Jane K. Marshall
The term, pattern, is meant to encompass both structure and rhythm. The structure or symmetry of a tree produces a pattern; the rhythm of waves too is pattern. It is pattern that enables us to comprehend the world outside of ourselves. Visual symmetry and rhythmic schema make us feel comfortable and in control. Pattern, in a sense, dominates our world.
This section of the unit on pattern in poetry and paintings is incomplete. It is incomplete as I have not been able to capture all of the nuances of structure/rhythm. In a sense pattern cannot be tied down. Even in its repetitions of old themes it always emerges in a different way for it is invariably connected with other components in each expression of art (poetry, painting). Thus, for example, Coffin’s use of the couplet scheme in “The Secret Heart” denotes completion, wholeness, and peace—qualities which are encompassed in the theme of the poem. W. H. Davies’ use of the couplet scheme in “Leisure,” on the other hand, denotes, in its repetitive quality, a sense of time passing; this is the central issue of that poem’s theme. Just as rhythms and structures of nature never cease to be different given a different frame of reference, so too pattern in poetry and paintings is subject to the intention of the poet and/or artist, and thereby projects different meanings.
The following ideas for lesson plans can be divided into three parts. The first part seeks to define pattern in terms of the natural patterning of the world as we know it, or as we like to know it. At this point, balance, symmetry, and visual and auditory patterns are discussed. Students initially are asked to comment on a symmetrical and an asymmetrical shape. The response is expected to be on an emotional level. They are asked to consider the reason behind their responses. One shape denotes completion, stability—the other incompleteness, instability. This leads to a discussion on patterns of nature.
Following a reading of poetry and prose in a foreign language, students are expected to connect the poet’s artistic rhythms with the auditory rhythms of the ideal world around him. The first part of this section concludes with a comparison of two radically different views of the world—in paintings. One painting is natural, symmetrical, somehow ordered. The other is chaotic, unstructured, and represents disorder. Students are asked to comment upon the meanings of each work as well as to express emotional reactions.
The second part of this section deals with shapes as part of structure in paintings and with comparable rhythmic schemes in poetry. Specific paintings and poems are compared with the intention of showing how shapes (painting) and rhythmic schema (poetry) affect not only the mood but the meaning of each work. The first comparison is of the oval or circle motif in Renoir’s “Madame Renoir” and the couplet verse of Coffin’s “The Secret Heart.” Both devices denote a sense of completeness or oneness which correlates directly with the underlying intention of each artist. Students are asked to discover this correlation through a series of discussion questions.
The second comparison is of Winslow Homer’s “The Morning Bell” (painting) and Burgess’ ”Sestina of Youth and Age.” Both works of art depict conflict. Once again shape (the triangle) and rhythmic schema (sestina), through their own innate characteristics, reveal meaning (complexity or conflict in this case) and help to define the mood and message of the artist. Again, students are expected to “discover” the comparison through questions.
The third part of the section on pattern harks back to the previous section on metaphor/symbol. Students learn that the structure of a painting may in and of itself express symbolically the meaning of the work. Concrete poetry is introduced at this point as it too visually presents a symbol. Students are asked to consider whether or not the rhythm of the poem is connected somehow with its portrayal of symbol.
Finally, once again, the section concludes with ideas for student activities of artistic and written natures. As was the case in the second section, teachers are advised to use these exercises when they are deemed appropriate within the section as a whole.
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1. What is symmetry? Balance? How is it related to structure?
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Students are shown two shapes
(figure available in print form)
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and
(figure available in print form)
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They are asked to comment on the feeling each gives them. The discussion which follows will include such topics as balance, symmetry, wholeness, and how these factors affect/ illustrate emotional states.
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Students listen to random notes of music, and then listen to a musical composition. Again, they are asked to comment on the emotional quality of each. What does pattern mean to us?
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2. Pattern. Students are asked to think of patterns which exist in the natural world. (Symmetrical states/rhythms). The discussion would include such examples as: (Visual) 1. trees 2. shells 3. human beings 4. mountain ranges 5. waves 6. EEG waves. (Auditory) 1. heartbeat 2. waves 3. rain falling 4. speech patterns (under stress or emotion—rhythmic).
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3. Students listen to prose and poetry read in a foreign language (Russian). Students recognize and comment upon rhythm (pattern)—accented and unaccented syllables.
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4. Introduce: Georgia O’Keefe’s “Canyon with Crows.” The discussion which follows includes: 1. symmetry of landscape 2. crows in flight (symmetry in portrayal—positioning of wings) 3. colors as patterns.
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What kind of a feeling emerges as you (students) look at this painting? What does this painting mean?
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5. Introduce Jackson Pollack’s “Number 12.” Compare this painting with Georgia O’Keefe’s. The discussion will include: the absence of pattern, symmetry (Pollack). What sort of a feeling emerges when you look at this painting? What is this a painting of?
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6. Comparison of structure of “Madame Renoir” with the rhythm of the poem “The Secret Heart.”
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Both works reveal a structure/rhythm which represents wholeness or peace which is directly correlated to the theme of each work. Renoir’s wife is an earth goddess—complete, producing calm or “oneness” in the observer—due in large part to its pattern of circles/ovals. The couplet form of Coffin’s poem reveals completeness/stability in the closeness of father and son. Again, the rhythm produces the effect of calmness or wholeness.
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The above is revealed to students through a series of questions such as: (Renoir) 1. What is the dominant shape which is repeated over and over again as the structure of this painting? (oval, circle) 2. What might the circle be a symbol of?—compare to triangle if necessary. 3. Why did Renoir choose this shape to structure his painting? 4. What is Renoir “saying” in this portrait? (Coffin) 1. What sort of relationship does the boy have with his father? Give examples. 2. Teacher explains—couplet. Why would the poet choose this type of rhythm? (uncomplicated, cohesive) 3. Find images of round objects within this poem. 4. Compare the mood of this poem to the mood of “Madame Renoir.” Final discussion: structure of painting as compared to rhythm of poetry.
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7. Comparison/ “The Morning Bell” / “Sestina of Youth and Age” Both works indicate complication/conflict within their structure. The painting is portrayed in a series of triangles which denote conflict (many directions). The poem uses a complex rhythm/structure (six lines per stanza etc.) which also indicates complexity, confusion, conflict. Possible questions: “The Morning Bell” 1. What indications are there within this painting of contrasts, changes? 2. Who is the girl who is walking alone? 3. What is her relationship with the other women? 4. What shape predominates in this painting? 5. Why did the artist choose to repeat this shape over and over again? 6. What does the structure of this painting have to do with its theme? “Sestina of Youth and Age” d. What does the son realize about his father now that he is dead? 2. How were son/father similar/different? 3. Discuss the relationship between the two. 4. What sorts of feelings does the son have now? 5. How does the scheme of rhythm enhance the meaning of the poem? 6. Compare this poem with the previous poem about father and son.
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8. Structure in Painting as Symbol. Return to “The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini What symbol is a dominant part of the structure of the work? (cross) Note: way figures are situated in terms of the background (candle etc.) This same shape is echoed in the floorboards. How does this relate to the theme of the work?
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9. Concrete poem—“City Question” The symbol is pictorially presented in the poem’s structure (shaped as a question mark) on the page. How does the rhythm of this poem reflect its theme, its symbol?
Exercises—Written and Visual for Pattern
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1. Choose an object from nature which is symmetrical—draw. Choose a man-made object which is symmetrical—draw. Draw an object from nature that was originally symmetrical but was damaged in some way—draw. Do the same for a man-made object. Look at each. Jot down free associations which come to mind when you look at each picture. Place these writings beneath each appropriate picture. Has your writing captured the rhythm/structure of each picture (or lack of)—if not, rewrite.
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2. Teacher plays instrumental versions of songs unknown to students. Students tape. Write lyrics for these songs—taking into account rhythms and the mood the music projects.
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3. Students listen to several popular songs (varied)—in tempo and mood. While listening to the music they draw designs—move pencil as music changes (in time). They entitle drawings with song titles. They comment on each picture.
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4. Students practice writing various rhythms/structures of poetry. 1. iambic pentameter 2. couplet 3. free verse 4. sestet etc.
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5. After studying several concrete poems (“The Christmas Tree,” “City Question,” ”The Main Deep”) students create concrete poems of their own. They discuss the rhythm of each poem as well as structure/rhythm of the poems mentioned above.
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6. Students assemble a collage of pictures of any one theme in such a way that shapes (circles, triangles etc.) comment upon the theme. Students write a brief explanation of what they tried to depict through shape. They may also write a poem on this same theme.
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“A Birthday”
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by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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My heart is like a singing bird
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Whose nest is in a watered shoot:
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My heart is like an apple tree
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Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
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My heart is like a rainbow shell
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That paddles in a halcyon sea;
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My heart is gladder than all these,
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Because my love is come to me.
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Raise me a dais of silk and down;,
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Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
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Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
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And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
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Work it in gold and silver grapes,
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In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
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Is come, my love is come to me.
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“The Eagle”
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by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
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Close to the sun in lonely lands,
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Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
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The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
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He watches from his mountain walls,
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And like a thunderbolt he falls.
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“The Secret Heart”
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by Robert P. Tristam Coffin
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Across the years he could recall
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His father one way best of all.
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In the stillest hour of the night
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The boy awakened to a light.
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Half in dreams, he saw his sire
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With his great hands full of fire.
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The man had struck a match to see
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If his son slept peacefully.
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He held his palms each side the spark
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His love had kindled in the dark.
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His two hands were curved apart
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In the semblance of a heart.
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He wore, it seemed to his small son,
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A bare heart on his hidden one.
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A heart that gave out such a glow
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No son awake could bear to know.
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It showed a look upon a face
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Too tender for the day to trace.
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One instant, it lit all about,
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And then the secret heart went out.
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But it shone long enough for one
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To know that hands held up the sun.
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“Sestina of Youth and Age”
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by Frank Gelett Burgess
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My father died when I was all too young,
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And he too old, too crowded with his care,
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For me to know he knew my hot fierce hopes;
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Youth sees wide chasms between itself and
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Age—How could I think he, too, had lived my life?
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My dreams were all of war, and his of rest.
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And so he sleeps (please God), at last at rest,
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And, it may be, with soul refreshed, more young
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Than when he left me, for that other life—
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Free, for a while, at least, from that old Care,
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The hard, relentless torturer of his age,
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That cooled his youth, and bridled all his hopes.
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For now I know he had the longing hopes,
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The wild desires of youth, and all the rest
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Of my ambition ere he came to age;
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He, too, was bold, when he was free and young—
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Had I but known that he could feel, and care!
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How could I know the secret of his life?
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In my own youth I see his early life
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So reckless, and so full of flaming hopes—
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I see him jubilant, without a care,
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The days too short, and grudging time for rest;
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He knew the wild delight of being young—
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Shall I, too, know the calmer joys of age?
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His words come back, to mind me of that age
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When, lovingly, he watched my broadening life—
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And, dreaming of the days when he was young,
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Smiled at my joys, and shared my fears and hopes.
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His words still live, for in my heart they rest,
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Too few not to be kept with jealous care!
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Ah, little did I know how he could care!
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That, in my youth, lay joys to comfort age!
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Not in this world, for him, was granted rest,
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But as he lived, in me, a happier life,
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He prayed more earnestly to win my hopes
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Then ever his own, when he was young!
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Envoy
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He once was young; I too must fight with
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Care; He knew my hopes, and I must share his age;
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God grant my life be worthy, too, of rest!
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