Henry Howard on Wolves and Lions

by | 26 May 2010 | Art History

Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, is credited along with Thomas Wyatt for founding the English sonnet. Henry Howard lived in France for a long time, was frequently in trouble with Henry VIII for his boisterous behavior, and got into all sorts of adventures; he was a cool dude. This verse, thought to be about Anne Stanhope, Lady Hertford, is from about 1542.

A SONG WRITTEN BY THE EARL OF SURREY.
OF A LADY THAT REFUSED TO DANCE WITH HIM.

EACH beast can choose his fere according to his mind,
And eke can show a friendly chere, like to their beastly kind.
A lion saw I late, as white as any snow,
Which seemed well to lead the race, his port the same did show.
Upon the gentle beast to gaze it pleased me,
For still methought he seemed well of noble blood to be.
And as he pranced before, still seeking for a make,
As who would say, ‘There is none here, I trow, will me forsake’,
I might perceive a Wolf as white as whalèsbone,
A fairer beast of fresher hue, beheld I never none ;
Save that her looks were coy, and froward eke her grace :
Unto the which this gentle beast gan him advance apace,
And with a beck full low he bowed at her feet,
In humble wise, as who would say, ‘I am too far unmeet.’
But such a scornful chere, wherewith she him rewarded !
Was never seen, I trow, the like, to such as well deserved.
With that she start aside well near a foot or twain,
And unto him thus gan she say, with spite and great disdain :
‘Lion,’ she said, ‘if thou hadst known my mind before,
Thou hadst not spent thy travail thus, nor all thy pain for-lore.
Do way ! I let thee weet, thou shalt not play with me : (more…)

The Modern University Experience

by | 18 May 2010 | Art History

“The Professors of cognate subjects require also (at Oxford) to be grouped together into Boards, which should have the regulation of their respective studies, along with the Examiners of their school, and subject perhaps to some sort of veto at the hands of the Vice-Chancellor or the University. This would go some ways toward raising the position of the Professors and encouraging the formation of the ‘learned class,’ which the English are told they do not possess. To possess it in the German-University sense is, of course, on the principles already laid down, impossible. Professors are, in England, part of the teaching body. It it best they should remain so. A portion of them will, no doubt, advance the cause of learning by publishing lectures and writing books, over and above their regular work; but the modern University experience of ‘learned leisure’ is not encouraging.”

— John Taylor Coleridge, The Quarterly Review, (London: John Murray, 1809), 413.

Fassbinder Film Festival May 2010

Fassbinder Film Festival May 2010

by | 18 May 2010 | Art History, German Expressionism / Modernism

Phassbinder Philm Phestival

Phassbinder Philm Phestival

Whity, (1971); Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte, (1971); Faustrecht der Freiheit, (1975); Angst vor der Angst, (1975); Liebe ist kålter als der Tod, (1969); Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (1982); Die Ehe der Maria Braun, (1979); Lola (1981).

Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Few filmmakers so powerfully manage to subvert desire for cathartic drama while simultaneously fulfilling it.