Irish Music and Iconic Realism in Sydney Owenson's piece, "When Floating O'er"

 

Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan) and Harp

from my book cover, 

a special acknowledgment to the New York Public Library

From my presentation at an annual Conference of the Association of Franco-Irish Studies, Dublin, Ireland: 

The Irish melody, “When Floating O’er: Cathleen Nolan” from Sydney Owenson’s 1803 collection, Twelve Original Hibernian Melodies, demonstrates an iconic vision and focuses the audience’s attention on iconic elements associated with late 18th - early 19th century Ireland that deal with transformation. This particular piece demonstrates my semiotic theory of iconic realism in that it complies with the following necessary components of my theory: 

1.    The presence of a realistic icon: a representation of Cathleen ni Houlihan. 

2.   Deliberate placement of the icon within the midst of a unique, realistic setting out of place for this particular icon: lyrical and musical choices. 

3.  A created dissonance between these two entities as the catalyst that generates audience enlightenment of a cultural dilemma in need of transformation: Irish awareness of cultural valor.  

In Owenson’s compilation entitled, Twelve Original Hibernian Melodies, published in 1803, one melody, “When Floating Oér,” contains lyrics that relate directly to the Irish iconic figure, Cathleen ni Houlihan. She situates the essence of this character as one who is ubiquitous yet elusive, much like segments of Irish culture at the onset of the nineteenth century.  

Not only did Owenson’s nineteenth century listening audience experience the pleasant melody of this tune, they also were able to interpret the lyrics as an Irish romantic memory or a realization that a change in the historical relevance of Irish history was at hand. Playing this piece and other Irish melodies on her harp, Owenson exhibited iconic realism by bringing attention of Irish history, plucked on soothing strings. Perhaps, her attempt was to lull her audience into a state of acceptance or awaken them gradually by means of intense harmonics. 

Thus, the utility of music as a means of representing the semiotic theory of iconic realism involves a multiple sensory application in connection with sound wave production and its effect on human cognition. Whether the connection originates from a classical music composition, sounds of nature, or a synthesized production, juxtaposition of an iconic sound with an aspect of realism produces an auditory response that ultimately can lead to an audience’s awareness of positive change, be it cultural or individual.

Iconic Realism and Cultural Hybridism: Sydney Owenson, Imre Madach, and Arthur Griffith:

  


Below is an abstract from my paper presented at the New England Conference for Irish Studies Regional Meeting, held at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA: 

Sydney Owenson's and Imre Madach’s use of iconic realism in their writings explore cultural hybridism in nineteenth century Ireland and Hungary. In her 1840 book, Woman and Her Master, Sydney Owenson makes the following observation: 

Society has become complicated more rapidly than philosophy and legislation can follow; the actions of man upon man, and those of the species upon nature, have multiplied faster than observation can co-ordinate, or reason control; until a positive advance has assumed the appearance of a relative retrogradation. (WHM, p. 15)

Through her national tales, Owenson presents characters entwined with Irish political history, that illustrate strength in cultural identity. 

Likewise, Imre Madach, the nineteenth century Hungarian poet-playwright, questions societal expectations in his dramatic representation, The Tragedy of Man. Madach moves his audience through a journey of social outcry against parochialism in his depictions of Adam, Eve and Lucifer, entangled in episodic adventures that transcend historical boundaries through radical, textual dissent against the provincial establishment.  Madach deliberately places Adam and Eve in opposition to Lucifer to illustrate that by confronting distraction and authority, one engages in a journey of self worth by gaining key elements of self-knowledge.

In his 1918 book, The Resurrection of Hungary, Arthur Griffith writes, “Ireland’s heroic and long-enduring resistances to the destruction of her independent nationality were themes the writers of Young Hungary dwelt upon to enkindle and make resolute the Magyar people” (xxiv). Griffith’s association of Ireland and Hungary illustrates that writers, such as Madach and Owenson, living within the parochial constraints of both of these countries, use the power of the dissonant pen to motivate their readers to understand cultural hybridism and consider positive cultural transformation.

Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling" and Iconic Realism

Photo of two swans, canoodling on East Lake, Danbury, CT

One of my favorite childhood tales is Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling." In this tale, he introduces the concept of tolerance by the placement of the animal kingdom's icon of grace, the swan, in a home of ducklings, known for awkwardness. The young swan is completely out of place in this environment. Here, Andersen uses iconic realism in this way: 

1. He illustrates through the placement of a swan in the midst of the duck family that one may experience cruelty and humiliation. 

2. However, when one looks inward and sees God's child returning the gaze...

3. One can realize individual truth, and therefore, discover possibilities associated with self growth, and make decisions based on talents, skills, knowledge, and individual purpose.  

(Click HERE to view Danny Kaye singing about this tale.)

Semiotic Themes

I took this photo in Dublin, Ireland.

The following is an excerpt from my first book: The Theory of Iconic Realism:

Content of material represented through literature, art and music contains the linguistic configurations associated with language in addition to visual and auditory stimuli: 

In literature, content consists of language, represented by words on a page that convey meaning to the audience. 

Artistic content varies from materials, such as paint, rock, metal, fabric, or other physical substances, with the subject matter originating in the human experience. 

Musical compositions include content that incorporates any form of resonance to which the auditory mechanism responds.

For instance, thematic representation of creative expression incorporates the history, language and culture of the artist in relation to individual purpose of expression with an audience. A musical composition contains a specific theme. This theme can then repeat every time a musician performs the piece. However, the theme will elicit variations based on instrumentation, acoustics, and musicians actively attempting to recreate the original sound. 

A new aurally thematic expression results from this interpretation. Likewise, a work of art will receive the eyes of multiple viewers. Each person adapts his/her life experience (historicity) to the interpretation of the rendered artistic theme, thus altering the original thematic construct of the artist. Hence, an artist's theme is in a constant state of evolution, no matter which art form has been presented. (Lakatos 22-23)

Iconic realism in Salvador Dali's Art

Salvador Dali's  Melting Clocks 

(from DuckDuckGo Images)

As you gaze upon the art by Salvador Dali, you will note that he uses iconic realism in most of his surrealistic renderings. He will place a recognizable figure in a position in which this figure is not expected to exist. In his own words, he describes these objects as "...nothing more than the soft, extravagant, solitary, paranoiac-critical Camembert cheese of space and time... Hard or soft, what difference does it make! As long as they tell time accurately..." Through his placement of the figure in this unrealistic setting, he creates a realism that brings awareness of an aspect of culture that needs to be reformed, perhaps, our perception of time and how we use it.