a master of using extended metaphors to weave together various heterogeneous ideas. His verse speaks to us of love, loss, God, and the wonderings and experiences that we all have as human beings. One of his most powerful poems is entitled: A Lecture upon the Shadow. It is a poem about the balance between light and dark, love and loss. Allow me the pleasure to share it with you now, where you can find for yourself the meaning and the impact of his words.
