Nature of Art

Driving Under the Influence of Art, Man

Art is timeless. The art that is most treasured today was created long ago. Much of this art came about for a specific reason and is still influential today. Art’s purpose is to deliver a message to a spectator, and it never stops. Even though this event may have happened quite a while ago, the message is still prevalent to the world today. Although art is inspired by through specific events the message is still significant.

Art that is inspired by specific events is still relevant. Art is often used to express the author’s thoughts of something in his life. The Beatle’s song Blackbird was written during the Civil Rights movement in the United States. The song uses a blackbird as a symbol for the struggling African Americans. A line in the introduction says, “Blackbird singing in the dead of night/ Take these broken wings and learn to fly,” (Lennon/McCartney). This song carries with it a very basic message; this message is telling the blacks to endure the suffering, because their time to prosper is coming. The message is being sent to everyone who listens. It helps those not directly affected relate and find common ground. But, it also creates a bond between the artist and spectator, showing that they are living through the same thing. The bond created strengthens the artist’s message. Therefore, it is in art’s nature to relate the artist to its spectator. Also, art will stay applicable even as the world changes. No matter how the world changes, for the worse or better, there will always be a minority. This minority will feel the same pains as minorities of the past, be it because of religion, race, or gender. Much of the nature of art simply depends upon the nature of humans. As long as there is the human race, this work of art will send its message because there is no time limit on art as long as someone is experiencing it. That is the way in which Blackbird exemplifies the fact that art carries a universal message that is undaunted by the society around it.

Inspiration for art comes from a variety of different places in many different forms. Sometimes this inspiration is an influential person in the life of the artist. This is the case in Walt Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain! This poem says, “Here Captain! dear father!/This arm beneath your head;/It is some dream that on the deck,/You've fallen cold and dead.”(Whitman). The poem was provoked by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In the poem, Whitman uses “Captain” to describe the fallen President. His tone tells the reader how devastated he was by the death of Lincoln, and that he truly admired him. This attitude tells the reader his stance; he is a supporter of Lincoln. His stance is controversial; and it appeals to the emotion of the reader. This art draws out strong feelings of either admiration or opposition. Through the controversy of Whitman’s message, the message