Heeding Haiku With HA: Be Inspired # 2

The Scream by Edvard Munch

The Scream is a well renowned piece of art by Edvard Munch. I recently came across a page where the painting was analysed keeping in mind the artistic period when it was painted and the personal life of the artist, who is said to have struggled with insanity in his life. You can read it here.

In his diaries, the artist Edvard Munch admits that he struggled with insanity not only on a personal level during his life, but also through his family. In fact, his sister was hospitalized for insanity at the time The Scream was painted in 1893.

That indeed seems to have worked as a part of the artist’s imagination, because one could feel the chills pondering over the silent scream, which speaks the loudest. The color scheme also gives me an image of a turbulent mind.

Munch’s personal interpretation can be read as follows:

“I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous infinite scream of nature.”

This scream of nature seems more human to me at least. The nature of a human mind sheltering the scream within, is the thought that comes to me as an art admirer.

I would recommend you to read the article, and derive an interpretation of your own, which may or may not be similar to that of mine. And once you’ve gazed for long enough at the painting, pick up a pen and write down the images you’ve conjured in your mind in the form of a haiku or tanka or both.

What to do next?

1. Publish a post with your haiku or tanka if you have a blog. If you haven’t got a blog, you can share them in the comments down below. In case you have published a post, you can submit its link in the linking widget.

2. After you have made the post, take some of your time and visit the links of other participants. This is how we learn and improvise. Return again at the end of the week if you have made your post during the weekdays because there would be new links to visit, which would help us all to make connections and develop the feeling of community and togetherness in our adventure every week. Even if you can’t take out the time to visit all the links, then visit at least the link shared before or after you and offer your feedback and develop comradeship with that person.

You can also add the following tags to your post: HeedingHaikuWithHA and MindLoveMisery’sMenagerie.