Painting Pictures with Words
by Bill Baldwin Contributor
How can I do justice to our August speaker Nils Michals’ talk on “Rilke, Cézanne, and Revisioning the Poetic Image?” I feel I would need degrees in Literature, Art, and Philosophy, at the least! I’ll do what I can. Fortunately, I believe we can provide Michals’ slide presentation upon request.
The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was strongly influenced by the French painter Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). Rilke viewed Cézanne’s work at the Paris Salon D’Autumne in 1907 (Cézanne had died the previous year). Rilke’s visceral reaction brought him to realize the impact of a strong image, and from then on, Rilke focused on the “poetic image” in his poems Cézanne presented objects in a wholly new way: thinking in terms of form and color. So how can writers present an image? William Carlos Williams famously stated: “No idea but in things!” Consider ekphrastic writing: writing inspired by visual art. What is the importance of image? Consider denoting vs. connoting: “denoting” is precise, definite; “connoting” deals with feelings: suggested, implied. How can a writer engage the reader? Ezra Pound spoke of the “emotional/intellectual complex at a point in time.”
Michals showed us several images and asked us to sketch our immediate, emotional reactions. First image: a photo of a stormy sea. One reaction: White foam coming after me, dark clouds threatening; impending doom. Wet—loud—crashing!
Next image, in contrast: a photo of a large tree. Reaction: Blue-green abundant growth springs up against the autumn leaves dying, fighting the sunshine that birthed and sustains it.
What was Rilke grappling with? How can we “write an object?” Michals contrasted the Symbolists and the Imagists. I re membered Rimbaud’s comment about the “total derangement of the senses.” Should each of us cultivate “our own personal madness?”
Rilke spoke of “holiness” and “integrity.” What did he mean? Was he a mystic?
Final image, a painting: women bathing in a country stream. Reaction: Warm sunny country afternoon, women safe and comfortable amongst themselves, enjoying water and sky; fields, lake, and distant villages; clouds, cool breeze, contentment—joyful, peaceful bonding—companionship.
For myself, with my experience reading Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf… Michals gave me a lot to think about!
Thank you, Nils Michals — I think I’m in love!