Friday, 24 August 2012

Poetry & Art, Kiplin & Rousseau

Today dawned wet, dull and thoroughly miserable, I have one week left and then back to work…………oh what I would do for blue skys and warm seas. Today I have my four year old granddaughter while her mother works and this is something rather jolly and light hearted that we chose together to wile away the hours cooped up indoors. Be sure to play the video at the bottom of the page while reading the poem and looking at the pictures. And while listening to the music imagine my granddaughter dancing around my living room as only a four year can, in total oblivion to the world around her and ‘mock’ growling every so often.

The Law of the Jungle (Poem) by Rudyard Kipling - from The Jungle Book

Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip; drink deeply, but never too deep;

And remember the night is for hunting, and forget not the day is for sleep.

The Jackal may follow the Tiger, but, Cub, when thy whiskers are grown,

Remember the Wolf is a Hunter -- go forth and get food of thine own.

Keep peace withe Lords of the Jungle -- the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear.

And trouble not Hathi the Silent, and mock not the Boar in his lair.

When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle, and neither will go from the trail,

Lie down till the leaders have spoken -- it may be fair words shall prevail.

When ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack, ye must fight him alone and afar,

Lest others take part in the quarrel, and the Pack be diminished by war.

The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, and where he has made him his home,

Not even the head Wolf may enter, not even the Council may come.

The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, but where he has digged it too plain,

The Council shall send him a message, and so he shall change it again.

If ye kill before midnight, be silent, and wake not the woods with your bay,

Lest ye frighten the deer from the crop, and your brothers go empty away.

Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need, and ye can;

But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill Man!

If ye plunder his Kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride;

Pack-Right is the right of the meanest; so leave him the head and the hide.

The Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack. Ye must eat where it lies;

And no one may carry away of that meat to his lair, or he dies.

The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf. He may do what he will;

But, till he has given permission, the Pack may not eat of that Kill.

Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling. From all of his Pack he may claim

Full-gorge when the killer has eaten; and none may refuse him the same.

Lair-Right is the right of the Mother. From all of her year she may claim

One haunch of each kill for her litter, and none may deny her the same.

Cave-Right is the right of the Father -- to hunt by himself for his own:

He is freed of all calls to the Pack; he is judged by the Council alone.

Because of his age and his cunning, because of his gripe and his paw,

In all that the Law leaveth open, the word of your head Wolf is Law.

Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they;

Rudyard Kipling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was an English author and poet, born in Bombay, British India, and best known for his works The Jungle Book (1894). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author Henry James famously said of him: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and he remains its youngest-ever recipient. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.

To compliment this poem, what could be more appropriate than the jungle paintings of ;

HENRI ROUSSEAU

HENRI ROUSSEAU’S paintings have been fascinating people for about 120 years now. Rousseau’s paints with a rich leafy grandeur, his work has a quality akin to a tapestry, elements of Cubism can be seen in the foliage and his outsize ‘lotus like’ blooms, his work borders but doesn’t quiet descent into the abstract

Rousseau was entirely self-taught, which may be why his unruffled jungle visions count as some of the most instantly lovable yet persistently mysterious advances in the history of art. They are large in scale, but dimensionally flat ant two dimensional. They take no account at all of one-point perspective, or any other kind of perspective. Their radicalism needs no explanation; it simply casts a spell. If proof were needed of huge imaginary talent just consider the fact Rousseau painted his jungles without leaving Paris.

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Friday, 24 August 2012

Poetry & Art, Kiplin & Rousseau

The Law of the Jungle (Poem) by Rudyard Kipling - from The Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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