Dogs Are Shakespearean, Children Are Strangers

BY DELMORE SCHWARTZ

Dogs are Shakespearean, children are strangers.
Let Freud and Wordsworth discuss the child,
Angels and Platonists shall judge the dog,
The running dog, who paused, distending nostrils,
Then barked and wailed; the boy who pinched his sister,
The little girl who sang the song from Twelfth Night,
As if she understood the wind and rain,
The dog who moaned, hearing the violins in concert.
—O I am sad when I see dogs or children!
For they are strangers, they are Shakespearean.

Tell us, Freud, can it be that lovely children
Have merely ugly dreams of natural functions?
And you, too, Wordsworth, are children truly
Clouded with glory, learned in dark Nature?
The dog in humble inquiry along the ground,
The child who credits dreams and fears the dark,
Know more and less than you: they know full well
Nor dream nor childhood answer questions well:
You too are strangers, children are Shakespearean.

Regard the child, regard the animal,
Welcome strangers, but study daily things,
Knowing that heaven and hell surround us,
But this, this which we say before we’re sorry,
This which we live behind our unseen faces,
Is neither dream, nor childhood, neither
Myth, nor landscape, final, nor finished,
For we are incomplete and know no future,
And we are howling or dancing out our souls
In beating syllables before the curtain:
We are Shakespearean, we are strangers.

Delmore Schwartz, “Dogs Are Shakespearean, Children Are Strangers” from Selected Poems (1938-1958): Summer Knowledge. Copyright © 1967 by Delmore Schwartz.

Science proves: Dogs Detect Human Emotion

They could have saved their time and money.  Anyone who lives with animals knows they do indeed detect emotions and navigate the changes.

Maybe the scientists should study why most humans do not.

Dog Sketches...

Perfect day for sketching as it did not stop raining cats and dogs. Phrase to rain cats and dogs is attested from 1738 (variation rain dogs and polecats is from 1652), of unknown origin, despite intense speculation. One of the more idiotic assertions is that it refers to pets sliding off sod roofs when the sod got too wet during a rainstorm. Ever see a cat react to a rainstorm by climbing up on an exposed roof? I really would like to find out where this phrase originated though. If you ever come across an interesting entry please do "comment".

Babette and friends stayed indoors all day. I simply love using conté crayon and pressed charcoal to draw my perfectly obedient and very patient dog and cat models while they lounge around and calmly chew their chews. All is peaceful until there is the much dreaded lightening right after a loud thunder, then they loose their cool and it is complete "bordello" in the house (as "we" pooches are still very scared of this phenomena) It is too bad, because their momkeep used to love to watch this particularly spectacular Nature show.

I will post more when I have more complete drawings of my 3 Graces together.. For now enjoy the below sketches by 17th century Flemish painter Francis Snyders. You can view more of his work and 17th century European Animal Genre Painting at Louvre's on line collection

Dogs in Ancient Greece and Rome

I came across fascinating information about dogs in Ancient Greece and Rome in Encylopaedia Romana. I hope you will find it as fascinating as we did at Babette and friends.

"There on the left as one entered...was a huge dog with a chain round its neck. It was painted on the wall and over it, in big capitals, was written: Beware of the Dog."

Petronius, Satyricon (XXIX)

19th Century Dog Paintings

FAVORITE GALLERY FOR 19TH CENTURY DOG PAINTINGS

~William Secord Gallery is a charming art gallery on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that specializes in fine 19th-century dog paintings. Anyone who loves dogs and fine portrait paintings should stop by and check out this whimsically extravagant gallery's collection. if you are are a doggie person you will enjoy the wonderful variety of dog portraits offered here in an elegant setting. I guess dog lovers were in 19th -and still are in 21st century-a "breed" apart!

Frog's Desiring a King

AESOP'S FABLES

The Frogs Desiring a King

'The Frogs were living as happy as could be in a marshy swamp that just suited them; they went splashing about caring for nobody and nobody troubling with them. But some of them thought that this was not right, that they should have a king and a proper constitution, so they determined to send up a petition to Jove to give them what they wanted.
"Mighty Jove," they cried, "send unto us a king that will rule over us and keep us in order." Jove laughed at their croaking, and threw down into the swamp a huge Log, which came down -Splash! - into the swamp.

The Frogs were frightened out of their lives by the commotion made in their midst, and all rushed to the bank to look at the horrible monster; but after a time, seeing that it did not move, one or two of the boldest of them ventured out towards the Log, and even dared to touch it; still it did not move. Then the greatest hero of the Frogs jumped upon the Log and commenced dancing up and down upon it, thereupon all the Frogs came and did the same; and for some time the Frogs went about their business every day without taking the slightest notice of their new King Log lying in their midst. But this did not suit them, so they sent another petition to Jove, and said to him,
"We want a real king; one that will really rule over us."

Now this made Jove angry, so he sent among them a big Stork that soon set to work gobbling them all up. Then the Frogs repented when too late. Better no rule than cruel rule.'

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I have copied the above Illustration from Wenceslaus Hollar titled 'Of the Frogs Desiring a King' etching he made in 1665 and I have altered it with my "flamingo like bird" and frogs and monkeys and bunnies to add a bit of whimsy!

Although the print is very beautiful, it does not need any such alterations, I wanted to "play" with it and imagine how I would have drawn such a subject myself for a children's books. Kids like to find "characters" hiding in the bushes, in the swamp, in a tree...

Although Hollar's reputation lies mainly in his topographical and architectural etchings, Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) is considered the first artist working in England to view book illustration as an independent art form, and this effect can be seen in his Aesop illustrations, which show a fresh approach to interpreting the story. Publisher John Ogilby (1600-1676) employed Hollar to provide new illustrations for his second edition of The Fables of Aesop , published in 1665. Václav (Wenceslaus or Wenzel) Hollar was an etcher-engraver from Prague who worked for booksellers in London from 1652. Along with Francis Barlow, he was one of the pre-eminent etchers working in Britain in the 17th century. An enormous number of Hollar's plates - around 2700 - survive. You can view them on line at Victoria and Albert Museum Collection which I frequently do and take immense pleasure doing it. Vive la technology!

Babette's new Friend

Apparently an abandoned dog needs a new home. Cruel people. They packed and left town and left him behind. A neighbour noticed it and informed town office. I went to visit him and I am hoping we could adopt him. 

But, as I approached our house I heard yowls, yelps, barks; do I hear my husband and the rest of menagerie howl their protest?