Home› Poetry, Prose, Music & Art

Dead Man Walking and a Dorothea Lange Photograph

Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
edited March 2005 in Poetry, Prose, Music & Art
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/full/lange/lange_bread_line.jpg

I keep looking at the photograph and listening to Dead Man Walking - they seem to go together even if the song is associated with a movie. Does this photograph convey the image of a dead man walking to you? I'm trying to get a story for a poem to write, I'm stuck - I don't know why since they seem to be perfect for each other. Any hints for a poemstory here?
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    What I'd do is so some preliminary study. Interview this man in your head. Ask his name. His parents' names and occupation(s), if any. What were his ambitions when he was young? How old is he? Has his poverty prematurely aged him? Where is he based? In what city in what historical period? What's his skill in work? Is there a socio-economic depression and how has it affected his job prospects?
    Is he married? Was he married? Has he children/anyone dependent on him? What were his parents' vices and has he inherited any destructive traits, say, hard drinking or suicidal behaviour? How does he feel about the knowledge that he might repeat such actions?
    What's his health? What does he think of world events around him? How do these thoughts affect his own personal life, relationships and his sense of worth/worthlessness?
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:
    What I'd do is so some preliminary study. Interview this man in your head. Ask his name. His parents' names and occupation(s), if any. What were his ambitions when he was young? How old is he? Has his poverty prematurely aged him? Where is he based? In what city in what historical period? What's his skill in work? Is there a socio-economic depression and how has it affected his job prospects?
    Is he married? Was he married? Has he children/anyone dependent on him? What were his parents' vices and has he inherited any destructive traits, say, hard drinking or suicidal behaviour? How does he feel about the knowledge that he might repeat such actions?
    What's his health? What does he think of world events around him? How do these thoughts affect his own personal life, relationships and his sense of worth/worthlessness?
    Excellent! Molto Grazie!
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    My pleasure. :)

    I know that approach is more practical than theoretical, but it's been known to work. Someone once asked Jane Austen what Elizabeth Bennet's favourite colour was. Without hesitating, she replied, "Green." A deep acquaintance with character psychology and biography, even if you don't use it in a final work, can help inform a more realist, if not realistic character portrayal.
  • AmaterasuAmaterasu Posts: 317
    Dorethea Lange was an amazing photographer she contributed so much
    to the field literally by expressing the very essence of what the field is...
    raw unprovoked kindness through the optic lens of time.
    She and Edward Stiechen an inovator/ photographer learning and teaching
    himself nearly every aspect of photography from it's infancy on up through it's developemental stages from the 1800's on through the 1960's (Forgive me if I mispell his last name...?)
    both had a profound effect on the direction of photography.
    To vere away from the Dead man, I would suggest the images by Edward
    Steichan himself entitled The Family of Man. It's a life long collection and
    effort with the help of his then good friend Ms. Dorethea Lange. A collaboration of immense depth and purpose and unforgettable images from
    around the world for the world from contributing artists of their time.
    Steichen was also a painter~ poetry in and of itself.
    :) Perhaps the very face of love.
  • AmaterasuAmaterasu Posts: 317
    Dorothea. :)
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    I finally saw the lyrics and it still seems to apply to the photograph except for the line:

    "The hallways are all mocking me." I wonder if they are too close in meaning to someone who is about to be executed.

    Unless I'm able to make the hallways the hallways of his mind or even the hallways of the shelter where he receives food. Maybe he was the architect of that shelter and he didn't put his heart into the design when it was first drafted, and he didn't think about who would need it. . . . hmmm
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • coleencoleen Posts: 938
    tchaliz wrote:
    The other men seem anxious. He does not. He seems prepared for the best and the worst, he seems to live above expectations and fears. Standing there with it's empty cup is magnified by what he lived. He's got something more than the others, maybe a quiet soul.

    keen eye, perceptive soul tchaliz. :)
Sign In or Register to comment.