/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15391285]

>Many people have historically agreed that poetry is the greatest art form.
>Most people have historically said music was the worst.

Does anyone have proof for these claims, or were they just made up?

[Anonymous No.15391303]

>>15391285
They're made up, and I can think of at least one example of someone saying that music is the highest form of art

[Anonymous No.15391305]

>>15391285
post some examples of people making these claims.

[Anonymous No.15391307]

>>15391285
I don't know but it's pretty stupid, music & poetry are obviously the highest forms of art

[Anonymous No.15391308]

>>15391285
Made up, and multiple great poets have admitted as much.

[Anonymous No.15391311]

>>15391285
>Does anyone have proof for these claims
No. Those statements were their equivalent of inflammatory and provocative shitposts.

[Anonymous No.15391312]

>>15391303
Who said that?
>>15391305
It was somebody from that thread we had the other day about ranking the art forms

[Anonymous No.15391321]

>>15391285
Are you talking about the thread a while ago? The most famous arguments for this (in the english language) were by Percy Shelley and Sir Phillip Sidney if you are interested in reading them. They were in turn taken from many of classical writers, such as Homer, Horace, Ovid, etc. I think Sidney's main argument that poetry is superior to philosophy (remember philosophy meant something a bit different back then) is taken directly from Horace. The argument's that music is the worst are mainly from Kant and Schopenhauer i think, but i can't confirm. Maybe someone else can? I can't confirm how other people ranked them either. But either way, that's where the claim comes from. It doesn't really matter which one is best though, you're not picking and choosing them. Just fill your life with good art and it will be beneficial.

[Anonymous No.15391330]

>>15391303
>>15391305
>>15391311
>>15391321
They are called the defence of poetry and an apology for poetry respectively. The classical arguments are mostly hidden within their art unfortunately, but the argument is still there.

[Anonymous No.15392539]

>>15391312
not that anon but schoppenhauer famously placed music as the artform closest to pure Will in itself

[Anonymous No.15393325]

>>15391321
Schopenhauer says music is the highest form of art. It is the most direct manifestation of the will with the least amount of human will. He also says still-life paintings of mundane objects are highly aesthetic.

[Anonymous No.15393363]

>>15391285
How could the greatest art from be anything other than a Gesamtkunstwerk?

[Anonymous No.15393562]

>>15391312
Schopenhauer and Nietzsche were the first to spring to mind. Kurt Vonnegut also said music was the most expressive form of art, though /lit/ doesn't value his opinion. I'm sure I could come up with more if I thought about it

[Anonymous No.15393787]

>>15391285
Literature and music remain my favourite art forms. The more visual arts, like painting, don't do too much for me, though that might just be my ignorance making itself known. The most stunned I've ever been at the sight of a painting was Rembrandt's The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis, which I saw in person a few years ago, but it still couldn't compare to a great piece of music in the feelings it evoked.

[Anonymous No.15394182]

>>15393787
I concur. I find music to be the most emotionally moving of the arts, there is something about certain chord progressions and sounds that is able to evoke a keen sense of emotion in me, be it melancholy, happiness, hope, etc...

Paintings are a short but sweet form of art, you can take in a painting relatively quickly. While I am impressed by the artist's skill, I don't think I've ever been emotionally moved by a work of art. This may be because to move me emotionally, it must evoke some kind of memory, but because some of the best artists painted over three hundred years ago, there is not a lot of art with which I can visually relate, even if thematically it is still relevant (e.g. paintings of death, old age, human life, ect...). I say this because looking at photos of my town from when I was a child does give me a sense of nostalgia and it makes me feel for a time now gone. A similar thing is true for statues in my opinion.

Literature can be moving for me, but it is more often just something to get my noggin' joggin', something which can gives me a new perspective on life, and which tells an engaging story. It is more satisfying than a painting because it builds up to something rather than giving you everything at once.

[Anonymous No.15394213]

>>15394182
sculptures may be better than paintings for inspiring me. but like most i agree with you that music inspires the most

[Anonymous No.15394771]

>>15392539
Why is Goethe squidward with Hitler's eyes and nose on top?

[Anonymous No.15395920]

>>15391285

These two forms imply each other though.

[Anonymous No.15396118]

>>15391285
Historically the strict and oppositional distinction between them that soulless Moderns insist on did not exist. Sure they were distinguished but they share many features and would be found together more often than not. Poetry is to be performed, spoken or acted out in a play. As is music. Fundamentally they share the same interaction with the listener. Prose is different because the musical qualities take a backseat to the content. Though prose does not omit it entirely as it must sound natural (musical and balanced).

In illiterate societies I imagine anything that needed to be remembered or repeated would be rendered as poetry, perhaps without relying on widely available writing this is the norm for humanity. Perhaps at some point the majority of things spoken tended to be rendered poetically, that is with musical quality. A pleasing and practical habit. It is by the same mechanism that you can hear a piece of music in your head.

[Anonymous No.15396146]

There aren't exclusive of one another. Iambic pentameter and assonance are ways to play around with sounds in poetry. The same is done with notes on instruments, albiet with modifying notes rather than the actual sound being produced (most of the time). Different strokes for different blokes.