Walton High School - Periwinkle Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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'l O 5 J 9 5 I I l s iff and moving, hovv express and admirable! ln action how like an angell ln apprehension hovv like a godl The beauty of the vvorldl The paragon of animalslm lt is true that development proceeds more rapidly with the ages, but Shakespeare had thousands of years to look back upon vvith pride in the creation of man, Long before the Renaissance, in the arts, sciences, and general freedom, the establishment of schools and universities, the development of art and literature in Constan- tinople, the Roman Empire that handed dovvn to us its carefully established lavv and order and its stately buildings and vvell-built aqueducts and baths, and the great teachings of Confucius, Aristotle, Plato, Archimedes, and Hipparchus, early man made his first attempts to construct vehicles and buildings and to provide himself with the three necessities, food, clothing, and shelter, That last task vvas essentially more difficult and complicated to man at that time than is the forming of the theory of relativity to an Einstein, todayl l-lovvever, no matter, Shakespeare, vvhether you would regard us unfavorably or vvith high esteem land the opinion of the foremost genius of literature vvould be greatly valuedl, there is little doubt that after having seen all the advantages and disadvantages of this modern age, you vvould not remain here, but vvould return to dvvell peacefully and happily across the sea in a little home in Stratford- on-Avon. VIOLA l-IORPEL

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inventors, discoverers, explorers-most following the leader each thinks will guide him along the most direct path to his ideal. Perhaps some are wont to think that, compared with our present day, Shakespeare's time gave him little on which to base his state- ment. During the interim, there have been built great pillars of achievement in politics and science, in politics, the entire reor- ganization of Europe with the reign of Napoleon, the declarations of independence of Germany, of France, and of the United States, the World War, and finally, following that catastrophe, the peace movement led by the League of Nations, in science, the great step taken in construction of buildings, bridges, and craft of all sort, the discovery of the use of the power in the earth, electricity, gas, and steam, advancements in astronomy, geology, physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, and finally probably the most beneficial to humanity, the great enlightenment brought about by the self- sacrificing students of the human body, who pledged their lives to the cause of saving those of a generation, Although the tendency during the last few centuries has been to abandon the arts in favor of the previously-mentioned more serious development, painting, sculpture, music, and literature have stood the test quite rigidly, and their followers have lived up to, if not improved upon, the standards set for them by their predecessors. lt is in the field of music that, one might say, the greatest progress since the seven- teenth century was made, for only since then has there been pro- duced such geniuses in harmony as Bach, lvlozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and Paderewski. It is the general argument that painting and sculpture are in the decline, although their prin- ciples have been upheld by Rembrandt, Reynolds, Van Dyck, West, and a representative of the growing independence of the fair sex, Rosa Bonheur, who pioneered into this new field for women. The literary artists since Shakespeare need little introduction, From his own native country and from its offspring, America, there have been many, from England, Milton, Dryden, lohnson, Burns, and other poets of the Romantic period he ushered ing the great critics, Carlyle and Macaulay and Tennyson, Dickens, and Stevenson, writers of the novel, from America, Irving, Cooper, Emerson, l-law- thorne, Longfellow, Whitman, and Clemens, all endowed with that genuine quality which is strictly American. As France gave us Voltaire, Hugo, Dumas, and Daudet, so the more philosophical and scientific Germany gave us Goethe, l-leine, Tieck and Schiller. Shakespeare saw none of all this marvelous progress, yet verily could he say, How noble in reason! l-low infinite in facultyl ln form QQ 6 5 I Q- PQ O ,O 0 I I A XX 90 .1 fat

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uTl'ie Qomonce ol LQOFIGPCIO DG Vinciw bu Dmiliai A'4QPQjLOWSLi . Against a background of superstition and fanaticism, of court intrigue, and of widespread ignorance, Leonardo Da Vinci shines forth. Master artist, mathematician, philosopher, anatomist, and architect, he is the lone glowing ember amidst the ashes of the fifteenth century. ln The Romance of Leonardo Da Vinci, Dmitri lVlerejkovvski has divined the true character of this hitherto mysterious genius. For truly vvas Da Vinci a man unfathomable-in thought, centuries ahead of his contemporaries, yet innocent in politics, denounced as an atheist, yet possessing a profound understanding and love of Cod, derided for his delaying nature, yet having completed the most beau- tiful painting of all time, the lVlona Lisa. Better to portray human emotions, he accompanied prisoners on their journey to the gallovvs to watch the last tvvitchings of fear upon their faces, yet he saved the humble grasshopper from being trampled underfoot. The author understands him to have spent his happiest hours vvhen surrounded by little children or by the simple beauties of nature. l-le believes him to have been kind alvvays, and tolerant, and forgiving, even to his enemies and opponents. The vvriter thinks that, because of possessing an analytical mind, the godly artist vvas considered atheistic-that, because he was not satisfied to believe in facts unscientifically established, he was accused of conspiring with the devill ln this biography, lvlr, lvlerejkovvski has written a little master- piece, a book that deserves to be ranked among the classics of the vvorld. With infinite delicacy, accentuated by strong, bold strokes, the author has painted a brilliant picture of a brilliant personality. The man he has shown us is one vvho belonged to a civilization far more advanced than the one in which he lived, one, in truth, vvho vvas centuries ahead of his times. l-le has taken out the human qualities, the things which endear one man to another, and he has placed them in so strong a light that they may not be ignored, or deemed less important than the superhuman attributes. With his loving and comprehending pen, the biographer has perpetuated with lauding, glovving, living vvords the soul of Leonardo Da Vinci, the immortal. CERTRUDE DOUNN. O C 5 l Q 1 0 f 0 at K