Centaur and Lapith, south metope XXXI, from the Parthenon sculptures.
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A centaur struggling with one of the Lapith, a people of Thessaly. According to the legend, the centaurs conducted themselves boorishly at a wedding, and the Lapiths came furiously to the defence of their womenfolk. Lord Elgin’s venture suffered a setback when one shipment in HMS Mentor foundered off the coast of Cythera in 1804, but happily the entire cargo was salvaged. Elgin returned to England in 1806, the shipments were complete in 1812, and the transfer to the Crown followed in 1816 after a brief legal dispute. The Porte (the Turkish authorities) had given Elgin permission to remove any stones that he fancied from those that remained, but the order was characteristically careless. He took about half of them; these he then sold to the British Museum for £35,000 — a princely sum for the time, but he had spent twice that in acquiring them.
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Centaur and Lapith, south metope XXXI, from the Parthenon sculptures.
A centaur struggling with one of the Lapith, a people of Thessaly. According to the legend, the centaurs conducted themselves boorishly at a wedding, and the Lapiths came furiously to the defence of their womenfolk. Lord Elgin’s venture suffered a setback when one shipment in HMS Mentor foundered off the coast of Cythera in 1804, but happily the entire cargo was salvaged. Elgin returned to England in 1806, the shipments were complete in 1812, and the transfer to the Crown followed in 1816 after a brief legal dispute. The Porte (the Turkish authorities) had given Elgin permission to remove any stones that he fancied from those that remained, but the order was characteristically careless. He took about half of them; these he then sold to the British Museum for £35,000 — a princely sum for the time, but he had spent twice that in acquiring them.
But when I turned to the Theseus and saw that every form was altered by action or repose, when I saw that the two sides of his back varied, one side stretched from the shoulder blade being pulled forward, and the other side compressed from the shoulder blade being pushed close to the spine as he rested on his elbow, with the belly flat because the bowels fell into the pelvis as he sat, — and when, turning to the Ilyssus, I saw the belly protruded, from the figure lying on its side, and again, when in the figure of the fighting metope I saw the muscle shown under the one arm-pit in that instantaneous action of darting out, — and left out in the other arm-pits because not wanted, — when I saw, in fact, the most heroic style of art combined with all the essential detail of actual life the thing was done at once and for ever.
Here were principles which the common sense of the English people would understand; here were principles which I had struggled for in my first picture with timidity and apprehension; here were the principles which the great Greeks in their finest time established, and here was I, the most prominent historical student, perfectly qualified to appreciate all this by my own determined mode of study under the influence of my friend the watchmaker,* perfectly comprehending the hint at the skin by knowing well what was underneath it!
ByBenjamin Robert Haydon1786-1846
* ‘The watchmaker’ was a man Haydon names only as Reynolds, who worked in Plymouth, the town where Haydon grew up. Reynolds encouraged him to pursue his dream of being an artist at a time when Haydon’s family were firmly opposed, and furnished him with materials on anatomy. He should not be confused with the eminent artist Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), of Plympton (now a suburb of Plymouth), though Sir Joshua’s Discourses on Art were another factor in Haydon’s decision. “I read one. It placed so much reliance on honest industry, it expressed so strong a conviction that all men were equal and that application made the difference, that I fired up at once.” ‘The watchmaker’ was Haydon’s way of distinguishing the two men.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author
aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that
strike you. How do they help the author communicate his
ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you?
How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939)
by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at
Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn,
Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University,
USA.
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1If.Propose.Radius.
2Anxiety.Here.Lie.
3Any.But.Range.
Variations:1.include direct and indirect speech2.include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who3.use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
For each word above, choose one or more suitable
meanings from this list.
1.Take a break.2.An entertainment, public performance.3.Tell untruths.4.Possess.5.Retain hold.6.Open lawns or woodland, an estate.7.Abandoned.8.Sequence.9.Display, exhibit.10.Opposite of chaos.11.Stretch out.12.The most secure part of a castle.13.The cost of one’s board and lodging.14.Not chaos.15.Admit.16.Stop a car and turn off the engine.17.The opposite side to the right.18.The seat of a bishop.19.Went away.20.The others, the remainder.21.Belonging to oneself.22.Conditions of a golf ball.23.Command.24.Observe with the eyes.25.Bishop, priest or deacon.26.List of items for purchase.27.E.g. Benedictines.28.A support.
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations:
1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb.2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best).3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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