Starry Night: Vincent van Gogh and Anne Sexton
Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous artists of all time. He completed many paintings that have become world-renown, even by the average layman. According to one critic, Van Gogh was filled with lonely feelings and endless creative energy. He wasn't a successful artist during his life. He only sold one painting and depended on his brother for support. In 1889, van Gogh completed Starry Night, which displays how his troubled spirit and brilliant mind revealed themselves in his painting. (Halls 1) P. Pettingell explains that Anne Sexton became a poet as a result of her deteriorating mental state. Her husband was often away on business and she was confused about her role as a mother. When she had a mental breakdown, she was diagnosed as a hysteric and was admitted into a hospital. Her psychologist urged her to write verses about her feelings and experiences. Sexton's poem, Starry Night, is her reaction after studying van Gogh's painting of the same title. The artwork inspired her to write this poem and to express in words what she saw in the painting. When comparing van Gogh's Starry Night to Sexton's Starry Night, I notice that the poem and the painting are similar in many ways. Anne Sexton beg
When Sexton moves her analysis up to the sky, her descriptions become more vivid. She says, "It moves. They are all alive." The strokes of van Gogh's brush are clearly expressing movement. The stars seem to be swirling throughout the atmosphere. I think this was the idea that van Gogh had in mind when he painted the sky. He wanted the stars to appear as though they were in movement. In line 10, Sexton writes, "The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars." Sexton might be referring to the visible line separating the hillside from the sky. I do not think van Gogh painted the horizon to appear as a serpent, but merely to show the evident boundary he felt between himself and religion. I do not think that van Gogh painted the tree to be a drowning woman, but instead as a way to join the land and the sky and perhaps to connect him further to religion. The church steeple might also act as a connection between the land and the heavens. Many people first notice the large swirls in the sky. Anne Sexton saw the swirls as a" rushing beast of the night" (l. 13) and a "great dragon" (l. 14). I do not think van Gogh painted the swirls in the sky as a dragon. I think he painted the sky directly as he saw it. Perhaps the sky seemed to be unstab
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Approximate Word count = 848
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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