Theme of Love as Depicted in Varied Forms of Art

¶ … Art Works

The different forms of art have been used over the years to capture various themes in the society and express the feelings and standpoint of the artist. Many artists have been immortalized by their art forms which transcend time and space as they come to be known and revered across the globe and many decades after they were composed. The sculptures, poems, songs, paintings, mosaic works and many other forms of art including the contemporary movie genres have seen some major themes brought into immortalization and the stand or perspective of various artists known through such art works.

One of the predominant themes over the decades is love which is captured different according to the philosophy that the composer of a given work of art holds towards the idea of love. Some loath love, some adore love, other artists are indifferent, yet some do not believe in the concept of love and all these forms of expressions and perspectives on love are effectively captured through the various forms of art.

Sculpture and the theme of love/romance

One such piece of art is the Cupid Awakening Psyche which is a neo-classic sculpture that was artistically carved out of marble by Antonio Canova who contributed to art through sculpture until his death in 1822 (Musee du Louvre, 2010). This piece of art shows Cupid, which is a winged young man deemed to be the god of love Eros, translating to Cupid in Latin, landing on a rock where a girl lies unconscious, the lady needs rescue, her name is called Psyche. The sculpture is derived from an ancient mythology where Psyche was sent by Cupid's mother called Venus, the goddess of beauty, to the underworld to bring back a flask and never to open it. She god too curious and opened it, hence breathing dangerous fumes and falling into a deep deathlike sleep. Seeing the lifeless Psyche, Cupid rushes to her, pokes her with the tip of one of his arrows and holds her up between his arms looking into her face ready to give her a kiss that would revive her. This is the love moment that the sculptor captured through his sculpture name Cupid Awakening Psyche. The love and intimacy captured by the sculptor in a magnificent manner as it shows how love can transcend boundaries and even revive those deemed to have died. It is an expression of young love or love between two young people. It also express the love that transcends boundaries since Cupid was a god and Psyche was made to be of the lowest human caliber by the jealous Venus, and even forbid Cupid from associating with Psyche, but still, the love that Cupid had for Psyche transcended all these boundaries. The sculpture was well done, with the emotions well brought out through the motions depicted in the curves of the sculpture, the love feeling can be felt all around the sculpture and the intimacy of the two subjects is properly brought out. The sculpture was a big success.

Poem and the theme of love/romance

This is a feminist poem that was written by Adrienne Rich in 1951. Aunt Jennifer's Tigers has a persona who describes the activities of the aunt. The speaker describes the knitting action of the aunt who is making a decorative screen that is adorned by the image of tigers who are moving through a jungle. These tigers are depicted as energetic and very agile then the next stanza depicts Aunt Jennifer who is feeble and struggles even to pull the ivory needle trough the fabric. One of the reasons for her feeble hands is the "Uncle's wedding band" that weighs heavily on her finger. Lastly the poem puts forth the possible poor state that Aunt would die in and all her ordeals will still be intact but there will be hope as the tigers on the panel that she made will remain intact and still agile as ever before, a sign of hope again (SHMOOP University, 2016). The poem generally describes the predicament that the marriage life had put the aunt through and the consequences she has now to live with though depicting hope for the young energetic tigers after her.

The poem depicts love and commitment to marriage life throughout the life of an individual. It shows the endurance of love even under pain. Unlike the sculpture discussed hitherto, it gives the suffering brought about by love and still the commitment to the loved one, like it is in the Cupid's case, despite the predicaments that are suffered in the marriage.