The Aims of Art.
(from: Neknus, Canto XXV)
The aims of Art, in all its modes, should be
Chiefly to please and, with inspired effect,
Bring new understanding to those who seek.
Fine Art has always seemed to us to be
Symbolic of our highest intellect.
It draws us back from those commercial tasks
Which stultify the brain, and gives delight
To us when, in our leisured ease, we both
Mind and imagination may engage
Appreciating all the subtleties
Applied by craftsmen, to their first designs,
In order to perfect their final forms.
Whether they work in marble or in stone,
In clay, or glass, or clanging metalware;
Extract from sounding instruments rare tones;
Or on a silent surface make their marks,
With inks or paints of variegated hues:
Artistic hands – revealing mighty minds
And wonderful concepts – mysteriously
Have wrought their skilful monuments to Time,
Illuminating what had otherwise
Remained enveloped in obscurity.
Our visionary minds have always sought
New shapes, new textures or new sounds, for each
Imagined notion of our active brains,
No matter how abstruse. So, through our Art,
We can enlarge upon experience –
Giving reality to ageless dreams –
Helping our fellows to identify
With them, and share in our discoveries.
