FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   >>  
metre. ANDREA DEL SARTO. (PAGE 149.) An Italian painter, of the Florentine school; born 1487, died 1531. His merits and defects as an artist are given in the poem. The crime to which he is here made to refer was the use, for building himself a house, of the money intrusted to him by the French king for the purchase of works of art. For an account of his life and work see the article in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, and Vasari's _Lives of the Painters_. 15. =Fiesole= (pronounced Fe-[='a]-so-l[ve]). A small Italian town near Florence. 119. =Rafael=. The great painter, Raphael (1483-1520). 130. =Agnolo=. Michael Angelo (1475-1584), one of Italy's greatest men: famous as sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. 150. =Fontainebleau=. A town southeast of Paris, formerly the residence of French kings, and still famous for its Renaissance architecture and for the landscapes around it. 241. =scudi=. The _scudo_ is an Italian silver coin worth about one dollar. 262. =Leonard=. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), another of Italy's great men: artist, poet, musician, and scientist. Construct the scene and action of the poem. How does the coloring harmonize with the artist's mood? Why is he weary? How does he think of his art: what merit has it? What does it lack? How does he explain this lack? What clew to it does his life afford? Is his art soulless because he has done wrong? Or, do the lack of soul in his painting, and the wrongdoing, and the infatuation with Lucrezia's beauty, all arise from the same thing,--the man's own nature? Does he appeal to your sympathy, or provoke your condemnation? Does he blame himself, or another, or circumstances? What idea have you of Lucrezia? What does she think of Andrea? Of his art? What things does he desire of her? What problems of life are here presented? Which is principal: the relation of man and woman, the need of _soul_ for great work, or the interrelation between character and achievement? Or, is there something else for which the poem stands? Can you cite any lines that embody the main idea of the poem? Does anything in it remind you of _The Grammarian_, or of _Rabbi Ben Ezra?_ CALIBAN UPON SETEBOS. (PAGE 161.) Setebos was the god of Caliban's mother, the witch Sycorax, on Prospero's island. Read Shakespeare's _The Tempest_. Observe especially all that is said by or about Caliban. Observe that Browning makes Caliban usually speak of himself in the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   >>  



Top keywords:

artist

 

Caliban

 

painter

 

Italian

 

Lucrezia

 

French

 

famous

 

Observe

 

provoke

 

afford


condemnation

 

circumstances

 

explain

 

sympathy

 

beauty

 

infatuation

 

painting

 

nature

 
appeal
 

wrongdoing


soulless

 
achievement
 

Setebos

 

mother

 

SETEBOS

 

Grammarian

 

CALIBAN

 

Sycorax

 

Browning

 
Tempest

Prospero
 

island

 

Shakespeare

 

remind

 
relation
 
principal
 
interrelation
 

presented

 
things
 

desire


problems

 

character

 

embody

 

stands

 

Andrea

 

dollar

 

Encyclopaedia

 

article

 

Britannica

 

Vasari