Natural Wonders Workshop

by Sue Aldred

Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: ding dong,
Hark! Now I hear them, - ding-dong, bell.

(Ariel’s song, the Tempest, by William Shakespeare)



The workshop consists of reading the above lines from the Tempest, and looking atsome of the paintings of Arcimboldo. You can see some online at

http://www.abcgallery.com/A/arcimboldo/arcimboldo.html

The theme of the workshop is transformation. In the Middle Ages and into the modern era in Europe, things in nature were thought to have special individual properties, potentially magical, sometimes healing, sometimes destructive. For example coral was believed to have protective powers, and pearl was associated with perfection and feminine sexual power. Arcimboldo painted towards the end of the period when these beliefs were still current. He also included a vast number of realistic depictions of natural objects in his pictures, accurately observed, but not assembled with regard to scale or physical relationship. He was considered by the Surrealists in the 20th century to have been an exponent before there was a name for the genre.

Shakespeare's play the Tempest has as themes the potential and limits of human power, the use and abuse of magic, and the emotions evoked by all these.

For more (very interesting but not necessary) information on Arcimboldo, there is an article discussing his work and its background at

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,333744177-123424,00.html

Having seen reproductions of the paintings, and read or heard the lines from Shakespeare’s Tempest, the exercise is to create a poem inspired by what you have seen.