Essays on Byzantium

Three poems, which have been chosen for this paper: “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, “A Supermarket in California” by Allen Ginsberg, and “Sailing to Byzantium” by W. B. Yeats, are all very different and belong to different literary trends. However, they all are focused on the subject of death, which they depict from different standpoints, systems of beliefs, and values. In the first poem, “Because I could not stop for Death”, Emily Dickinson describes death using the image of a gentleman, who takes her into his carriage: “He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage” ( ...

Introduction

The Gero Crucifix and Vladimir Madonna both have contention in portraying religious concepts and a drawing of Jesus. The so-called ‘Gero Crucifix’ ranks as one of the earliest preserved monumental carved crucifixes and the oldest image of the dead Christ on the cross, in contrast to earlier images of the crucified Savior, which presented him alive and glorious over death. The Gero Crucifix was displayed surrounded by golden rays as if visualizing the triumphal second coming of Messiah. In a similar connection, the “Vladimir Madonna” which is often cited as the icon of contemplatives teaches about the human condition ...

The western world looks at the city of Venice to be distinctly oriental. On the surface, the city fits an Italian profile, but it has always mainland an arm’s distance. The essential Moslem culture influenced the architecture of Venice unlike its chief competitors such as Genoa and Pisa. Another stream of thought claims that Byzantine artistic heritage influenced Venetian civilization and, therefore, those characteristics of Islamic architecture. The author of the essay argues on the subject of Islamic influence on the medieval architecture of Venice is indeed a complex and challenging one. The paper focuses on those characteristics ...