Eli Siegel
Encyclopedia
Eli Siegel was the poet and critic who founded the philosophy Aesthetic Realism
in 1941. He wrote the award-winning poem, "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana", two highly acclaimed volumes of poetry, a critical consideration of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw titled James and the Children, and Self and World: An Explanation of Aesthetic Realism.
, Siegel's family came to the United States when he was an infant. He grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he graduated from the Baltimore City College
high school
, and lived most of his life in New York City.
In 1925, his "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana" was selected from four thousand anonymously submitted poems as the winner of The Nation's esteemed poetry prize. The magazine's editors described it as "the most passionate and interesting poem which came in—a poem recording through magnificent rhythms a profound and important and beautiful vision of the earth on which afternoons and men have always existed." The poem begins:
"Hot Afternoons" was controversial; the author's innovative technique in this long, free-verse poem tended to polarize commentators, with much of the criticism taking the form of parody. "In Hot Afternoons," Siegel later explained, "I tried to take many things that are thought of usually as being far apart and foreign and to show, in a beautiful way, that they aren’t so separate and that they do have a great deal to do with one another."
Siegel continued writing poetry throughout his life, but devoted the majority of his time over the next decades to developing the philosophy he later called Aesthetic Realism. After moving to New York City, he became a member of the Greenwich Village
poets, famous for his dramatic readings of Hot Afternoons and other poems. His two-word poem, One Question, won recognition as the shortest poem in the English language. It appeared in the Literary Review of the New York Evening Post in 1925:
For several years in the 1930s, Siegel served as master of ceremonies for regular poetry readings that were well-known for combining poetry and jazz. He was also a regular reviewer for Scribner's magazine and the New York Evening Post Literary Review. In 1938, Siegel began teaching poetry classes with the view that "what makes a good poem is like what can make a good life." In 1941, students in these classes asked him to give individual lessons in which they might learn about their own lives. These were the first Aesthetic Realism lessons.
In 1944, Siegel married Martha Baird (University of Iowa
), who had begun studying in his classes the year before. Baird would later become Secretary of the Society for Aesthetic Realism. http://print.google.com/print?id=dq8k4KMTer0C&pg=288&lpg=288&prev=http://print.google.com/print%3Fq%3D%2522eli%2Bsiegel%2522%26btnG%3DSearch%2BPrint&sig=daVhzR23Va_IKkC4sQa7PmInZyM
In 1946, at Steinway Hall in New York City, Siegel began giving weekly lectures in which he presented the philosophy he first called Aesthetic Analysis (later, Aesthetic Realism) "a philosophic way of seeing conflict in self and making this conflict clear to a person so that a person becomes more integrated and happier."
From 1941 to 1978, he gave many thousand lectures on poetry
, history, economics
— a wide variety of the arts
and sciences. And he gave thousands of individual Aesthetic Realism lessons to men, women, and children. In these lessons the way of seeing the world based on aesthetics — which is Aesthetic Realism — was taught.
In 1951, William Carlos Williams read Siegel's "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana" again, and wrote to Martha Baird: "Everything we most are compelled to do is in that one poem." Siegel, he wrote, "belongs in the very first rank of our living artists." The prize poem became the title poem of Siegel's first volume, Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems, nominated for a National Book Award in 1958. A decade later, his second volume, Hail, American Development, also met with critical acclaim. "I think it's about time Eli Siegel was moved up into the ranks of our acknowledged Leading Poets," wrote Kenneth Rexroth, in the New York Times. Walter Leuba described Siegel's poems as "alive in a burning honesty and directness" and yet, having "exquisite emotional tact." He pointed to these lines, from "Dear Birds, Tell This to Mothers":
At the age of 76, Siegel had an operation for a benign prostatic
condition. He called it "the operation so disastrous to me." As a result, he lost the use of his feet, and was unable to sleep. Five months after the surgery, with his health continuing to deteriorate, followers of his philosophy of Aesthetic Realism say that Siegel took his life. His suicide
was described by Ellen Reiss in The Right of Aesthetic Realism
to Be Known wrote: "Mr. Siegel, as he lived, and also in dying, was true to the philosophy
he founded: his purpose was to be fair to the world".
tells us: "Heraclitus
, Aristotle
, Kant
, Hegel, and even Martin Buber
have posited contraries and polarities in their philosophies. Siegel, however, seems to be the first to demonstrate that 'all beauty is the making one of the permanent opposites in reality'." (1 September 1969) http://www.definitionpress.org/WHBT-Review-LJ.htm
The ethics Siegel taught—"the art of enjoying justice"—includes this definition of good will: "The desire to have something else stronger and more beautiful, for this desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful". Good will is necessary, he stated, for a person to like him– or herself: "This desire is the fundamental thing in human consciousness". (The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, issue no. 121)
The Aesthetic Realism Foundation continues to teach the philosophy that Siegel founded. The Foundation gives consultations in New York
and by telephone internationally.
was an early supporter of Siegel's poetry and defender of his views. Williams wrote:
And Williams continued:
In Contemporary Authors
Ellen Reiss, academic head of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, stated (in a book published by Definition Press, said Foundation's publishing arm):
Huntington Cairns, Secretary of the National Gallery of Art
in Washington, D.C., described Siegel's place in the understanding of aesthetics—the branch of philosophy which studies beauty—as follows:
Donald Kirkley wrote in the [Baltimore Sun|Baltimore Sun] (1944) reporting on Siegel's reaction to his 1925 national fame,
And William Carlos Williams also wrote,
In 2002 the city of Baltimore placed a plaque in Druid Hill Park to commemorate the centennial of Eli Siegel's birth. That same year Representative Elijah E. Cummings read a tribute to Siegel in the United States House of Representatives
.
Aesthetic Realism
Aesthetic Realism is the philosophy founded by Eli Siegel in 1941. It is based on three core principles. First, according to Siegel, the deepest desire of every person is to like the world on an honest or accurate basis...
in 1941. He wrote the award-winning poem, "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana", two highly acclaimed volumes of poetry, a critical consideration of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw titled James and the Children, and Self and World: An Explanation of Aesthetic Realism.
Life
Born in LatviaLatvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Siegel's family came to the United States when he was an infant. He grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he graduated from the Baltimore City College
Baltimore City College
The Baltimore City College , also referred to as The Castle on the Hill, historically as The College, and most commonly City, is a public high school in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. The City College curriculum includes the International Baccalaureate Programme and emphasizes study in the classics...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, and lived most of his life in New York City.
In 1925, his "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana" was selected from four thousand anonymously submitted poems as the winner of The Nation's esteemed poetry prize. The magazine's editors described it as "the most passionate and interesting poem which came in—a poem recording through magnificent rhythms a profound and important and beautiful vision of the earth on which afternoons and men have always existed." The poem begins:
-
- Quiet and green was the grass of the field,
- The sky was whole in brightness,
- And O, a bird was flying, high, there in the sky,
- So gently, so carelessly and fairly.
"Hot Afternoons" was controversial; the author's innovative technique in this long, free-verse poem tended to polarize commentators, with much of the criticism taking the form of parody. "In Hot Afternoons," Siegel later explained, "I tried to take many things that are thought of usually as being far apart and foreign and to show, in a beautiful way, that they aren’t so separate and that they do have a great deal to do with one another."
Siegel continued writing poetry throughout his life, but devoted the majority of his time over the next decades to developing the philosophy he later called Aesthetic Realism. After moving to New York City, he became a member of the Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
poets, famous for his dramatic readings of Hot Afternoons and other poems. His two-word poem, One Question, won recognition as the shortest poem in the English language. It appeared in the Literary Review of the New York Evening Post in 1925:
-
-
-
- One Question
- I —
- Why?
- One Question
-
-
For several years in the 1930s, Siegel served as master of ceremonies for regular poetry readings that were well-known for combining poetry and jazz. He was also a regular reviewer for Scribner's magazine and the New York Evening Post Literary Review. In 1938, Siegel began teaching poetry classes with the view that "what makes a good poem is like what can make a good life." In 1941, students in these classes asked him to give individual lessons in which they might learn about their own lives. These were the first Aesthetic Realism lessons.
In 1944, Siegel married Martha Baird (University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
), who had begun studying in his classes the year before. Baird would later become Secretary of the Society for Aesthetic Realism. http://print.google.com/print?id=dq8k4KMTer0C&pg=288&lpg=288&prev=http://print.google.com/print%3Fq%3D%2522eli%2Bsiegel%2522%26btnG%3DSearch%2BPrint&sig=daVhzR23Va_IKkC4sQa7PmInZyM
In 1946, at Steinway Hall in New York City, Siegel began giving weekly lectures in which he presented the philosophy he first called Aesthetic Analysis (later, Aesthetic Realism) "a philosophic way of seeing conflict in self and making this conflict clear to a person so that a person becomes more integrated and happier."
From 1941 to 1978, he gave many thousand lectures on poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, history, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
— a wide variety of the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
and sciences. And he gave thousands of individual Aesthetic Realism lessons to men, women, and children. In these lessons the way of seeing the world based on aesthetics — which is Aesthetic Realism — was taught.
In 1951, William Carlos Williams read Siegel's "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana" again, and wrote to Martha Baird: "Everything we most are compelled to do is in that one poem." Siegel, he wrote, "belongs in the very first rank of our living artists." The prize poem became the title poem of Siegel's first volume, Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems, nominated for a National Book Award in 1958. A decade later, his second volume, Hail, American Development, also met with critical acclaim. "I think it's about time Eli Siegel was moved up into the ranks of our acknowledged Leading Poets," wrote Kenneth Rexroth, in the New York Times. Walter Leuba described Siegel's poems as "alive in a burning honesty and directness" and yet, having "exquisite emotional tact." He pointed to these lines, from "Dear Birds, Tell This to Mothers":
-
- Find the lost lines in
- The writing that is your child, mothers. . .
At the age of 76, Siegel had an operation for a benign prostatic
Prostate
The prostate is a compound tubuloalveolar exocrine gland of the male reproductive system in most mammals....
condition. He called it "the operation so disastrous to me." As a result, he lost the use of his feet, and was unable to sleep. Five months after the surgery, with his health continuing to deteriorate, followers of his philosophy of Aesthetic Realism say that Siegel took his life. His suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
was described by Ellen Reiss in The Right of Aesthetic Realism
Aesthetic Realism
Aesthetic Realism is the philosophy founded by Eli Siegel in 1941. It is based on three core principles. First, according to Siegel, the deepest desire of every person is to like the world on an honest or accurate basis...
to Be Known wrote: "Mr. Siegel, as he lived, and also in dying, was true to the philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
he founded: his purpose was to be fair to the world".
Aesthetic Realism
The basis of Aesthetic Realism is the principle, "The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites".http://www.aestheticrealism.org/es-expl.htm In the book, Aesthetic Realism: We Have Been There, six working artists explain this principle in life and their own craft. Reviewing them, the Library JournalLibrary Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
tells us: "Heraclitus
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...
, Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
, Hegel, and even Martin Buber
Martin Buber
Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....
have posited contraries and polarities in their philosophies. Siegel, however, seems to be the first to demonstrate that 'all beauty is the making one of the permanent opposites in reality'." (1 September 1969) http://www.definitionpress.org/WHBT-Review-LJ.htm
The ethics Siegel taught—"the art of enjoying justice"—includes this definition of good will: "The desire to have something else stronger and more beautiful, for this desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful". Good will is necessary, he stated, for a person to like him– or herself: "This desire is the fundamental thing in human consciousness". (The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, issue no. 121)
The Aesthetic Realism Foundation continues to teach the philosophy that Siegel founded. The Foundation gives consultations in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and by telephone internationally.
Works
Among Siegel's many published works are:- Self and World: An Explanation of Aesthetic Realism. About Self and World, Smithsonian magazine wrote: "Whether child or adult is spoken of, this book [Self and World] sees a person's concerns with dignity and compassion". (February, 1982) http://www.definitionpress.org/SAW-smithsonian-review.htm
- Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: PoemsHot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: PoemsHot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems is a book of poems written by Eli Siegel, founder of the philosophy of aesthetic realism. Definition Press, who printed it, is the publishing arm of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. The book was one of 13 finalists in the poetry category of the National...
, a collection of poems nominated for a National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in 1958. Regarding the title poem, poet William Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
wrote, "I say definitely that that single poem, out of a thousand others written in the past quarter century, secures our place in the cultural world".http://www.elisiegel.net/poetry/WilliamsLetter1951.htm John Henry FaulkJohn Henry FaulkJohn Henry Faulk from Austin, Texas was a storyteller and radio show host. His successful lawsuit against blacklisters of the entertainment industry helped to bring an end to the Hollywood blacklist.-Early life:...
, speaking of the poems in this book, said on CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
radio, "Eli Siegel makes a man glad he's alive". - Hail, American Development, containing 178 poems, including 32 translations—"all with the same incomparable sensibility at work saying things nobody else could say", wrote Kenneth Rexroth in the New York Times Book Review,; adding, "[Eli Siegel's] translations of Baudelaire and his commentaries on them rank him with the most understanding of the Baudelaire critics in any language". (23 March 1969) http://www.elisiegel.net/poetry/Review-Rexroth-NYT.htm
- James and the Children: A Consideration of Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
's "Turn of the ScrewThe Turn of the ScrewThe Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
" and Goodbye Profit System: Update. - Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. XIV, No. 2, December 1955 (see Terrain GalleryTerrain GalleryThe Terrain Gallery, or the Terrain, is an art gallery and educational center in SoHo, New York City. It was founded in 1955 with a philosophic basis: the ideas of Aesthetic Realism and the Siegel Theory of Opposites, developed by American poet and educator Eli Siegel...
.
Comments on Siegel's work
William Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
was an early supporter of Siegel's poetry and defender of his views. Williams wrote:
I can't tell you how important Siegel's work is in the light of my present understanding of the modern poem. He belongs in the very first rank of our living artists.
And Williams continued:
The other side of the picture is the extreme resentment that a fixed, sclerotic mind feels confronting this new. It shows itself by the violent opposition Siegel received from the "authorities" whom I shall not dignify by naming and after that by neglect ("Something to Say", ed. by J.E.B. Breslin, New Directions).
In Contemporary Authors
Contemporary Authors
Contemporary Authors is an annually updated reference work published by Gale Cengage. It provides biographical details on over 120,000 writers in all genres whose works have been published in the English language...
Ellen Reiss, academic head of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, stated (in a book published by Definition Press, said Foundation's publishing arm):
Eli Siegel's work, which in time became Aesthetic Realism, was the cause of some of the largest praise, the largest love in persons, and also the largest resentment...
In writing an entry about [him] for Contemporary Authors, you are somewhat in the position you would be writing an entry on the poet John Keats in 1821. That is, if you were to rely on what was said of Keats by most established critics (critics now remembered principally for their injustice to one of the greatest English writers), you would present the author of `Ode to a Nightingale' as a presumptuous `Cockney poet' whose works were `driveling idiocy.' In writing about Eli Siegel [now], you are writing about a contemporary who is great; who all his life met what William Carlos Williams described him as meeting, `the extreme resentment that a fixed, sclerotic mind feels confronting this new'; who now, after his death, is beginning, just barely beginning, to be seen with something like fairness.
Huntington Cairns, Secretary of the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
in Washington, D.C., described Siegel's place in the understanding of aesthetics—the branch of philosophy which studies beauty—as follows:
I believe that Eli Siegel was a genius. He did for aesthetics what Spinoza did for ethics. http://www.aestheticrealism.org/Press-Articles-on-Aesthetic-Realism/Balt-Evening-Sun-Bready.htm
Donald Kirkley wrote in the [Baltimore Sun|Baltimore Sun] (1944) reporting on Siegel's reaction to his 1925 national fame,
Baltimore friends close to him at the time will testify to a certain integrity and steadfastness of purpose which distinguished Mr. Siegel... He refused to exploit a flood of publicity which was enough to float any man to financial comfort..."http://www.elisiegelcollection.net/Lectures-in-TRO/Tro1335.htm
And William Carlos Williams also wrote,
Only today do I realize how important that poem ["Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana"] is in the history of our development as a cultural entity." http://www.elisiegel.net/poetry/WilliamsLetter1951.htm
In 2002 the city of Baltimore placed a plaque in Druid Hill Park to commemorate the centennial of Eli Siegel's birth. That same year Representative Elijah E. Cummings read a tribute to Siegel in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
.
Epitaph
The following are lines from Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana, one of the poems which Selden Rodman wrote "say more (and more movingly) about here and now than any contemporary poems I have read". (17 August 1957 Saturday Review) These lines stand for what Ellen Reiss has described as Siegel's "beautiful, faithful, passionate, critical, loving attention to the world and humanity".http://www.elisiegel.net/Tro1339.htm
- The world is waiting to be known; Earth, what it has in it!
- The past is in it;
- All words, feelings, movements, words, bodies, clothes, girls,
- trees, stones, things of beauty, books, desires are in it;
- and all are to be known;
- Afternoons have to do with the whole world;
- And the beauty of mind, feeling knowingly the world!
External links
- Website devoted to the memory and works of Eli Siegel.
- Siegel's lectures.
- Aesthetic Realism Foundation website
- "Aesthetic Realism Shows How Art Answers the Questions of Your Life" by Dorothy Koppelman and Carrie Wilson, published in International Conversations through Art: Proceedings of the 31st InSEA World Congress 2002, Prabha Sahasrabudhe, Editor. Center for International Art Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York: 2003.
- People who say "Aesthetic Realism is a Cult"
- Friends of Aesthetic Realism—Countering the Lies
- Monumental Man—The controversial legacy of poet philosopher Eli Siegel, Melissa Goldman, Jewish Times, August 22, 2003
- Response to Melissa Goldman's article in the Jewish Times, by the Aesthetic Realism Foundation Board of Directors
- "Aesthetic Realism: A New Foundation for Interdisciplinary Musicology" by Edward Green, Professor of Music
- Review of Aesthetic Realism: We Have Been There—Six Artists on the Siegel Theory of Opposites by David Bernstein et al., Popular Photography, November 1969 by Hattersley, Ralph.
- Honoring Eli Siegel Remarks in the U.S. Congress by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings.