Painting with Words

Good Morning/Afternoon art lovers from across the world. Welcome to the Toowoomba Art Gallery as we welcome this exclusive exhibit, ‘Painting with Words’. Artists are defined as “a person who produces work in any of the arts that are primarily subject to the aesthetic criteria”. This highlights that artists are not only people with paintbrushes but writers and poets too. Poets are artists as they create art through influential, significant words. Exhibited at the Toowoomba Art Gallery today are poems that are complemented with images. Our first presentation from ‘Painting with Words’ is William Soutar’s poem, “The Children” which is partnered with the artwork “After the Bomb” which was Illustrated by Edwina Bishop.

“The Children” written by William Soutar creates the vivid images of innocent, helpless children whose lives were robbed by a frightful war. The poet echoes the anguish experienced by the innocent victims; as the children died far too young. Therefore, themes of grief, neglect and loss of innocence are explored throughout the powerful poem. Readers are invited to visualize the horrors inflicted on our younger citizens in war and feel the heart-break that their families endured. Overall, Soutar expresses the experience of a war-torn town which is robbed of their children through the brutality of conflict.

Poets employ a variety of techniques to convey powerful, meaningful messages through their poems. This is effectively achieved by employing figurative language which engages the reader. Soutar expresses the anguish and despair through six stanzas each consisting of three lines with the last line being the longest. The mood is largely anguish as the children are being killed before the eyes of the community, yet no one showed any signs of concern. Furthermore, the compelling language used in the poem “The children” allows the reader to feel the heartbreak of the children’s death. Soutar has depicted the disregard of the children through the repetition and metaphor of “corrupts the heart of men.” This symbolised the soldiers have little respect for the fallen children. Another metaphor in this evocative poem is “our charity is in the children’s faces”. This metaphor symbolises that the community feel numb for the helpless children who were brutally killed and seek charity and forgiveness. “Death” is personified as if it comes out of the sky to collect the fragile children’s body lying on the reckless streets. The visual imagery threaded through the poem paints the image of the children’s “blind and fearful faces”. This captures the emotions of the human cost of war. “Upon the street they lie” creates the horrific image that dead children’s bodies are scattered about the streets.

Poets incorporate sounds into their poems to engage and reinforce the meaning. “The Children” written by William Soutar utilises multiple sound patterns within the poem which include repetition, alliteration and rhyme. Irregular rhyme scheme is incorporated through-out the poem but is not sustained. “silent and serene the stars” adds a soft, gentle sound which contrasts with the theme of the poem. “Darkened with a darkening stain” emphasises how the earth is shocked and effected by the numerous deaths and further how the effects of war can never be reversed. This specific line also symbolises that the scares left behind are hard to erase as dark stains are often irreversible. Another use of sound patterning in this poem is auditory imagery. “Silence is in the air” allows the reader to hear the sorrowful town and to feel the heartbreak and stillness after the shock deaths. “Blind and fearful faces” creates the visual image of faces with an expression of terror. Overall the metaphor “death came out of the sky” is a compelling representation of how the children’s lives were torn away from them.

“After the bomb” generates emotional themes which directly relate to the poem. When viewers glance at the sorrowful image they are directly drawn to the innocent toddler in despair reaching out for the viewer to help him. The vulnerable child holds his dainty hand with a stop sign which shows that war effects everyone. Images in the foreground are of the deceased humans scattered around the hazardous, polluted gravel. The abandoned blanket symbolises their safe home that has been demolished by War. The background depicts soldiers unwilling to help the dying members of the community. There is thick black smoke in the background which is pictured as it engulfs the sky symbolising the terror that has unfolded. The confronting image emphasises the effects of war on children. Visual imagery incorporated as the toddler reaches for the readers assistance in the mortifying situation. The visual metaphor implied within the painting that audience are to help vulnerable children before their lives are snatched from the brutality of war. The colours of muggy brown and a misty grey present a dreary and dull attitude which relates to the sadness captured within the poem yet is juxtaposed with the toddler’s jumper which is bright and colourful to show there is still hope in the darkness. Textures help reinforce the central theme through the long brush strokes. Overall, a mood of stark anguish is represented through the image.

Therefore, Soutar’s poem “The Children” and Bishop’s artwork, “After the Bomb” establish striking, powerful images which resemble the anguish and torment of the innocent children who are lost at the hands of war. “The Children” is a compelling, heart breaking poem when complemented with “After the Bomb.”