Landscape of the Soul, Explanation Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, English CBSE Class 11 NCERT Hornbill Chapter 4

 Landscape of the Soul, Explanation Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, English CBSE Class 11 NCERT Hornbill Chapter 4

LANDSCAPE OF THE SOUL

(Explanation and Meaning of difficult words)

Author – Nathalie Trouveroy

Anecdote	A short story, Incident
delicate realism	Almost real
figurative painting	Painting derived from real object
illusionistic likeness	Imaginary thing that looks almost real
conceptual space	Visualisation as per one’s thinking

 

Word	Meaning
Tale	Story
Landscape	Scenery
Commissioned	Inaugurated

In eighth century, there lived a painter by the name of Wu Daozi. A wonderful story is told about him. His last painting was a scenery. It was inaugurated by an Emperor of Tang dynasty whose name was Xuanzong. This painting was drawn on the wall of a palace for decoration.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Master	Highly skilled person, A skilful person
For a long while	For a long period of time
Admire	Appreciate
Immense	Huge, Very large

The skilful painter had hidden the painting behind a screen. Therefore only the emperor was able to see the painting. For a long time the Emperor stood in front of painting and appreciated the beautiful painting. It had forests that were looking almost real, high mountains, waterfall, clouds floating in huge sky, men walking on paths of hills, and birds flying.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Sire	Sir
Foot of mountain	Bottom of mountain
Dwell	Reside, Stay
Spirit	Aatmaa,

The painter told the king that there is a cave at the foot of the mountain. In this cave a spirit resides. The painter clapped his hands. And the door of the cave opened.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Splendid	Wonderful
Convey	Communicate, Describe
Your Majesty	Respected Sir

The painter said that the cave is wonderful from inside. Words cannot describe its beauty. He requested permission of the king to show the way to the cave to the King.

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Astonished	Surprised
Utter	Say
Vanished	Disappeared
Trace	Sign, Indication
Wu Daozi’s brush	Painting made by Wu Daozi

The painter entered the cave. The entrance of the cave closed after he had entered the cave. The surprised King wanted to say something. But even before that the painting also disappeared. Every sign or indication of the painting disappeared. The painter was never seen in this world again.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Played	Contributed
Classical	Conventional
Master	Teacher
Disciple	Pupil, Student, Follower

Such stores have contributed a lot in conventional education of China. Confucius and Zhuangzi are two great scholars of China. Their books and teachings are full of such stories. They helped a teacher to guide their students in correct direction.

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Anecdote	A short story, Incident
Reveal	Show, Indicate
Contrast	Compare
Spirit	Feelings
Representative	Specimen, Illustrative

In addition to being a short stories or incidents, these also indicate feelings of people about the art. There is one more famous story about another painter. He did not make an eye in the painting of dragon. He thought if he made the eye, the dragon would come alive out of the painting. One can compare these stories with an old story from my native place Flanders. This story can be considered an illustrative story of Western style painting.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Blacksmith	One who works on iron
Profession	Work, Career

Antwerp is a town in Belgium. In fifteenth century, there lived a blacksmith whose name was Quinten Metsys. He fell in love with daughter of a painter. But father of the girl was not ready to accept him as his son-in-law because he was a blacksmith.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Sneaked	Entered without being seen
Studio	Painting room
Panel	A frame or area for painting
Delicate	Very fine
Realism	Reality
Swat	Hit by a flat object
Realised	Understood

Quinten went into the painting room of the painter. The painter had decided an area or had a frame where he was to make a new painting. Quinten drew a fly in that panel. It was so finely drawn that it looked a real fly. The painter tried to kill the fly with a flat object. Then he understood that it was a painting.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Apprentice	Trainee
Illusionistic	Three dimensional art, Imaginary
Likeness	Similarity
Essence	Main theme

The painter was so impressed that he gave admission to Quinten in his studio as a trainee. Quinten married the girl he loved. He became a famous painter of his era. These two stories represent the difference in type of artwork present in China and in Western countries. The art work in Western countries believed in creating a three dimensional reality. While in China and Asia the main theme was related to inner life and inner feelings.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Commission	Inaugurate
Reveals	Shows
Territory	Area
Conquered	won

In the Chinese story, the Emperor had inaugurated the painting. He appreciated or understood its outer appearance only. But the artist showed him the true meaning of his work. The emperor is certainly the ruler of the area of land he has won. But the inner aspects and peace of life is known only to the artist.

 

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Mysterious	Secret, Strange
Beyond any material appearance	Beyond physical limits

The painter had told the Emperor that he would show the path to him. The word ‘Dao’ in the name of the painter. It also  means path or the method and the strange works of this Universe. The painting had disappeared. But the artist achieved his goal that was much beyond the physical limits of this Universe.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Landscape	Scenery, Painting
Figurative Painting	Painting derived from real object

A conventional Chinese painting does not draw the exact view while a Western painting is derived from the real objects as seen. The European painter wants to draw his painting the way he has seen a scene. He wants the viewer of the painting to see exactly what he has seen himself. Chinese painter does not believe that every person should have the same view.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Leisurely	Without hurry

Hence the painting made by the Chinese painter may not truly represent the current real condition. You can look at his painting from different angle, different perspective and different thought process. Then without any hurry you can look at each portion of the painting. This will help you to understand complete meaning of the painting.

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Scroll	Movement

When a viewer moves his gaze horizontally on the painting, he feels that one section after the other is opening up for his viewing. When he moves his gaze vertically up he feels as if the painting is entering into another time zone. Such feeling is not possible in painting of any other culture.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Pace	Speed
Conceptual space	Understanding, Visualisation as per one’s thinking

To attain such a deeper understanding, the viewer also needs to actively participate. The viewer decides the speed at which he will view and try to understand. This is physical participation as well as mental participation. The Chinese painter does not want that everybody should see only his view point. He wants that every viewer should exercise his own thought process to understand the painting. The scene or the landscape is seen from the inner feeling and understood as per viewer’s thought process.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Complementary	Supportive
Reflecting	Representing
Universe	World

The concept of ‘shanshui’ is known as ‘mountainwater’. When these two words are used together its meaning becomes scenery or landscape. These are not merely two aspects of an image. They support each other to represent views of Daoist about the world.

 

 

‘Yang’ represents mountain in Chinese. It rises vertically up towards Heaven. It represents stability, warmth  and dryness of the Sun. Water is called ‘yin’ in Chinese. It spreads horizontally on the earth. It represents liquid, moistness and cool.

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Receptive	Ready to receive
Counterpart	Equivalent
Notion	Belief, Idea

Yin is considered a female aspect of the energy of this universe, Yang is considered a male equivalent part of the universal energy. The interaction between two is the fundamental belief of Daoism.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Overlooked	Neglected
Void	Gap

Between these two forces of universe there is a big gap. This gap is the third essential part of the universal energy and it is very often neglected.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Suspension	Stoppage
Meditation	Prayer

This can be compared with vedic practice of pranayama. While doing pranayama one learns technique of breathing in and breathing out. Between these two activities, for a shot while no activity happens. That is the time of true meditation or prayers. This period of no activity is essential. Nothing can happen in this world without it, Therefore Chinese art gives importance to the white unpainted space in the paintings.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Conduit	Means, Medium

In this gap or emptiness a human being achieves its basic function. It is considered a place between Heaven and Earth. A human being thus becomes a means of communication between these two parts of universe.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Suggested	Indicated, Indirect
Oppressed	Restrained, Given trouble
Lofty	Big, tall

Presence of human being is essential in this universe. Even if it is merely indicated or suggested. Still it would be better than being absent or restrained by the high peaks. A famous Chinese philosopher Francois Cheng has called man “the eye of the landscape”. It is the human being who sees and appreciates the world.

 

 

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Getting Inside ‘Outsider Art’

Author – Brinda Suri

Word	Meaning
Mooted	Started
Art brut	Art by not formally trained artists, Outsider Art
Visionary	Person with a dream, Creative

In 1940 a painter from France Jean Dubuffet started the term ‘art brut’. It means art by an outsider or art by a person who has not received formal training. During that time less number of people took notice of formally untrained but creative people.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Veiled	Behind a screen, Not openly
Contemporary	Of the current or present era

The ‘outsider art’ was initially not practised openly. But gradually people of present era started taking more interest in it even at the international level.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Genre	Category, Group
Insights	Understanding, Awareness
Stimulating	Encouraging
Contrast	Opposite to
Mainstream	Belonging to main group

This category of art is from those who do have no right to pursue work of artist because they have not received any formal training. Though they did not receive any training, they have talent and understanding of an artist. Their work is an encouragement or creative. While the work of people belonging to the main group does not have anything new.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Propounding	Came up with, Offered, Proposed
Untutored	Person not taught
Paradise	Heaven, Something Marvellous

While Dubuffet was proposing and explaining his concept about ‘outsider art’ a person who had not received any formal training was creating marvellous art in India.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Patch	Small area
Sculpted	Carved, Formed, Created

Many years ago he started clearing a small area of jungle. In this area he started installing statues carved out of stone and made by using re-usable material. The whole world knows this as Rock Garden of Chandigarh.

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Hailed	Regarded, Considered, Appreciated
Pioneer	First to do or develop something new

Nek Chand is the person who created Rock Garden. He is its director also. He is regarded as the biggest contributor from India towards outsider art. Raw Vision magazine of UK is considered as one of the first magazines to publish about outsider art. In its fiftieth issue of Spring 2005, it published the work of Nek Chand. One of the sculpture ‘Women by the Waterfall’ was published on the front page of its anniversary publication.

 

 

The belief of Nek Chand in ‘raw art’ meant anything that was in the unrefined stage. Something that had not been affected by culture or art. Anything like a tin, a sink or a broken car could be used for making a work of art. Nek Chand developed the art of using waste material to a very high degree.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Recognising	Accepting
Outstanding	Of very high quality, Brilliant
Testimony	Evidence, Proof
Exposition	Exhibition, Fair

The UNESCO Commission in Switzerland has accepted the work of Nek Chand as brilliant work, It said that his work is an evidence about the difference a single man can make when he follows his dreams. To honour Nek Chand, UNESCO will organize an exhibition of his works in Europe.

 

 

This exhibition has been named ‘realms of Nek Chand. The exhibition will be for a period of five months starting from October. The exhibition will be held in the museums of Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy. Nek Chand says that the biggest reward for him is to see people walking through the Rock Garden to enjoy his sculptures.

 

 

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The Voice of the Rain

(Explanation)

Word	Meaning
Who art thou	Who are you
Soft	Slowly, Gently
Shower	Rain
Poetic Devices
said I to the soft-falling shower,	Alliteration
gave me an answer, as here translated	Alliteration
I am the Poem of earth	Metaphor
Voice of the rain	Personification
said the voice of the rain	Repetition

The rain was falling slowly and gently. I asked it, “Who are you?” It is quite strange that the rain gave me an answer. And I am reporting the answer through this poem. The voice of the rain said that it was the Poem of Earth.

The phrase ‘Poem of Earth’ can be understood as the beauty of the earth or something essential to earth.

Here the author has imagined rain as a human being so he has said ‘voice of the rain’.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Eternal	Everlasting, Never ending
Impalpable	Something that cannot be touched
Whence	From where
Vaguely	Strangely
Descend	To come down
Lave	Wash, Bathe
Atomies	Very small
Poetic Devices
Bottomless sea	Hyperbole

The rain continues to speak.

I continue to rise to the ever increasing height. Nobody is able to touch me. I rise in the form of vapours from the water bodies of the land and from the sea that is very deep. I rise upwards towards heaven. After reaching a great height my form is changed. Vapour gets condensed into water droplets. But the nature of me remains the same. I start coming down towards earth. I reach the drought hit areas to make them wet. Every small particles and every layer of dust of the universe becomes wet.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Latent	Inactive
Beautify	Make beautiful
Poetic Devices
And all that in….	Alliteration
All that in them without me	Alliteration

The rain continues to speak.

Without water all the seeds on the earth cannot germinate. They remain inactive without any growth of plants. All the time, day and night, I give life back to universe where I was born. I purify it and make it beautiful.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Fulfilment	Satisfaction
Wandering	Moving, Strolling
Reck’d or unreck’d	Cared or uncared

(The rain is like a song. It originates for earth which is called its birth place. It moves to different places – from water bodies to sky, and then travels as a cloud. But it comes back to fulfil requirement of earth. Whether any body cares or does not care for the work done by it, rain continues to do its work. It return to its original place with lots of love. )

 

 

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