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Etruscan Places |
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written
by julia625 / 10.24.2005 |
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Part 1: |
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It is near impossible to keep ones bias out of a piece of their writing. Someone like Lawrence, who was almost face to face with death at the time he wrote Etruscan Places, obviously maintained a difference bias then someone like me. I am still very young and death is so distant it is incomprehensible at this point in my life. Any fears I could possible have, relating to death, are so minimal that they have no any influence on my daily life. When Lawrence was writing, he was viewing the tombs as someone who was approaching death. He observed how much life exuberated from the tombs and admired how through this life the Etruscans achieved a sort of immortality. I was expecting to visit the tombs and see and feel exactly what Lawrence saw and felt. Although I shared many observations with him, overall what I really noticed in each tomb was drastically different. His observations are a product of the subconscious filter through his own imminent death while mine are of my own personal filter.
The first tomb Lawrence talked about was also the first tomb I visited; the tomb of Hunting and Fishing. Lawrence noted how peaceful the tomb looked. “It is all small and gay and quick with life, spontaneous as only young life can be… It is not impressive or grand. But if you are content with just a sense of the quick ripple of life, then here it is” (Lawrence 35). The Etruscans prided themselves on their ability to live. Their vivacity shines through the images on the walls. Lawrence seemed surprised that the Etruscans chose not to dedicate their attention to the grandeur of the burial place, but instead to ensuring that an underlying theme of life shone clearly through their frescoes. He chooses words like “gay”, “spontaneous” and “quick with life” to show how real and alive the paintings are. Words that I would typically associate with tombs include dreary, depressing, and somber. Lawrence, so close to his death, can truly appreciate how the Etruscans avoided letting sadness and regret creep into their graves and instead filled them with images of light and energy. The way that Lawrence talks about these frescoes implies that the way the Etruscans remembered their dead is something that Lawrence hopes to imitate as he nears his own death.
There is one particular person in this world who I truly love with my whole heart. This love is so all-consuming that, intentionally or not, it dominates every aspect of my life. When I viewed the tombs I viewed them with a filter of this fervent love. Just as Lawrence’s observations were unwittingly screened through his imminent death, mine are screened through my love. When I went to the tombs, I saw life and immortality, like Lawrence, but I also saw relationships and beauty. At the tomb of Hunting and Fishing I noted the sense of peace and life, but what I really saw was the connections between the people; how the boys in the water interact so happily with each other, almost like brothers. I noticed how close and comfortable they seemed, how accepting of each other. Each one is doing an individual activity, yet all posses a strange sense of togetherness. These conclusions I made are a product of my own filter of being young and in love. Overall my view of the tombs was much more optimistic then that of Lawrence.
Lawrence does not, however, notice just negative things. The primary difference is that Lawrence recognizes a different kind of happiness. While the happiness I perceive is more immediate, his stems from being remembered after death. He sees, with a combination of jealously and admiration, how much life the Etruscan people preserve, even in death. “It is wonderful, the strength and mystery of old life that comes out of these faded figures. The Etruscans are still there, upon the wall.” (Lawrence 44).” Lawrence admires the Etruscan ability to live on through these frescoes. By filling the walls of the tombs with a sense of life which transfers to each viewer, the Etruscans are effectively becoming immortal through each visitor to their tombs. A hint of Etruscan life is conveyed from the pictures on the wall to every single viewer. In this way, the Etruscans have achieved immortality. As long as the tombs stand, they will never be forgotten.
As a man approaching imminent death, Lawrence can recognize this immortality and is envious of it. Lawrence’s inevitable, looming death taints all of his thoughts. He is envious of the way the Etruscans preserved their memory and hopes to achieve immortality similar to that of the Etruscans through his writing. I, on the other hand, admire how alive the Etruscans are but am envious of other things. My filter, intentional or not, causes me to see the relationships in the pictures. I focus more on how the people are treating each other, and why, then on what the frescoes are saying about Etruscan life. Lawrence and I each have our own individual screens that we each see things through, and also relay them back to the world through. No two people have the same screen so, just like the differences between my experience at the tombs and that of Lawrence, no two people can ever share the exact same experience at a certain place.
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Part 2: |
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I found a section of Lawrence’s description of the Tomb of the Painted Vases the most vivid and memorable. Lawrence describes the tomb just like any other, but pays special attention to a striking pose between a man and a woman. What is so rare about this pose is that in the time that the tombs were built, around 500 BC, women were still expected to maintain the role of the perfect wife and act like women. They kept their head down, dressed properly, sat up straight in chairs, and talked quietly so they didn’t disturb their husbands. In Greek and Roman life, women were never allowed to lounge freely with their husbands while eating, as was custom with the Etruscans. In this section of the mural the woman is reclining comfortably on a couch next to her husband. The pose between the man and the woman, however, is what really catches Lawrence’s attention.
“On the end wall is a gentle little banquet scene, the bearded man softly touching the woman with him under the chin… Rather gentle and lovely is the way he ouches the woman under the chin, with a delicate caress. That again is one of the charms of the Etruscan paintings: they really have the sense of touch; the people and the creatures are all really in touch. It is one the rarest qualities, in life as well as in art. There is plenty of pawing and laying hold, but no… soft flow of touch.” (Lawrence 45).
The reason this description remained in my mind long after I closed the book was because of its relevance to my daily life. The sense of touch that Lawrence finds in the Tomb of the Painted Vases, the sense of touch that the Etruscans portrayed as such a part of their life, is something I strive to achieve in some aspect of my life every single day.
Naturally, I hope to have a life full of success both personally and professionally. Just like everyone else, I hope to make a difference and leave a better world then I entered. I also have more personal goal. I want to make connections with people. I want to enhance my life not just by what I do or who I know, but also through my relationships. This ambition can be expressed in many ways, but none as elegant as Lawrence’s description of the “flow of touch”. There is nothing in this world better then truly connecting with another person; achieving that “touch” both physically and verbally. I want to achieve that personal flow of touch with as many people as I can in my life. I would like to be remembered as someone who was warm and friendly, who really cared about other people. As someone who was in touch with everyone she met and who truly achieved what Lawrence calls the “sense of touch”.
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