Unsuccessful "Famous" Artists

Some artists go through their whole live trying to "make it big". They'll do anything to get there, only to have their peers scoff at their work and look the other way. Other artists are too self-conscious or unsure of their work; often ending up holding onto their masterpieces until death do they part. So why do some artists become famous after they die, and not while they were alive?

Vincent Van Gogh, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jane Austen. Three famous artists who all did not see fame during their time on Earth, but today their names are spoken and recognized by millions of people all around the world. Why is that? Most of the time, as it turns out, the artist is far beyond their time. Their genius artist ability highly exceeds their pupils and they simply become another person in the background. Why are they so far above the rest? What do all three of those previously mentioned artists have in common? To put in plainly, their brains were wired differently than others. Every artist I mention in this post (with the exception of Bach, which can be argued) has been shown to have a mental illness sometime during his or her lifetime. Just food for thought.

Now, let's look at a couple American authors who all endured the same circumstances:

Emily Dickinson

Popularly known as one of the best female poets, Emily's poems often lie on the dark and dramatic edge. She was a truly innovative writer with her unique free style, which often included short, brisk lines that broke all of the rules. Emily did not follow a writing style of her fellow peers, but rather invented her own. Her personality was just as unique as her poetry, as she was commonly known for her introverted ways and agoraphobia. A few of her poems were actually published during her lifetime, but did not catch on like they did after her death.

Edgar Allan Poe

My personal favorite. Poe was a Romantic writer who focused on dark, mystery, and death. His work often offset these dark topics by rhyming in almost a sing-songy way. Unlike Dickinson, Poe was desperate to get his work published, as his life was not a glamorous one. He was plagued with his wife's death, alcoholism, and a possible mental illness to top it all off. He had very little money and often moved around a lot. When he tried to publish his work, he was not offered much, as it is known that his famous piece 'The Raven' went for less than $15.


Why do you think some artists do not become famous until after their death?

'Annabel Lee': Summary & Interpretation

Annabel Lee

By: Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea;

But we loved with a love that was more than love-

I and my Annabel Lee-

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven

Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

 A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,

Went envying her and me-

Yes!- that was the reason (as all mean know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we-

Of many far wiser than we-

And neither the angels in heaven above,

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

And so, all the night tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea-

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

The speaker of the poem begins the story by fairytale like descriptions of the atmosphere, which includes a "kingdom by the sea". We are introduced to Annabel Lee, whom the story is written about. In stanza two, the speaker tells us about the mature love he and Annabel Lee share, even though they are just children. Soon enough, the story takes a dark turn, which is a Poe specialty. The angels become jealous of their love, and result to killing Annabel Lee. As the "highborn kinsmen" take her away, you get a feeling their love was not welcomed by all. But, the speaker is so sure of their love, saying it is stronger than "those who were older than we" and "far wiser than we". In the last stanza, we are brought into the present as the speaker continues to compare his eternal love for Annabel Lee as he is laid down to rest next to her.

The more I read this poem, the more I become infatuated with it. To me it screams classic Poe, detailing a dark and mysterious story about death, all wrapped up and tied with a tragic long-lost love bow. What more could you want? All right, I know everyone is not the biggest fan of Poe, but I think most people can actually relate to this story (even romantics and nature lovers) if you don't read too much into it and interpret it a little bit differently. For example, we have all had heartbreak that has gone awry. You're floating right along; completely smitten by some guy or girl, but you're in your own little young and naive world (stanza 1 and 2). Then comes the heartbreak, leaving your completely devastated (stanza 3). You start questioning yourself and fumble for reasons of why it happened, or how did it get to this point (stanza 4 and 5). All the while you are bearing this misery, you slowly realize how everything around you reminds you of him or her (stanza 6). All right, that might be a little bit dramatic but you get the idea.

Do you have any special interpretations of your favorite writer's work?

Handwriting Analysis

So I don't remember what I was looking up the other day (what else is new), but I somehow stumbled upon this interesting handwriting analysis site. I have always been fascinated with the idea how something as mundane as a person's handwriting can tell you intricate details about their personality. From the letter spacing to size to pressure applied, every tiny detail is imperative to distinguish a person's personality characteristics. Yes, handwriting analysis can be seen as subjective and it definitely has its flaws. BUT, it has been shown that talented handwriting analysts have greater than 90% accuracy. Still skeptical? Let's put this analysis into action with a few American authors we have come across (link included after each analysis).

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Time Period: The Colonial Period
Famous Pieces: The Autobiography, Poor Richard's Almanack
Genre(s): Autobiography, narrative
Writing Style: Plain, informational, can be satirical

Common Themes: Wealth, politics, self independence, realistic

Handwriting Analysis: From an analysis, some of Mr. Franklin's positive traits include logical, innovative, creative, independent, and desires authority. Some of his negative traits include conceited, materialistic, critical, and can be easily irritable. 1

Conclusion: I think Benjamin's handwriting analysis reflects his writing pretty accurately. He is often straight forward and right to the point in his writing style. One of his popular topics to write about was wealth, which correlates with his materialistic trait. Another related attribute is his love for politics, which is reflective in the desires authority trait. All in all, this one was hard to disagree with.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Time Period: Romanticism

Famous Pieces: The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart

Genre(s): Short stories, poems

Writing Style: Gothic, dramatic

Common Themes: Love, madness, evil, horror

Handwriting Analysis: Some of Poe's personality characteristics that are seen from an analysis of his handwriting include organized, traumatic past, skeptical of new information, prideful, and cooperative. 2

Conclusion: This one is harder to correlate. Organized can easily be seen by his style of writing. Every aspect was well thought out, especially his rhythmic rhyming in particular poems. He preferred shorter pieces of work that got the point across without being too drawn out. His traumatic past can refer to his parents dying at the age of three and his trouble with relationships. This is easily reflected in his work like The Raven, which revolves around a lost love. One interesting fact I should mention is that Poe actually dabbled in the art of graphology (aka handwriting analysis). Could this have influenced a change in his own handwriting? I guess we will never know.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Time Period: End of Romanticism, and Realism

Famous Pieces: Success is Counted Sweetest, Hope, A Bird Came Down the Walk

Genre(s): Poems

Writing Style: Lyrical, precise, modern

Common Themes: Love, death, doubt, faith

Handwriting Analysis: As you can see, Emily had very different handwriting when compared to the others. Some of her personality characteristics that can be seen from her handwriting include emotionally expressive, visionary, independent, fluidity of thought, and need for personal space. 3

Conclusion: Emily was a unique woman of her time, and I think her handwriting reflects that. Later in her life, she tended to be a reclusive individual, which can be suggested by her independent way and need for personal space. It also predicts she was emotionally expressive. This is easily seen in her work where her topics often include strong emotions from her (at times) brutal honesty.

Go to this link which includes an online book where you can easily analyze your own handwriting. What does your handwriting say about you?

Literature & Art

I used to not be a big fan of art. I don’t know what it was, but in the past I would never give a painting two thoughts. I even saw paintings in person by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Picasso (to name just a few) IN PERSON at the Met in NYC, and still could not wrap my head around the cult-like following these painters have.

But, that all changed when I took an art appreciation class last semester that focused on, you guessed it, understanding and appreciating art. It really opened up my eyes about what is happening “behind the scenes” of a piece of art. Now, I am so fascinated by the meaning behind it, particularly paintings. It is quite the experience now when I can actually understand a painting by what time period it was from, what the artist was going through at the time, what movement was popular at that time, etc.

As previously stated, I have found my favorite period in American literature to be Romanticism. Romanticism is not the lovey-dovey subject you probably think of when you first hear it. Instead, Romantic artists honored individualism, emotion, and irrationalism, while their reasonable intellect took a back seat. Some of my favorite Romantic authors include Poe, Dickinson, Hawthorne, and Melville, to name a few. But, the Romanticism does not only apply to authors. Listed below are three of my favorite Romantic paintings, which I encourage you to check out more.

"Steamer in a Snowstorm" by Joseph Turner

"Steamer in a Snowstorm" is the epitome of Romanticism. It is a far cry from a classical piece, which was the style before Romanticism. Instead, this painting shows off the individual expression of the artist and emotional feeling you get from the fury of the storm. I feel like it is comparable to a lot of Poe's work, like "The Raven" or "The Tell-Tale Heart", which tend to send you on an emotional, whirling roller coaster ride where you don't know up from down.

"Abbey in an Oak Forest" by Caspar David Friedrich

Nature is a frequent regular subject for Romanticism artist, but it would not be a Romantic piece without a twist like this painting provides. "Abbey in an Oak Forest" depicts a sense of dramatic mystery that is often frequented by Romantic artist. When first viewing this piece, I immediately thought of Emily Dickinson's work. Common themes of hers include haunted nature and death, which I think this painting depicts perfectly.

"The Voyage of Life Manhood" by Thomas Cole

"The Voyage of Life" includes a series of paintings by Thomas Cole portraying the journey by man through four life stages, childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. During the first two stages (childhood and youth), the scenery starts out bright and colorful in a peaceful and naive way. Once manhood is reached, life takes a turn for the worst as the once naive way of life has lifted and the sudden reality begins to portray itself. I think this painting relates to "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, as sudden realizations of reality sets in.

What painting of its time relates to your favorite piece of literature?

The Dark Side of Romanticism

Romanticism has turned out to be my favorite genre that I have come across in my American Literature class. More specifically, I love the dark side of it. You know, the emotionally tragic and disturbing type of stories that make you want to hug your stuffed teddy bear afterwards because it deeply troubled your psychological health. All right, they may not be that mentally distraught, but you get the idea.

What I like most about this genre is how each story has a unique meaning to each individual reader. If you are looking for a story with a message at the end that brings it all together, these are not the type for you. In contrast, they are filled with intensely intriguing plots that pull you along line by line, only to leave you perplexed at the end. Each story’s meaning is up for interpretation, entitling the reader to fill in the blanks.

So, if you think you’re up for the challenge, listed below are a few of my reading suggestions from American writers that also loved the loosely defined Dark Romantic subgenre. (Warning: The following reading suggestions have been known to invoke obscure, mentally questionable thoughts. Read at your own risk.)

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is the epitome of dark, gothic writing. You cannot even mention this style without his name coming up. “The Raven” is considered to be one of his most famous pieces of work, which is not hard to fathom. It centers on an unnamed narrator who is profound in his sorrow for the loss of a woman named Lenore (a common theme in Poe’s work). As insanity pursues the narrator, you follow along with the rhyming, almost musical, writing style while his dramatic hallucination and rollercoaster of emotions adds to the enticement. This story is an A+ in my book.

“The Minister’s Black Veil” y Nathaniel Hawthorne

More popularly known for “The Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work typically surrounds the ideas of guilt and sin. “The Minister’s Black Veil” follows directly along those lines. The story starts out depicting a calm, town scenery, when a Reverend arrives wearing a black veil. Curiosity ensues, shortly followed by disturbed thoughts as the town people try to figure out the Reverend’s motive for the newly adorned mask. Why is he wearing it? What is he hiding? I guess you will have to read it to find out.

“Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville

Best know for “Moby Dick”, Herman Melville can be described as an Anti-Transcendentalist who has delved a bit in the Dark Romanticism subgenre. In the beginning of the story, the character Bartleby can be seen as any other hire at the narrator Lawyer’s office. But soon enough, a response from Bartleby jumpstarts the questioning and digging into whom he actually is and what he represents. Although upfront this story may appear less “dark” than the others, the questionable nature and distraught main character that is a staple in Dark Romanticism still remains at the forefront.

What is your favorite genre and piece?

Introduction

Welcome! This blog was created for an assignment for my on-line English class (American Literature I). However, I am hoping it will turn into much more than an assignment, maybe an outlet for creative writing perhaps? Who knows, but hopefully you will join me for the adventure. Fasten your seat belts; it might be a bumpy ride.

You don’t personally know me? No problem! Here are a few fun facts about myself:

1. I am a 5th year senior at Purdue University studying General Health Science and will (hopefully) be graduating in December.

2. I have no idea what I want to do after I graduate. I switched majors oh, about 5 times, and still am unsure of what I want to do for the rest of my working life. But, experimenting and figuring things out are what your 20s are for (or so I keep telling myself that).

3. I am a high school softball coach. I played from ages 6-18, opted not to play in college, and am now in my third year of coaching girls from 12-18 years old. It has been a crazy ride, but easily one of the best decisions I have ever made.

4. I am a big fan of science fiction and dystopian genres. My kindle would probably ask, “Are you sure?” if I downloaded a book from any other genre.

5. If I had to choose one author to read for the rest of my life, I would probably choose James Rollins. I have read every book of his, and always mark my calendar for when the next one is coming out (January 2013 wooo!). The book “Amazonia” is what got me started on his collection, and still is my #1 favorite to this day.

What are some of your favorite authors?