EYES IN ART AND POETRY

 

The eyes are the sensory organs that allow us to see. Eyes capture visible light from the world around them and turn it into a form which the brain uses to create a sense of vision.

 

EMOTIONS IN EYES:

 It's a time when emotions are expressed through heartfelt gestures, and often, the eyes play a crucial role in conveying these deep feelings. Beyond their role in vision, our eyes can act as a window to our soul, reflecting the rich array of emotions that make us human.

 If their sadness is acute, eyes will tear up and glisten as they grow watery. Eyes indicating fear will widen and dilate; in a person's need to see everything around them, the eyes will roll quickly in their sockets and cease to blink. Anger is another emotion that can be easily expressed with the eyes.

 EYES IN ARTS:

Artists have long been drawn to the eyes. And for good reason. Eyes are often associated with focus, truth, clarity, light, vision, prophecy, awareness, and observation — and so is a perfect symbol for artists striving to evoke imagery that surfaces these concepts to the conscious mind.

 EYES IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS:

 In Shakespeare's plays, eyes are often a symbol of awareness, insight, or perception. Eyes function similarly in Much Ado About Nothing, symbolizing more specifically the tendency of characters to act not on their own actual experiences but because of rumor, false perceptions, or hearsay.

 Shakespeare made a broad range of allusions to the eye, vision, and blindness The eye was often seen as an expression of character (“Let me see his eyes, that when I note another man like him, I may avoid him.” (Much Ado About Nothing)) and also portrayed human emotion (“I see a strange confession in thine eye” (Henry IV).

 Shakespeare personifies the sun, calling it “the eye of heaven” with “his gold complexion dimmed” – the sun's complexion dimmed in comparison to the beloved's. Giving the sun a human quality begins to degrade what we normally consider the powerful, untouchable sun.

 EYES IN POETRY

In poetic terms, eyes are often compared to the vastness of the ocean, the sparkle of precious gems, and the windows to one's heart. They are said to convey a person's emotions in the most profound way, from tears of joy to the twinkle of happiness, and even the stormy expression of anger.

 The eyes can be described using various adjectives like pale, blue, beautiful, bold, heavy, reddish, etc. The adjectives can be used appropriately depending on the description. If you wish to explain the colour of the eye, then you can use the colour of the eyeball (emerald, blue, hazel, etc.)

 Eyes like saucers. Eyes transparent as a cloudless sky. Eyes, brilliant and humid like the reflection of stars in a well. Languishing eyes like those of a roe looking tenderly at her young. All were the poetic description of the eyes.

 Eyes are probably the most important symbolic sensory organ. They can represent clairvoyance, omniscience, and/or a gateway into the soul. Other qualities that eyes are commonly associated with are: intelligence, light, vigilance, moral conscience, and truth. Looking someone in the eye is a western custom of honesty.

 HERE IS A POEM - EYES BY WILLIAM MATTHEWS

    the only parts of the body the same   

    size at birth as they’ll always be.   

“  That’s why all babies are beautiful,”   

    Thurber used to say as he grew   

     blind—not dark, he’d go on   

    to explain, but floating in a pale   

    light always, a kind of candlelit   

    murk from a sourceless light.   

    He needed dark to see:

f   or a while he drew on black   

    paper with white pastel chalk   

   but it grew worse. Light bored   

    into his eyes but where did it go?   

    Into a sea of phosphenes,

along the wet fuse of some dead   

    nerve, it hid everywhere and couldn’t   

    be found. I’ve used up

    three guesses, all of them

    right. It’s like scuba diving, going down   

    into the black cone-tip that dives   

    farther than I can, though I dive   

c   closer all the time.

 

 In poetic compositions, eyes become portals to the innermost thoughts and feelings of individuals. They are often described as shimmering pools or windows that reflect the world around them.

 

(This blogpost is  a part of Blogaberry creative challenge -prompt for the month of MAY -EYES. More details here https://www.blogaberry.com/miscellaneous/the-blogaberry-)creative-monthly-challenge/