Tristan's Exam

Tristan Yerkes

Mr. Salsich

English 02

4^th June, 2009

The Last Trickle:
An Essay on Emotion and Art

The most emotional profession there is is art. Art requires pent-up emotion to be let out in a medium. The poem The Real Work by Wendell Berry conveys the same thoughts about art and emotion. Both Sonny from “Sonny's Blues” and the poet, Emily Dickinson relate to The Real Work.

TS: Sonny held in his own emotion, bottled it up, and let it out through his blues. SD: Sonny first held in his emotions, creating a dam of feelings ready to be let loose. CM: He held them back, using drugs, alcohol, and a reclusive attitude, as his brother said, “I suddenly had the feeling that I didn't know him at all.” CM: Sonny came to his “real journey” his “real work” when he had to funnel his emotions into song at the end of the story. SD: Sonny then let his emotions flow through and transform into the beautiful music he played. CM: At the end, he played this beautiful music, he was “the impeded stream, […] the one that sings.” CM: He used this emotional music to help his brother understand him and help Sonny understand himself. CS: This music was a real work of art, the physical embodiment of Sonny's emotion, what he once controlled, controlling him.

TS: Emily Dickinson also held in her emotions, in a less destructive way than Sonny. SD: Emily Dickinson, living in total isolation for most of her life, had no outlet for her emotions other than art. CM: Dickinson barely ever left her home and almost never had any visitors, which kept her from letting loose any emotion. CM: Berry says, “The mind that is not baffled is employed” which shows that since Dickinson was not baffled by other people, she was employed in writing her emotional poetry. SD: Dickinson's impeded stream trickled through to do the real work of poetry writing. CM: Because Dickinson's emotions were so strong and different, her writing was strong and different, containing random marks and capitalization for emphasis. CM: Dickinson says things like, “I'm nobody” and then proceeds to talk about how good it is to be nobody, giving the same sort of isolated mood as her life had. CS: Dickinson's poems, emotionally charged and powerful, conveyed the “real work” of emotional flow described by Mr. Berry.

The poem The Real Work talks about the very powerful real work of emotional art, and these two very different people both do this very similar work. Both sonny and Dickinson funneled their emotions into their artwork, and in so doing, enhanced it beyond belief. They were employed in the most emotional profession of art, their impeded streams singing.

KEY:

FAST WORD

CHIASMUS

PARTICIPIAL PHRASE

APPOSITIVE

TRICOLON

HYPERBOLE