The piece I have chosen to analyze is Gerrit Dou’s Dentist by Candlelight. A Dutch painter from the 1600’s, Dou began this piece that explores everyday life in 1660 and completed it in 1665. Painted with oil on oak panel (14x10 in.), the piece, which is mostly bathed in blacks and grays, has an eerie lure to it. Entrapped on the oak is a man with his mouth agape, sitting in a wooden chair, wearing a distinct look of anticipating agony. The man looks to the ceiling, where his eyes are met with an alligator hanging from the ceiling; the alligator’s mouth agape as well, with its underbelly aglow. The dentist holds a single candle to the man’s face with one hand, and with the other holds back the patient’s forehead. A concerned wife stands before the man, holding his hand, which is securely fastened to the arm of the chair. The viewer anticipates action, as the scene seems ready to unfold at any moment. The three people in this situation form a sort of circle through their lit facades and ...
Do you hear that? The whimpering breath of a dying dream It's more of a wheeze than a scream It's cracked open despair Pomegranate red drops of fresh squeezed blood Mixed with scalding hot tears The culmination of broken loss Life's timing forever tilted off My designs drawn in the sand Washed away with the rising tide Riding the knuckles of fate's fickle hand Plunged under the surface with aspirating aspirations The choked out gasps of fallen expectations Hope soaked and molding Resolve cracked and folding Slipping through my fingers like the finest grains of sand The shape and weight of those dreams like faded memories in starving hands
As with most things in my life, my first teaching experience was trial by fire. It's funny because one of my fellow English teachers came up to me the other day and said, "man, I have so much respect for you. You stepped into this awful situation and took over. It's never easy walking into a storm like that." Later I sat at my desk and laughed to myself. I knew that things had been exceptionally tough, but this was all I knew, this was the only reality I had experienced. And I think everyone knew what a tough position I was in. Another English teacher at the school said, "please don't think this is what teaching is like. It is so much better than what you're dealing with. Don't give up on teaching, you're so good." I hadn't intended on giving up on teaching, but apparently my situation would cause any sane person to. At the beginning of the semester, I took a week-long sub position that turned into a semester-long position. ...
Shoot, great poem!
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