Reading Response #2

As I was doing my readings over the last few weeks, knowing that we would have to do more reading responses, I remembered the articles that I really found interesting to respond to. One of theses articles was Phillip Lopate’s On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing. The Lopate article stuck with me because it truly discussed some real life approaches that artist take when capturing their findings on walks. It was interesting to read how well known poets (Walt Whitman, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Reznikoff and Lopate himself) used walks to draw out material to use in their art. He is able to connect all of these artist based on the fact that they all walked the streets of New York and whether or not the artist themselves likes New York the city itself has had any affect on their art.

Phillip Lopate starts his article with some of his own ideas on walking and the affect it can have on an artist as he tries to capture what he sees and hears in words. He talks about how a persons past and self-preoccupation directly contributes to the way in which we see and absorb the city surroundings. Lopate would often study people as they pasted him by and try and discover as much about them by their “…three-second cameo” (Lopate). Others like Walt Whitman studies the way in which people move in a crowed, and like Lopate, Whitman tries to see positive in the city streets because of his love for New York. On the other end of the spectrum are the works of Charles Reznikoff who “… was particularly interested in how different ethnic groups—Italians, Jews, Southern Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Poles—adjusted to New York” (Lopate). All of these artists used the sights and sounds from their walks through the streets of New York to help influence their works and I find this very interesting because unlike a lot of the articles read in this class they don’t focus on “Sound Walks” but instead using walking to gain material. It was nice to have a new angle on the same strategy/purpose.

“You need not seek, the streets will deliver all in due time” (Lopate). To me this is exactly what I hope to do in my final Drift, not just find interesting subjects but let them find me. I know that what Lopate and the other artists from the article might not be partaking in sound/video recordings but their philosophies for obtaining material in the urban jungle have definitely influenced my drift two and the way I approach walking.