I've walked past the Folger Shakespeare Library probably hundreds (low hundreds mind you, but hundreds) of times, and it often has a way of drawing me toward it. I've never been inside...yet. I believe I've even written about the nine bas reliefs that adorn the front of the building between the two main entrances. My favorite is certainly the characters from A Midsommer Night's Dream. Thanks to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you can access a copy of the entire play at this link.
As I was walking by today, it struck me to take some time and capture images of the nine bas reliefs, and a collage of those photos appears below, and a brief description of the white Georgia marble sculptures is outline on the Library's website. There is also a brief mention at the National Park Service website, but sadly, I cannot find any written description of why these particular nine plays of thirty-seven credited to William were chosen to adorn the library.
At the time of the walk, I was pondering how the building, the contents, and the works of the playwright that the Library honors and preserves captures my imagination.
When I got home this evening, the movie Hugo had been chosen as the entertainment for the evening during dinner. This evening was the second time I've seen the film, and I am forced to admit that the camera work, the story, the actresses and actors, and just about every aspect of this movie evokes strong emotions. I think it is a movie about loss, love, adventure, and whimsy. It is also a film about the power of imagination.
As I was walking by today, it struck me to take some time and capture images of the nine bas reliefs, and a collage of those photos appears below, and a brief description of the white Georgia marble sculptures is outline on the Library's website. There is also a brief mention at the National Park Service website, but sadly, I cannot find any written description of why these particular nine plays of thirty-seven credited to William were chosen to adorn the library.
At the time of the walk, I was pondering how the building, the contents, and the works of the playwright that the Library honors and preserves captures my imagination.
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| Nine Bas Relief Sculptures Gracing the Front of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC |
When I got home this evening, the movie Hugo had been chosen as the entertainment for the evening during dinner. This evening was the second time I've seen the film, and I am forced to admit that the camera work, the story, the actresses and actors, and just about every aspect of this movie evokes strong emotions. I think it is a movie about loss, love, adventure, and whimsy. It is also a film about the power of imagination.
Both of these experiences today have me questioning the whole notion of something capturing the imagination. I don't find that description particularly apt because what great works imagined and rendered by the likes of Shakespeare, Martin Scorsese, Brian Selznick, John Logan, and Georges Melies really do are free the imagination from the day to day activities. They allow me (and others presumably) to suspend logic and rationality, habit and custom, and they encourage one to think of the apparently impossible as not only possible, but likely. It is a great gift that they give the rest of us, and it's heartening in the pursuit of a vision. Freeing the imagination is what we all must do if we're going to be successful in addressing the challenges that are coming our way.
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