Fiona Conway

1/20/20
Period 2

The poem I chose was titled Watching the Moon Following a Shower by Miss Nalan. The

poem goes as follows:

“Now the clouds have left, the hills are once as black;

As mists have cleared, the moon is once as bright.

The nights last long and I become frustrated-

The roosting crows are settled on their branches.”

The tone of the poem is brooding as the person describes long nights and feelings of

frustration. It provides a feeling of relief to the reader by describing how the setting has gone

back to being at peace, by saying “the clouds have left” and “the roosting crows are settled.” I

chose to illustrate the first two lines of the poem, as when I first read the poem I had a clear

image in my head of a night sky with a moon set high above the mountains.

In the current day, the urban landscape is associated with frenzy and is a place where one

feels rushed. By looking at a painting of a different landscape, it puts one at peace and as a

calming effect as one is able to visualize a place that is quiet and very different from the urban

environment s/he is used to. This doesn’t differ much from the past, but perhaps in the past it was

more difficult for art to allow one to transcend the urban landscape as one didn’t have as big of

an understanding of an environment that was unfamiliar. For both past and present, not just

observing art but creating art is also a way to transcend the urban landscape, as one has to have a

clear and detailed vision in his/her head in order to be able to express ideas in art form to others.

It is difficult to analyze and synthesize poetry in this assignment due to people’s different

personal experience and writing styles. Different personal experiences mean that the author was

most likely reflecting on something that another person knows nothing about, and the author is in
Fiona Conway
1/20/20
Period 2
a different location than the reader has seen, meaning the reader has to formulate his/her own

ideas about the meaning behind what the author is writing. The writing style also makes it

difficult to synthesize the poem as it is very short, meaning one has to extract a deeper meaning

from just a few lines of poetry. One way I’ve previously used mixed mediums is in CAP

Hollywood. This was also a difficult experience as the director, who was the author of the short

story the group had to make a film about, had a specific vision in their head, and it was hard to

describe that vision to the rest of the group members.