COMMENT
Did you have any concept of who Michelangelo was as an artist and a person before reading his poetry?
What did you expect to find in his poems?
What aspect of his personality did you find in the poem of your choice?
How did it make you feel about him?
REPLY Choose a comment that matches the same kind of responses you had when you read Michelangelo's poems. Explain what you have in common with your classmate in terms of emotional response.
I did not know much about Michelangelo as a person before reading his poems. All I really knew was that he was an excellent painter, especially religious painting. I expected to find positive views about God and religion in his poems, considering the paintings he produced. I chose the poem that begins with "There's nothing lower on earth, of less account than I feel I am, and am, Lord, without You." I found that he really loves God and wishes he can be with God because he feels worthless without Him. He blames himself for going away from God. He had so much frustration towards God but somehow also loved Him. This made me feel like he was a very confused man. He didn't know what he wanted from God or from himself either.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought of Michelangelo as a writer or poet before and it was very interesting to dive into his writing. I wouldn't have expected the poems to be as morbid as they were but I should know to expect an inner turmoil in good artists. I found that he's human, something unexpected. We scarcely see the human side of those we admire throughout history. They're perceived as archetypes for living in achievement but their humanity goes unnoticed, at least in the places I've studied them. It was refreshing to see a vulnerable Michelangelo but it was also disappointing because I felt as though he was repressing his identity for the sake of pleasing God out of fear of the unknown and fear of damnation. His poetry was eloquent but his message was pitiful in a tragic way because he never took a full-fledged stand on his sexuality not being a sin.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Michelangelo was strictly an artist in respect of painting and sculpting but not in litterature. So i guess i based my interpretation of what his writing would be like off of his pieces of art, to me they seem "grand" and i believe that his writing would follow suit. And ive got to say i was right on the button but he made himself seem so humble something i would not have expected from someone who is so revered for his accomplishments. His reliqous outlook to strong presidence in his writing just as it had in his art, it was almost as if he was trying to appease to god in order for god to accept who he was. Quite sad but honorable at the same time, rather i should say devoted even if the religious institution he so loved didn't reciprocate back to who he truly was.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought of Michelangelo was someone who was happy because he was blessed with so much artistic talent. However, after reading his poems, it sheds light that he was miserable in his lifetime. What I expected was poems that highlighted happy emotions, but it turned out to be negative a confused poems. From the poems, it could drawn that he was a confused about the concept of God. For felt he never received God's grace even though he yearned for it. It was unfortunate that one of the greatest artistic minds did not live a life of happiness.
ReplyDeleteI knew Michelangelo was a very famous artist and sculpted the David but I didn't know he was a poet as well. By reading his poetry you see the inner turmoil Michelangelo faced with his love for god but also his feelings of being unworthy of god's love. He had a complicated relationship with god where he was constantly afflicted by the notion that he won't be forgiven. So much of his work and his poetry centered around his relationship with god. Yet this relationship was something of a mess with feelings of rage and love all over the place. But I think it is true of a lot of people who struggle with their belief in difficult situations. But his love of god was still present he believed in god regardless of his conflicting emotions.
ReplyDeleteI knew who Michelangelo was before this class. I knew he was was a famous artist, I always thought he was successful in terms of happiness, because usually people use art to unfold their stress and become happy again-- at least that is the case for me. I actually did not know that he was a poet. Reading his poems showed me that he was not a very happy person, that he continued to seek approval from God because he was uncomfortable with his sexuality. He, in one poem hated God, but in the next one professed his love for Him. Though this was the case, he never stopped seeking God's approval.
ReplyDeleteInitially I thought Michelangelo life was full of positive attitude. I would never have thought that one of the greatest artists had should a miserable life. Michelangelo was confuse, he wasn’t confusing about his art but rather he was confuse about God. He try to made worth in himself and please the god through his work. He felt like he was drifting away from God but at the same time he love and wanted to stay close to God. Personally I think that Michelangelo had a miserable and confuse life. He was unsure what he need to do so that god would accept him.
ReplyDeleteAll I really knew about Michelangelo was that he was a famous sculptor that made the famous David. I knew very little about his personal life. To be quiet frank, I didn't even know he made poetry and wouldn't know what to expect, except for a lot of religious references as art work at the time was very closely related to religion. In his poetry I found that he is a homosexual. This was surprising to me as homosexuality, i believe, was considered a sin. He is a very loyal follower of god and yet, he still loved Tommaso Cavalier. This makes me think he was an extremely romantic person, who values the human soul very much as one of the poems he said that this was simply love of one soul to another. This made me have a lot of respect for him. Religion at the time was widely accepted and was very important at the time, and sins were taken seriously, I assume, at the time. Homosexuality was a sin and yet he still wanted to love Tommaso Cavalier. It's a sad reality that he had to live through and yet he vented his frustrations through not only his sculptures but his poetry as well. Good for him.
ReplyDeleteInitially, I was unaware of Michelangelo's talents in poetry and writing. I simply knew him for his creative and artistic artworks. I expected his poems to be more general in the sense of a possible discussion of human nature , morals or even a slight background of his childhood. However, it is very interesting reading his poems to see that he took much more of a personal stance stating his innermost turmoils such as his difficulties to come to terms with his homosexuality as a devoted follower of Christ . While reading his poems, it can be said that he is a conscientious individual which both people of his time and in today's modern world are able to connect and relate to. Many people do question their beliefs and values making him very human and more understood.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I only knew Michelangelo as an artist not at poet.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading his works, I assumed his poems would include romance or power. However, it is more about his struggle as a religious person. Michelangelo felt miserable because he couldn't accept his homosexuality and wanted God's acceptance.I read a few of his poems and they all came with the feeling of anger following with death. One of the poems I read was "Joy May Kill." It made me feel bad for him because it seemed like he couldn't accept good things in life either because he felt like good things would turn bad; "Good news and bad may bear the self-same knife"
I learned about Michelangelo in art history but did not know much about him as a person before reading his poem. At the time that Michelangelo began writing poems, he was in his 50s and was feeling stressed and old, that time is passing too fast, which caused him to take a break from sculpting and painting by going to Venice. As such, I had expect his poems to be more morbid and pessimistic about life. I chose the poem that begins with "Why ease the tension of this wild desire" which describes Michelangelo's inner conflict between his sexuality and faith. It can be said that he felt trapped within himself, as while he could not put down his love for Tommaso, he also yearned for the acceptance of his God
ReplyDeleteI did know who Michelangelo was before reading the poems and was little bit familiar with some of his art work. I learned about Michelangleo though many history classes his name always comes up. I expected to find a lot of religious aspects in the poems and that is exactly what happened. I found a lot conflict in the poems of my choice especially a lot of inner battle Michelangelo had with his homosexuality and not loving God. He always though that God would not forgive him and i had a feeling that he felt trapped because he could not fully express his love for Tommaso which is what he expressed in many of his poems. I do not feel any different about Michelangelo after reading his poems most of the time many famous artist are struggling on the inside and no one knows it until its to late or we see it in their art.
ReplyDelete1) I kind of knew who Michelangelo was because of his sculptures. However, i didn't know that he was a poet too.
ReplyDelete2) Before reading the poems, I was expecting something related to art or maybe romance for that matter. I just had a feeling that artists are usually romantic and their work is usually associated with romance and love poetry.
3)I found out about hi being an anxious person who was constantly complaining to God for his actions and his life in particular. He seemed to be a confused person who was blaming God for his anxiety.
4) I just got to know something new about him that he was 'homosexual' through the poem. Also, it was surprising since I though people in earlier time periods used to be against homosexuality etc.