When You Can See the Dimension of Time

It is not uncommon that we read thousands of years of history in one stanza of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; it's mind-blowing how the concept of time can expand and shrink just like that, and sometimes a few simple words can bring back memories of centuries past, and stories from hinges of history brought to tears, people of all time. Byron's vast knowledge of history made his poetry incomparably rich, with his words floating through time and space, his work pulls together pieces of the wildest imagination. 

Poetry brings to our attention the connection between events in time in a linear fashion. We read through them word by word, line by line and legend of extraordinary individuals create indescribable images in our minds. It's sort of an abstract concept at least, for we couldn't put a frame around it, but rather brew the kaleidoscopic vision in the caldron of our consciousness. 

Visual artists sometimes have the ability to bring us back on our feet, and with their brushes, create one after another aha moments and make us say: indeed this is how the imagination of all collides. 

Gustav Klimt, one of my favourite painters of all time, had been labeled as a symbolic painter. I'd rather think of it as his ability to make the parallel elements apparent between different characteristics in his paintings. The female figures being one of the prominent themes, Klimt's extravagant splashes of gold and generously spread decorative strokes earned his paintings the title "frank eroticism". Personally I don't quite agree with that, for the study of female bodies has been an unavoidable theme in all, maybe save few misfits in the art world, categories of western art. Artists admire perfect proportions and the smooth curves of a female figure, painting them over and over again regardless of their styles or methods. Klimt for one, had been quite versatile, painting traditional realistic figures with a twist in the composition as well as abstract shapes during his "golden phase": those art nouveau paintings drove art connoisseurs wild, and they put those shimmering pieces in living rooms, on furniture, scarves, jewelries, etc. However, Klimt's most admirable accomplishments lies in his symbolic compositions. Being a member of the distinguished Vienna Succession movement, he was, among the like minded fellow artists, aiming to create a style that entirely stands alone from previous influences. 

Allegory of Sculpture

Allegory of Sculpture, completed roughly in 1889, was one of Klimt's best known portraits. Within one canvas, you see layers of sculptures from different periods and cultures. The artist is doing the job of a curator as he was creating this piece, thus creating an early manifestation of augmented reality. It's a masterpiece of a skilled painting, but the most extraordinary character of this painting lies in the fact that there's an entirely different kind of dimension presented in front of us. 

From background to foreground, you can tell vaguely the sculpture in the style of ancient Greek, a traditional bust of Athena with distinguishable facial features; in front of that is another sculpture of Athena in her shiniest armour and glorious helmet, holding her sceptor (although unseen from the painting). Before that, a modern sculpture of a seated female figure, led by a beautiful water colour painting of a female with Egyptian accessories (and some of Klimt's favourite circular motifs in her hair).  The foreground figure is standing on a platform, holding a posture as though she's a sculpture. It's almost as if she's indeed a sculpture yet turning into life by the touch of the artist. It's happened before, if you're familiar with Pygmalion's story. 

There are chunks of empty spaces in the painting, something you wouldn't see in the more traditional pieces. Modern artists have been exploring what they can do within the limitation of a frame, and Klimt here, has indubitably created a sense of infinity through leaving blank the spaces in between the present and the past, the foreground and the background. One thing is certain: Allegory of Sculpture is not a realistic presentation of still life, but a visualized flow of thoughts, a poetry in the form of a picture. 

II : XVI - XXI Of the Sea and the Moon

Before commercial airlines were invented, there's only one way daredevils go exploring the world: hit the wave and go to uncharted waters. It hasn't been long since human being finally grasped the whole scope of our planet, if you think about it. For the most part of our race's time on earth, we've just been satisfied with the comfort of ignorance. However, once you tasted the sweetness of adventures, there's no turing back. 

Harold, for one, is cutting himself loose from all his past attachments, moving on to the next destination. Of course, it's easier to leave a place that had depressed him so much: Greece, was like a tomb of a civilization, a shell of what used to be so vivacious and rich.

Between 1809-1810, Lord Byron went back and forth from Greece (the general Mediterranean area) to Turkey (especially Constantinople, Troy, etc.) 

He visited important geographical marks in Odyssey and Iliad during that time including Ithaca, Odysseus' home, Athens, Troy, spending long bulks of time in that area, while writing the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 

The imageries in Canto the Second were, of course, fresh and vivid. 

The ocean possesses something entirely inexplicable to our logical minds. It pulls you in and calms you down even when you see those fierce waves and hear those restless howls. It's as though a kind of subliminal siren song draws you close to the heart of the ocean. There's no way to escape it once you're intoxicated by the salty wind. 

The "dark, blue sea" has been a constant motif in Lord Byron's poetry. Having spend so much time abroad and about, it's understandable that the ever-changing climes at the sea would inspire the romantic poet. In stanza XVII, the ocean presents itself as a peaceful and vast sight in front of Childe Harold's eyes, filled with spirit. The sea is an interesting symbol, for it represent different things for different people. Byron, for instance, was an individual who's saturated with knowledge of history, hence the ocean to him became more than just a body water, but rather a mote of memories that connects the past and the presents. Here's another poem about the ocean:

The Dark, Blue Sea
by Lord Byron
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,There is a rapture on the lonely shore,There is society where none intrudes,By the deep sea, and music in its roar:I love not man the less, but nature more,From these our interviews, in which I stealFrom all I may be, or have been before,To mingle with the universe, and feelWhat I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.-
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean-roll!Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;

Read the rest of the poem here, and the attached video provides you with a narrative perspective of the literature. This poem, to me is almost an expansion and a microscopic view of a small segment of "Childe Harold".

Let your mind race when facing the dark, blue sea...

you wouldn't be able to resist it.

The structure of a ship crew, called warlike here by Byron, to me is more like a corporation. You have the Captain who commands the executive decisions like a CEO; you have the experienced boatswain who functions as the maintenance head; and you have the mate who would be more similar than you think to a modern day PR department, overlooking crisis and figuring out how to solve all kinds of problems.

It takes a lot of will power and the calmest personality to be a captain, for he is responsible for the well being of the entire crew, just like what a good CEO of the company would be. He would be the one to blame for the crisis and the last one to loose up. Recently I heard the story of the captain of a ship that went on an exploration voyage to the north pole. A man of few words, the captain revealed in front of the journalist that he's accustomed to danger and accepted the fact that you have to be ready to yield to the power of nature at any time.

The sea is also a provider of neutral environments where people can forget about all the daily nuisances. Maybe that's why we still go on cruises although many a times those voyages prove to be the opposite of what the advertising says. Of course, it depends on what you ask for in the first place. Personally I've always had this fantasy of going sailing at the sea and see all the different colours of the water and all the different shapes of clouds. You get what you sign up for...minus the romanticized part. 

The brine consumes it all. 

The flow of your thoughts stirs into the unknown. 

The process is irreversible. 

The other universal motif that fascinates people across time and space is, if you still haven't guessed it yet, the moon. Every single poet, visual artist, singer as far as I know, regardless of age, cultural background, gender or race, has used the ethereal being, the moon, as a subject and a muse. Chinese poet Li Bai in Tang Dynasty would look up the sky with his drunken eyes, inviting the moon and his own shadow for another round. It's a whimsical sight, incredibly zen.

There are endless tales about the origin of moon and fascinating lores explaining the man in the moon, or in my case, I grew up knowing that the goddess Chang Eh took a leap of faith in her desire of coming immortal, left her home and her husband, and took residence in the palace of the moon. There's a white rabbit and a flowering three there to keep her company. The moon has always been a place of solitude and self reflection for philosophers throughout history. Since man's first step onto the surface of moon, we already know that it's a barren satellite planet of the earth, tucking and pulling the tides being one of her functions; yet we still enjoy fantastical stories with no scientific basis about the moon. Why? Because the moon we talk about in stories is more than a boring astronomical being, but a symbol that connects humanity and makes us one.

Here's a modern rendition by Pigpen Theatre Co. telling the tale of how the moon changes shape. A story of the steward of the moon with shadow puppetry in digital animation...the cutting edge modern and the traditional, the handicraftsman and the digital editing, you can't get more integrated than that!