The Semiotic Theory of Iconic Realism and Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan), Writer and Patriot

 

Sydney Owenson Morgan and Harp 

(My book cover photo, permission to use photo has been given by the New York Public Library)

My semiotic theory of iconic realism is one I composed whilst researching Sydney Owenson’s national tale, The Wild Irish Girl. This semiotic theory of iconic realism involves any artist’s placement of a realistic, iconic object or person in a unique realistic setting in which this icon does not usually appear, to create a vivid representation of the icon within the designated realistic setting. 

Since both the icon and the realistic setting represent conceptual realism within a given culture which the artist’s rendering represents, this unexpected juxtaposition results in a vital perception. These two unusual entities, positioned by the artist, create awareness in the audience of a need for a change within the culture. 

Sydney Owenson incorporates the field of semiotics, dealing the meaning of Irish terms and their connections with English interpretations. I had noticed the manner in which she established the iconic images of Ireland and England in realistic settings that were normally not associated with these images. In doing so, she brings to light the needed transformation of legislative and societal interactions between the English and the Irish. 

Semiotic Themes: Apples

Painting: Rafal Olbinski's Apple Trees

Fallen Apple

The fallen apple.

Ripe with ardor,

it drops from provisional support

and rolls into fertile mire

of fecundity, ignominy.

It’ll not rot in isolation. 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

From my first book: 

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 to the interpretation of the rendered artistic theme, thus altering the original thematic construct of the artist. Hence, a theme is in a constant state of evolution, no matter which art form has been presented (Lakatos 20).

How do these representations of themes demonstrate Iconic Realism? In both Olbinski's painting and my poem above, the representation is apples, both artistic expressions reveal the idea of an apple, a healthy fresh fruit, juxtaposed with a more negative depiction of this fruit: fallen. Yet, both expressions illustrate that it's not the apple's doing that leads to the fallen nature and inevitable end; it's the decisions made by the individuals surrounding those apples that bring the audience to an understanding that through righteousness, one can move forward in a more positive direction. 

Goethe's 'Dr. Faust, The Tragedy' and Iconic Realism

Photo from Google Images

In his play, Faust: The Tragedy (Faust. Der Tragödie), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe provides an illustration of iconic realism in that he places an iconic character, Mephistopheles, representing the complexities of evil/negation in the presence of the realistic, emotionally charged character, Dr. Faust, who struggles with his own perception of a quality human experience.

The disguised Mephistopheles makes a deal with Faust, and cultural lessons unfold. In the end, through the interactions of the feminine character, Gretchen, Mephistopheles, and Faust, an unlikely trio, Goethe elucidates his audience of redeeming cultural virtues of honesty, integrity, and perseverance.

In Honor of Women and Music Day: Sydney Owenson's (Lady Morgan's) "The Musical Fly and William Blake's "The Fly"

                

 
Photos above:

 Left: Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan) with harp, compliments of NY Public Library

Right: the-fly-shapiro.webp from Google Images

An excerpt from a paper presented at Association for Franco-Irish Studies, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland: 

In Sydney Owenson's (Lady Morgan's) poetic collection, Lay of an Irish Harp,  her chapter entitled, “The Musical Fly,” renders a quote in French: “De pouvoir sans nous ennuyer Eterniser une bagatelle,” which translated into English generally states, “We cannot perpetuate a trifle annoyance.” Her poetic rendition continues with the tale of a fly’s encounter with the silent strings of a harp and an allusion to William Blake’s “The Fly” (See Blake's poem below.)

In the third stanza, she writes: 

Not seem’d unconscious of the charm
That lurk’d in every silent string
For oft the little vagrant swept

               O’er every chord his lucid wing. 

A fly not only is an insect that displays independence, but the word, fly, is both transitive and intransitive, with multiple meanings, all of which are related to transcendence. This fly, then, could be representative of independence. While Blake’s fly has an inevitable brush with death, “For I dance/And drink and sing, /Till some blind hand/Shall brush my wing,” Owenson’s fly, with a touch of its lucid wing, flirts with the silent strings of the Irish harp, a symbol of Ireland, and manages to create a resonance with the origins of the harp’s music. 

Both writers use a melodic format with metaphoric representations of the human aspiration for independence and the complexity that occurs when this spirit interacts with annoying governmental and societal dictates. Both poets elucidate for their audiences the dire consequences associated with submission to an overt power. 

Whereas Blake’s fly dances until it receives its fatal blow, Owenson’s fly dances to silent strings. Hers lives in a paradox that illustrates her desire to convince those in the British government, who could create the true music to allow their constituents to experience a reality based on tolerance, but choose instead to manage their constituents like that of the insect-vagrant, whose truth consists of momentary felicity. 

Owenson’s careful choice of lexicon in her poetic representation of independence reveals the antagonism that echoes throughout Irish history, like the strings of her harp, often resonating in a cultural vacuum of silence. 

The Fly 

by William Blake

Little fly,

Thy summer’s play

My thoughtless hand

Has brushed away.

Am not I

A fly like thee?

Or art not thou

A man like me?

For I dance

And drink and sing,

Till some blind hand

Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life

And strength and breath,

And the want

Of thought is death,

Then am I

A happy fly,

If I live,

Or if I die.

To Honor 'Opening Day' in Baseball: Field of Dreams and Iconic Realism (Click here to view the movie trailer.)

In the photo, you will see the baseball field, which was actually constructed in an Iowa cornfield for the film, Field of Dreams.  

"An example of iconic realism in a film would be the baseball field within the 1989 film, Field of Dreams, based on the novel written by W. P. Kinsella and the screenplay written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson. Throughout the film, the audience knows that the mysterious baseball diamond, carved out of an Iowan cornfield by farmer Ray Kinsella, connects with the sport of baseball. Two iconic factors are present, the sport, which many view as America’s heart and the location, which is the heartland of America" (Lakatos 57).

"The realism is the actual grass, the parameters of the field, which consist of the edge of a cornfield and the players, themselves, which are the Chicago Black Socks, a team which had gone through a series of legalities during its prime season. The baseball players are ghosts from this infamous team, who simply wish to play out eternity on a ball field. As the plot unfolds, Ray’s true reason to construct the field revolves around ‘having a catch’ with his father. Therefore, the iconic feature of an authentic baseball field, placed in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa, a very unlikely place for a baseball field, elicits the cultural awareness from the main character. Ray’s illusions of his father were detached from a realistic understanding of his father’s passion, for he very much like Ray, himself, was a hardworking young man, who loved baseball" (Lakatos 57).

"Therefore, Robinson’s use of iconic realism in the Field of Dreams illustrates a personal mission of opening the consciousness of America to the conflict within the heart of its people and traditions. The use of illusion and human consciousness illuminate the struggle with personal motivation that produces results as stated repeatedly throughout the film, “If you build it, he will come.” This feature of iconic realism in the Field of Dreams adapts well to contemporary statements of community in iconic characterizations and the realistic dynamics of connection and detachment" (Lakatos 57).

Work Cited: 

Lakatos, Jeanne. The Theory of Iconic Realism: Understanding the Arts through a Cultural Context. Lewisburg, New York: Edwin Mellen Publishers, 2009.

Dr. Temple Grandin, a Successful Story of Autism, and Iconic Realism

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(Click here to view a trailer of the HBO film.)

To view a video of Dr. Temple Grandin, click here:

https://youtu.be/aF4sP-uC-yI

Dr. Temple Grandin's Website can be found here:

http://www.templegrandin.com

A number of years ago, HBO released a film, entitled Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes as the title character. This movie tells the life story of Temple Grandin, Ph.D., whose revolutionary method of treating animals in the slaughter houses of western United States has changed the manner which cattle are handled in a more benevolent and respectful manner. This has led to more efficient business practices in the meatpacking industry as well as a higher quality of meat.

As this film illustrates, Dr. Grandin was diagnosed as autistic in the 1950s. Her determination and fortitude placed her in a number of situations which qualify as examples of iconic realism. She was a woman, struggling with her condition and dedicated to work in the 'man's world' of raising cattle for the food industry in the western U.S. during the 1950s-60s, before the women's movement took hold in the 1970s. Moreover, she introduced innovative ways to reach children and adults with autism before U.S. Public Law 94142 was passed, providing free and appropriate education for children with special needs.

For that reason, I have placed the wonderful HBO film of Dr. Grandin's life experiences in this category of iconic realism because this iconic figure of a woman, placed in a setting where women were not usually found, brings awareness not only of the condition of autism and the possibilities of individuals who deal with it, but the audience becomes aware of the beef industry and the positive results associated with treating cattle with respect.(Click here to view a trailer for the HBO film.)

Music Therapy and Iconic Realism

The Lark Ascending

photo from Google Images

Whales from the Tennessee Maritime Museum

Google Images

Click the titles below to hear examples of this kind of therapeutic music:

1. The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams: 

The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams

2. Healing Songs of Whales and Dolphins (This is a long video, 1 hour, 17 minutes): 

Songs of Whales and Dolphins

As the mind correlates all sensation with memory, restful auditory stimulation, so closely connected with the synapses of the cerebral cortex, can transport an individual to the aspect of memory that lowers respiration, allowing for calm, deep breathing, and individual focus on the natural processes within a calm state of mind. How does this relate to the semiotic theory of iconic realism? This form of music therapy, aiding in the rejuvenation of an individual’s respiration and peace of mind, can also open one's mind to move in a more positive direction in one's own life experience. 

Another example exists in the vocal expressions of whales singing under the depths of the ocean have been used by environmentalists to bring attention to the plight of aquatic species of animals. This use of whales, when placed in accompaniment within a contemporary musical environment outside the parameters of the ocean depths, is an example of iconic realism. In such a case, the aural experience of the sea echoing on shore provides the audience with a dichotomy that brings awareness to the dilemma of the whales and their neighbors in the deep sea. 

Iconic realism in Salvador Dali's Art

Salvador Dali's  Melting Clocks 

(from Google Images)

As you gaze upon the art by Salvador Dali, below, 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.  

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 to illustrate that even though one may experience cruelty and humiliation, when one looks inward and sees God's child returning the gaze, one can realize individual truth, and therefore, discover possibilities associated with self growth. Now, one can make decisions based on talents, skills, knowledge, and individual purpose.  

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

Artistic Reception and Iconic Realism: Graffiti

Artistic Reception of the semiotic theory of iconic realism: 

1. The concept of meaning incorporates various levels of audience responses, directed by the artist, who uses literary, artistic, or musical design as a means to reach audience’s  sensory receptors. 

2. These develop into individual interpretations of a work of art and a deeper understanding of the conceptual elements. 

3. Variations of interpretation result from the reader, viewer or listener who responds to the material from disparate historical or social experience. 

4. Thus, the function of semiotic representation is the reflection of the society in which both the artist and the audience reside.

5. When an artist places an icon in a realistic, non-standard setting, the audience takes note, participating with the artist in a way that introduces  awareness of the need for cultural reform. This application is what I have termed, Iconic Realism.

All of above photos from Google Images

Graffiti is an excellent example of iconic realism.  Here, you will see some examples of graffiti found around New York City. If you look closely, you will notice the juxtaposition of iconic ideals with cynicism, reflecting a mind-set present in an inner city truth, painted on the exterior walls of buildings in one of the world's most significant cities, New York City, New York. These art renderings bring into focus significant dichotomies within our society. 

Riders of the MetroNorth train pass by such examples of graffiti on a daily basis, look out their windows, and subconsciously receive these forms of transformative art. This occurs not only in New York City, but globally. 

                                            

Bluebirds and iconic realism

Once, I went for a walk down my street. It felt wonderful to be walking passed the farms again after a long cold spell. The goats, sheep, llamas, cows, horses all seemed to perk their heads up and smile at me as I treaded once again upon the familiar path. It was brisk, for I live in New England, and winter doesn't want to give up its stronghold just yet. However, over my head flitted two beautiful bluebirds, their brilliant blue feathers glistening in the bright, early Spring sun. At this moment, I realized why these are my favorite birds, and I knew this walk was a blessing.

Then, it occurred to me. These bluebirds were another example of iconic realism, for bluebirds are iconic associations with joy, summer, and general calm. They were flying from tree to tree, realism. Yet, it was so bitterly cold outside. This juxtaposition brought to my attention the cultural dilemma of the importance for us humans to maintain appropriate stewardship of our world. So many beautiful, valuable, fragile creatures' lives are at stake. 

Thank you, Dear Lord, for this lovely lesson!

St. Joseph's Table and Iconic Realism

Photo from Catholckey.org

March 19 is St. Joseph's Day....I know, in some circles, this might be known as the reprieve following St. Patrick's Day. Now, what could be more iconic than a table laden with Italian delicacies? The way in which this becomes iconic realism is the setting (time) of this tradition, Lent, a time normally set aside for fasting. However, at a St. Joseph's Table, there is an abundance of wonderful food, in honor of the patron saint of families. The cultural aspect which becomes magnified by this juxtaposition of excessive edibles during a period of fasting would be the focus on familial bonds, friendship, and love, which is why many donate collected food from the Table for those in need. If you have never experienced a St. Joseph's Table, I highly recommend it. The aroma alone will revive your senses, providing a true contemplation of life's adventure and the generosity that can envelop the human heart. 

Saint Patrick and Iconic Realism

Stained glass image of Saint Patrick 

from Cathedral of St. Patrick, Oakland, California

Saint Patrick was born in Britain in the late 4th or early 5th century and died March 17, 461.  Abducted by Irish pirates when he was in his teens, he escaped and returned to Britain. [1]

In his book entitled, Confessions, he wrote:

"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

"I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: 'The Voice of the Irish.' As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea-and they cried out, as with one voice: 'We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.'"

The Irish Gaelige term for 'voice' is 'glor,' so his vision would have been a glorious one, for sure. 

How does Saint Patrick's life demonstrate iconic realism? 

1. A British lad ends up in Ireland during the Dark Ages. 

2. This placement was an unusual one for a British lad. 

3. Eventually, he was ordained a priest by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, with whom he had studied for years, and he was later ordained a bishop. He was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland as a means of transforming the pagan mindset to one of Christianity. He used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the people. 

Quoted material is from Saint Patrick's book, Confessions, and cited from the following website: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89

[1] Dates of Saint Patrick's life and death are from the following website: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89

Literary Resonance, Revolution, and Iconic Realism in Sydney Owenson's novel, _The Wild Irish Girl_

Photo from insert of the 1888 publication of The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson

Iconic realism intones throughout Sydney Owenson’s national tale, The Wild Irish Girl, written from a feminine cultural point of view shortly after the British Act of Union 1801.

Sydney Owenson engages in the construction of iconic realism through her interface with the concept of literary harmony elicited from the initial resonance of Irish revolution. She creates characters as iconic representatives of the consciousness existing in her historical reality. They speak in their native Irish Gaeilge in opposition to standard English, leading her audiences to literally hear a recognizable semblance of truth. This truth can then become a basis for future writers to harmonize with the transitioning, historical significance of human consciousness.

Such resonance, which distinguishes between intense reality and strength of the human spirit through iconic realism, echoes within Owenson’s novel. By means of her characters and their circumstances following the British Act of Union 1801, Owenson demonstrates the necessity for humankind to relate to one another on a realistic rather than a symbolic level. 

William Butler Yeats' "The Tower II" and Iconic Realism

I took this photograph of Thoor Ballylee a few years ago.

 

I pace upon the battlements and stare

On the foundations of a house, or where

Tree like a sooty finger, starts from the earth;

and send imagination forth

Under the day’s declining beam, and call

Images and memories

From ruin or from ancient trees,

For I would ask a question of them all.

(“The Tower II,” ll. 18-25) [1]

Here, Yeats places himself in the midst of the Tower, the earthen icon of the human soul. Born of the ancient source of all life, this soul’s power rests in the simplicity of a child’s voice, echoing for the “blind man’s joy.” This simplicity is so powerful that “certain men, be[come] maddened by those rhymes,” (l. 42) a magnificent union of the duality existent in imagination and reality. 

To further illustrate this duality, Yeats incorporates the iconic representation of “The Great Memory” to signify the reality of human consciousness. The speaker is out of control while at the same time, he is in control, “Come old, necessitous, half-mounted man;/And bring beauty’s blind rambling celebrant” (ll. 91-2). This ambivalence, accented with alliteration, leads to Yeats’s revelation that from chaos comes order and from dissonance, consonant harmony. He continues with his reference to human consciousness with an allusion to his recurrent swan’s song: “When the swan must fix his eye/ Upon a fading gleam, /Float out upon a long/Last reach of glistening stream/And there sing his last song” (ll. 141-45). 

The central theme of this poem is the realization of life’s paradox that art is both illusion and ideal. When Yeats reveals through the alliteration and rapid meter of “Man makes a superhuman/Mirror-resembling dream” (ll.165-66), he draws upon his references of the Easter Uprising and WWI in which reality of life recreates itself through the restructuring of chaos. 

Yeats’s iconic-bucolic imagery of singing birds in the introductory and concluding lines of “The Tower” reinforce his message of universal harmony that echoes throughout the sphere of life’s transformations. His final lines, “Seem but the clouds of the sky/When the horizon fades,/ Or a bird’s sleepy cry/ Among the deepening shades” (ll.193-96), indicate his reconciliation of life, art, Ireland and reality. It is not by accident that this poem leads directly to “Meditations in Time of Civil War.” 

In “The Tower,” Yeats illustrates the necessity for humanity to acknowledge the reality of life’s paradox and to nurture human consciousness with eyes wide open to human frailties as well as the glorious harmony present in one's creative endeavors.

[1] Yeats, William Butler. The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. (Hertfordshire, G.B.: Wordsworth Editions, Ltd., 2000)


[2] Lakatos, Jeanne. The Theory of Iconic Realism: Understanding the Arts through Cultural Context. New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008, pp. 54-55.