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Hitler painted and Stalin wrote poetry...just throwing that out there...

by booleandilemma 7y ago

krageon 7y ago
What is the point you are trying to make with this?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- jalla 7y ago
  Stop being so adversarial.
antonvs 7y ago
The article mentions subjects like history and philosophy. The only reference to art is in the context of art history. Poetry can be empathetic, but it can also be selfish or impersonal, so I suppose we'd have to examine Stalin's poetry to find out how it might have related to his personality. Four of his six poems are published here: https://historyradio.org/2018/06/17/historical-documents-the-poetry-of-joseph-stalin/ https://historyradio.org/2018/06/17/historical-documents-the... The first one doesn't mention any individual people, focusing on people-less descriptions of landscape, only making a reference to Iverians/Georgians in a nationalistic context. No real empathy here, but an instruction to a group of people about how to feel. The second one is a lament about old age. While it involves an individual person, Stalin admires that person because of his previous machismo. There's a certain amount of empathy for his current frail state, but it's really focused on the ability of age to bring such a previously strong man low. The third one is back to landscape, along with some religious references and a generic "oppressed man" who can be "exalted by hope". People seem to be an abstract concept to him. The final verse is in the first person. The fourth poem is an ode to a Georgian poet and playwright who "sang hymns to the motherland" and who he hopes will have many like him "in the fatherland". There are two references to "the people". In short, his poems seem to reveal the mind with nationalistic tendencies, who sees "the people" as an abstraction, with individuality being largely irrelevant except when it can serve as a useful example. The only such exemplar happens to be a hyper-masculine man. Perhaps people should have paid more attention to his poetry, it could have saved a lot of trouble!

Hitler painted and Stalin wrote poetry...just throwing that out there...

krageon 7y ago

What is the point you are trying to make with this?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jalla 7y ago
Stop being so adversarial.

antonvs 7y ago

The article mentions subjects like history and philosophy. The only reference to art is in the context of art history. Poetry can be empathetic, but it can also be selfish or impersonal, so I suppose we'd have to examine Stalin's poetry to find out how it might have related to his personality. Four of his six poems are published here: https://historyradio.org/2018/06/17/historical-documents-the-poetry-of-joseph-stalin/ https://historyradio.org/2018/06/17/historical-documents-the... The first one doesn't mention any individual people, focusing on people-less descriptions of landscape, only making a reference to Iverians/Georgians in a nationalistic context. No real empathy here, but an instruction to a group of people about how to feel. The second one is a lament about old age. While it involves an individual person, Stalin admires that person because of his previous machismo. There's a certain amount of empathy for his current frail state, but it's really focused on the ability of age to bring such a previously strong man low. The third one is back to landscape, along with some religious references and a generic "oppressed man" who can be "exalted by hope". People seem to be an abstract concept to him. The final verse is in the first person. The fourth poem is an ode to a Georgian poet and playwright who "sang hymns to the motherland" and who he hopes will have many like him "in the fatherland". There are two references to "the people". In short, his poems seem to reveal the mind with nationalistic tendencies, who sees "the people" as an abstraction, with individuality being largely irrelevant except when it can serve as a useful example. The only such exemplar happens to be a hyper-masculine man. Perhaps people should have paid more attention to his poetry, it could have saved a lot of trouble!