Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

Page 25 text:

cate xx1nd1ngs 1n h1s composltlon of Kubla Khan perhaps thelr com posrtxons haxled as masterpleces a generatlon ago would not so soon be pronounced the mere effus1ons of lrterature not based on l1fe but based on literature the kmd th1t by next year ls gone vxnth the wmd lt IS lust here thit teachers of M1lton and Vlrgxl and Dante are contr1but1ng to the artxstlc and llterary producuons of the age They at least can help lessen the output by teachmg that lrterature IS not the ef fortless outpourmgs of the v1x1d dreamer but the studled effort of the d1sc1pl1ned mmd and soul of an artlst They do not sprlng full grown from the m1nds of poets they are wrung drop by drop out of hrs agony The teach1ng of Vrrgrl lends ltself admlrably to the teachmg of how mtrlcate and art1f1c1al a thmg poetry IS as mtrlcate lndeed far more 1ntr1cate than the creat1on of a mosa1c Words are the llttle cubes of gold or aquamar1ne that go to make up the perfect pattern and must be as carefully lald to keep the lmage from blurring The xxorker ln mosalcs deals xvlth tanglbles the worker IH words with lntanglbles The teachmg of Vlfgll CITlph3SlZ6S the fact that poetry IS an art one of the most 1ntr1cate and profound of mans creatlons Language ltself IS a marvelous product of man s creatlxe power The weavlng of th1s language rnto patterns xx hlch are called poetry IS a problem more dlfflcult than compos1t1on of great mus1c because there must be not only sound but also sense To teach Vlfgll IS to teach that some themes are worthy or DOBII cal some are not Some meters are poetlc others barbarxc some words and lmages poet1c and others not ex en the gen1us of Shakespeare could make anvthmg of but pla1n prose So xt 15 w1th the teachmg of CICQYO the matter of all those who would conwmce Argument lb not a loosely constructed jumble of words but a reasoned bu1ld1ng up of a sequence of ld63S each xdea grounded 1n the one out of whlch lt sprxngs as flower to plant plant to root root to seed seed to sorl The analys1s of Cncero s xx ork wx1ll proxe that any well constructed speech can be subyected to rrgld analysts and that xt falls mto xts com ponent parts pomed by lI1XlS1bl6 threads as readxly as a 11g saw puzzle or as a problem ln mathematlcs under the clexer hand of a master of mathematlcs What a lesson for those xxho xxould haxe the prxze xvlthout the pams' The teacher of ltal1an fmds her fleld almost l1m1tless 1n her teach 1ng of the understand1ng and apprec1at1on of the xxhole fleld of art Thxs IS because nature has blessed no other natlon m art as she has the Italnan unless It be the Greek Whether 1t be language poetry pamt 1ng sculpture mosalc stamed glass archltecture mus1c the f1eld ns al most llmztless Poetry may be taught then rn the exqulslte poems of POllglEl1'l0 of Lorenzo of Tasso of Arxosto the appreclatlon of palntmgs ln the 1ncon1parable xxork of Leonardo Corregxo GIOFQIOHC the appreclatlon of the art of the mosaxc the wrt of the sculpture and archltecture then the numberless artxsts rn these fields xx ho haxe made Italy great Latin and Italian Llteratu re lCont1nuedl . . . . .. lr VV . , , . - 9 , - V . . . r. . . VV . 7 , 1 '1' c c . c c .' U , , ,-. , V . . . Y . . , , . V . . V . . . V . . V V - V - V V V I . - V V V t V V V V - . . V . A Y V r , - . . . V. . . .. - V V V . . Y . , , V . . . . Y . I ' r V - Y l v I I I 4 V V V . . V V V - v C r 1 '- ' . ' V , V V A .

Page 24 text:

German Llteratu re 1Cont1nuedl Latln and ltallan Literatu re younger than Goethe he was born rn 1759 dy1ng IH 1805 But rn thxs short t1me h gave to German lrterature 1ts greatest dramas Goethe and Schlller xxere drfferent ln almost ex ery respect Goethe xx as the son of a rxch man Schlller xxas the son of a poor army offxcer Goethe xxas Wlthout fmanclal xxorry but Schxller had a contmual struggle he recelved an mner freedom Whlch expresses rtself m all h1s works Por thxs reason h1s characters and h1s works have someth1ng subllme Sch1ller has wrxtten ballads and poems but h1s prrncxpal works are h1s dramas The most of them are h1stor1cal dramas of well known char acters Mane Stuart Dre ungfrau von Orleans and Wallensteln H15 most beloved drama 15 Wxlhelm Tell the story of Swmtzer land s struggle for freedom Through Schiller came somethmg new m German lxterature a lofty xdeallsm and a great love of freedom Wxl helm Tell has become famous through Rossml s opera wr1tten around the drama The study of the German tongue then has 1nf1n1tely more to offer the student than the mere drscxplme of grammar Zoe Hughes The purpose of a lrberal educatron IS not to f1ll the mmd xxrth brts of 1nformat1on wrse or otherxx 1se lt IS to create standards of taste by contact wlth the best ln any fleld to study the means and the methods by xxhxch masterpleces are created An lI1tQI'1SlV6 and cletalled study of any artrst s work xx hether 1t be the xxork of Mllton Dante Vxrgxl Raphael or Tlt13H xx1ll toughen the flber and purrfy the taste of ex en the most lackadalsrcal and sentlmental of xx ould be art1sts Why teach V1rg1l CICGIO Mrchelangelo Leonardo Lorenzo to youthful students? To create a standard of taste and to protect us from the bogus masterpreces of the mmor poets and the obscenltres mon stros1t1es deformltles of what passes rn the present day lnternatlonals under the name of art ClXlllZEd man adxances from xxhere he IS to xxhere he xx ould be by profntmg by the ga1ns of h1s c1x1l1zed forbears He does not klck the ladder erected by h1s prxmrtxxe ancestors out of the marshy lake up 1nto the sunlxght from beneath hrm He proflts by the efforts and ga1ns of the past Cxx 1l1zed art1sts do the same They knoxv that masterpneces sprlng out of the l1x es of the myrlads xxho make up the race not out of the sub conscrousness of the rsolated 1I1CllW1ClLlE1l Therefore man s accumulated gams rn the arts are not klcked asxde l1ke a useless ladder Thev are the solid foundatlons upon xx h1ch he erects h1s scaffoldlng Masterpleces 1n all the arts must be taught to students whrle qurte young To teach them how not to xx rxte not to compose not to pamt If more of our Elmor Wylles Cabells DFEISCIS had been d1sc1 pl1ned mstead of grossly flattered 1n youth had been set to analyze sound llterature had been set to track Colerldge to h1s la1r then h1s 1ntr1 , , . - 9 . . . , - . . Y . . v 7 ' a U y I , . 7 . . . Y . . V V ' 1 Y , - I ll 1 V' ll n YY ll 1 YY ' 7 Y ' ' a ll I I' l . V v . . . . v Q I ll 4 r - ' VV . .V . . . . . . . 7. . . . . V. . V . V , 7 . . . , . . V . 1 , V Y , . . . . 7. V V V V . . 7 . . . V 7 r . V V V , - Y Y - .. .. . U . VV V ' r ' ' 1 ' V 1 C L V , . .Y . 7 ' . V . . - ' . . V . . . 4 s 7 Y ' V 1 5 - , V 1 ' -

Page 26 text:

Latin and ltallan Llterature lcxfbllflllllttll Spanish Literatu re In the teachmq of Itahan there IS bv no means a lack of oppor llllllty to teach loxe and appreclatlon of the arts The opportunltles are so many and xarled as almost to stagger one xxho would QIVQ at least a gllmmer of ltalys brxghtness to those vxho grope 1n the gloom of lgnorance To sum up both Latm and ltahan furnlsh wonderful opportunltles for teachers 1n the realm of the fme arts lf ln no other way than ln fur n1sh1nq stlndards of taste Hovx can anyone pronounce a thlnq good bad or lndlfferent unless he has some standard or form by whxch to test 1t7 BV teachlng great lxterature one can at least teach what lb not hterature by teachlng the best 1n the arts one can at least teach vxhat IS not and never can be art ex en though xnternatlonal cr1t1cs of art pro nounce It so Tm e xxlll tell here as 1n all thlngs To make students famlllar xxrth a few great palntlngs to make them see xx hy they are great IS to teach them the dlfference between 1 chromo and 1 work of art and to set thelr feet on the f1rst rung of the lidder th lf le mds to sound taste Spamsh speakmg countues are almost synonymous xv1th our con ceptlon of the fme arts What hax ent those countrxes contrlbuted to our enjoyment and appreclatlon of danc1ng muslc archltecture palnt mg and l1terature7 Vlcente Escudero and La Argentma haxe held spell bound well f1lled theaters by the beauty of theu graceful dances ose lturbx br1ll1ant young conductor and p1an1st Pablo Casals and h1s American audlences by thelr perfectlon The Altambra stands as a World wonder 1n archltecture and tour 1sts to South Amer1ca are surprlsed at the beauty and strength of the buxlclmgs 1n those d1stant c1t1es In MQXICO the Floatmg Garden are monuments to the loxe of beauty handed down by the Aztecs Dlego Rlbera was called from h1s Memcan home to decorate pubhc bulldlngs and clubs wlth h1s un1que art1st1c creatlons Looklng back such names as Velazquez Mur1llo R1bera and Goxa come to our mlnds These artlsts were successful 1n all types of work drsplaylng a V1V1d 1mag1na t1on bold use of color and xvorklnq wlth a xarlety of subjects ln the fxeld of llterature Spam ranks second to none among the moderns Don Quryote xxr1tten 1n 1605 lb most 1nterest1ng and 15 filled xxlth a sage and sound understandlnq of human nature and llfe Cerx antes the author vxlshed to shoxx that a man or woman must haxe :deals and amb1t1ons but at the same tlme he must have a practlcal mlnd and the ab1l1ty to mterpret llfe correctly The Golden Age of Llterature xx'1s the Sex enteenth Csenturv when such vxrlters as Lope cle Veqa Calderon and T1fbO de Mollna appeared acmto Benlx ente IS 1 most x ersatxle xx 11ter to xvhom the Nobel prlze has been awarded The list of all IS Martxnez Sl2I'l'l vxhose plays the best knovxn of vxhrch IS The C radle Song hax e been presented on the An1er1can stage Zoe I-luqhes . Y . I s . ' D Y ' v K 7 . 0 - v V . Q V I ' A K . AE c . V V , . - ' U ' ' C y , , ' - . . . I ' . . ' .1 f' ' ' 1 ' .. ,A 7 A c ' , ' I 4 K c E V C 1 - ,' - - . E 1 2 3 3 ' . . ' - F . ' .' . C - L. - ' - . . . . . . . . violin cello, Lucrecia Bori and her silvery voice'-all have captured 1 A ' ' , - .x . . C A v l v I v C 1' Y . - , 1 ,' 1 - , f Y l 'c t ' 1 l l V I A ., . , ' ' ' C ' . I ' 2 ' 4 S ' 'K ' ' 'U ' 1 ' - 2 K, . 'S C ' ' .L , 1 L. -I 7 V '