/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.7531207]

I don't usually browse /lit/ but I've been asked to write a short essay on the society that created Gassed by John Singer Sargent.

I'm applying for a Romanticism and the Enlightenment course at Oxford, and therefore I also have to link the work back to Romanticism primarily.

I don't blame anyone for not wanting to read it all, but if any of you have the time I'd appreciate some constructive criticism of my opinions. I'm no philosopher, so they're all pretty basic, and therefore I'd like some input on it.

I'll post it in the following comments.

[Anonymous No.7531210]

>>7531207
Gassed depicts the aftermath of a barrage of mustard gas faced by British and American soldiers in French territory towards the end of World War 1. Sargent described the scene he witnessed on the day as “harrowing”, and recounts seeing hundreds of men sitting or lying down, waiting for medical aid. Previous to this experience, Sargent had been commissioned to realise an image of Allied cooperation during the war, to demonstrate the vast power of the combined forces. As such, it may come as a surprise to many that Gassed is the final result of said request. From a superficial point of view, the image appears to depict a rather defeated band of soldiers, however when viewed with deeper insight, it becomes clear that the scene depicts a much more interesting and emotional narrative.
Primarily known for his portraiture of high-society figures throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, it seems unusual for Sargent to be commissioned to paint a scene of war. Sargent’s own background is similar to those of who he painted, despite living a rather nomadic lifestyle in Europe throughout his childhood, Sargent can almost certainly be described as having an upper-middle class upbringing. Through his childhood and his previous work, it can be argued that Gassed is a depiction of war through the lens of the upper class and the ruling elite. The idea that the upper classes, which had previously venerated war and celebrated its ‘glory’ were now witnessing a war that juxtaposed the propaganda that had persisted throughout the height of the British Empire with the harsh reality of a brutal modern warfare is interesting, as it can be given as a reason for the rise of socialism after the end of the war.
The procession of men that fills most of the foreground of the painting is decidedly important in representing this cultural shift. It shows the blind leading the blind, and revealed to Britain that war does not discriminate by class. There is nothing to denote difference between the soldiers, and Sargent could have been portraying a line of factory workers just as easily as he could have been portraying a line of princes. The fact that the men have been stripped to the very basics indicates that the War was influential in weakening class separation. There are definite Romantic undertones to this image, as it shows a unity of men in a way that pertains to the natural form of man that has perhaps been distorted by Britain’s imperial history.

[Anonymous No.7531213]

>>7531210
The characterisation of Sargent’s work as primarily impressive for its technical accuracy goes further to represent the way that the upper classes viewed the war. The intent of Sargent to keep the representation of the scene as accurate as possible means that there is no horror that is hidden off the canvas. The situation of the men is laid bare in a way that directly contradicts the efforts of previous war painters to portray war as glorious and majestic. This emphasis the idea that Gassed is effectively a snapshot of a society that is undergoing a time of great volatility, both physical through the loss of millions of young men, but also socially through the increased importance of the lower classes. At the time, Britain was staring into the face of the unknown, and nowhere but the battlefield was better in documenting this. A new age of warfare had dawned on the British Army, with weapons such as gas, tanks and airplanes being used for the first time on a massive scale. Previous ideas of war had been shattered, and the honour of the battle now seemed to be diminished by the uncaring nature with which weapons such as mustard gas murdered, scarred and blinded its victims.
A parallel between the uncertainty that 20th Century society faced and the uncertainty with which the Romantic poets of the 19th Century were faced can be drawn. Both groups of people were experiencing great shifts in culture, and for the Romantics this was to be described as the Age of Reason. A notable example of rebellion against this tide of social and cultural reform is Keats’ comments on Newton in Lamia: Part II, where the scientist is accused of “unweav[ing] the rainbow”, whilst philosophy is cautioned against “clipping an Angel’s wings”. This time of volatility can be seen in both instances as calm before the storm, as it represents a period in both times where society was entering a world of change. For the Romantic poets, this change was a newfound interest in science that had been brought on by the works of scientists such as Newton and Darwin, whilst for the society of the 1910s, this was a new form of warfare which brought out the worst in men and showed the world that war was not something to be celebrated.

[Anonymous No.7531215]

do they check the internet to see if you plagarized? you might want to post it in a pastebin and then link us that.

[Anonymous No.7531218]

>>7531213
It is paintings such as Gassed which can be referenced as a visual depiction of societies shifting opinion of war. Poets such as Wilfred Owen are excellent examples of this paradigm shift, as a once proud pro-war poet, the First World War dramatically changed Owen’s perception of war and resulted in his poems taking a stance that was vehemently opposed to the throwing away of lives that is so readily done during wartime. Frozen in time, the soldiers of Gassed represent a period of history where the underbelly of the world was revealed. For perhaps the first time, people were exposed to war in a way that shocked and horrified, and Gassed captures this more than any other painting of the time. The almost biblical way in which the men are being lead across the canvas serves to amplify the importance of the scene, suggesting that God himself is watching as war rages across Europe.
Gassed can also be seen to be paying homage to Hellenistic art, in that it serves to capture a pivotal moment in time. The painting acts as an allegory for society, in that the soldiers are frozen before an unknown fate, just as 20th century Europe was uncertain about its future. In the same way, a characteristic of many Grecian artists is their ability and aim of capturing vast and significant events within a single image. An example, albeit simply another homage to classic Greek art, is Ode to a Grecian Urn, which in both scenes of the poem portrays two pivotal moments that seemingly last for eternity. One, an eternal chase for unrequited love, and the other, the moments before a sacrifice, both hang in the air – waiting for their conclusion. Neither is provided, and this is similar to Gassed in that there is deliberately no conclusion to the story of the soldiers. Keats’ wrote Ode to a Grecian Urn in an attempt to mimic classic Greek literature, and believed that its primary purpose was to capture Greek virtues and provide an idealistic view of the world. In both senses, Sargent has done the same, by displaying both a new opinion on war through the eyes of the upper class, yet also providing a scene where the future is uncertain – and as a result idealistic in that it hopes for a better future for Europe after the war.