I created this image due to a challenge made by "Alfred Welsh" in his comment made on
White Tree at Twilight. I hope it pleases him.
LIBERTY ENLIGHTENS THE PEOPLE
She broke her bonds and strode along the beach:
A metal titan with the strength to act
In judgment of the wretches who detract
From lessons they had lost the will to teach.
And on the slate she held was graven each
Colossal name of those whose holy pact
To build a nation still proclaimed the fact
Of storied greatness, late within our reach.
How many laurels grace the marble brow?
A race of giants had traversed the far
Face of the bannered moon. And turning now,
She smites the teeming refuse who would mar
What God has made, before they can endow
Old Glory with the Devil's waning star.
Ellin Anderson
She broke her bonds and strode along the beach:
A metal titan with the strength to act
In judgment of the wretches who detract
From lessons they had lost the will to teach.
And on the slate she held was graven each
Colossal name of those whose holy pact
To build a nation still proclaimed the fact
Of storied greatness, late within our reach.
How many laurels grace the marble brow?
A race of giants had traversed the far
Face of the bannered moon. And turning now,
She smites the teeming refuse who would mar
What God has made, before they can endow
Old Glory with the Devil's waning star.
Ellin Anderson
I think it's great and now I look forward to see what he has to say :-))
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonie! I look forward to his response also!
ReplyDeleteI am sure he'll love the image and the poem Barbara. Both are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYours is the first of many attempts that will be made by visual artists to represent, in their own various media, the import of this profound poem. Pregnant as it is with symbolism, it presents a considerably greater challenge than did the previous poem that you treated, by the same author. While your own interpretation omits certain significant details, I find aspects of it quite interesting. In particular converting metal into flesh, and titanic into life-sized, gives your rendition a certain personal humanizing touch, as a reminder that the work of retributive cleansing will in reality need to be done by the people.
ReplyDeleteI have certain connections up here, and when I noticed something that would have been inconceivable when I was alive, namely the representative of an alien Bedouin culture, wearing America's military uniform, making such a symbolic sacrificial offering of his fellow soldiers to his own Luciferian god, I arranged for both Calliope and Erato to go down and whisper a few things into the ears of their favorite one of all my country's latest poets. I say "symbolic" because of how the number of the fallen was equal to the number of the original colonies, along with a fourteenth, yet unborn, representing all those yet in danger of being harvested by the crescent sickle.
I see your female figure as a protective mother, on a mission to spare her offspring from further harm by intruders who would use her too generous welcoming as a way to hurt her children. I assume that the scroll lying in the sand is meant to be the Tablet of Colossal Names, which she has lain gently aside so as not to be encumbered by it as she begins her serious business.
Thank you Alfred! To depict the poem as you would like to see, I would have had to use a fantasy figure and other fantasy elements which aren't my style. I prefer to show reality and beauty. So, this was quite a challenge for me.
ReplyDeleteYes, the scroll does represent the Tablet of Colossal Names
I am pleased that you are satisfied with the results. :)
Given the inherent constraints of your style and the medium you have chosen to work in, the result is quite commendable.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there is no mention of a sword, your introduction of it, while symbolically underscoring the seriousness of the situation, should not be taken as an indication that the "smiting" referred to in the poem should necessarily have to involve the use of lethal force to expel the offending incompatible and aggressive ideological affliction, for which every effort must be made to effect the most humanitarian possible cure.
Holy Wow! Really..... what an awesome image as it is very poignant. It is an image to sit back and ponder, chew on what it says and not says. That poem! Goes with the powerful image... Liberty. And what a response from Alfred. A bunch of wows! Way to go, Barbara.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alfred, for your input.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anna! Wow is right when it comes to this challenge from Alfred! I truly didn't feel I did the poem justice.
Hi! I just gave you another One-Minute Writing of the Day award for 2/6. Congrats!
ReplyDelete-C. Beth
The One-Minute Writer
Thank you C. Beth!! I'm honored!
ReplyDeleteNice poem and all of that, but what I thought was Va Va Voom... Titantic I'd say. This character makes Venus look like a fly trap. Great image Barbara .... (viewer pushes eyes back into his head)
ReplyDeleteHahahaha! Thank you Preston!!
ReplyDeleteLOL Yeah, Preston told me about his comment. She has a dagger.... Luckily, I won't smack him into next week... LOL... :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha!! I'm glad Preston is safe--for the time being! ;)
ReplyDeleteSpectacular, provocative image. Great work!
ReplyDeleteThank you blueheronbobcat! :)
ReplyDelete