In the beginning of the semester we were asked What is the purpose (or value) of art?

Throughout this first semester we were looking through different events in history where art had
influence on culture, renaissance, or government. Art, no matter the form, is a great medium to
pass an opinion and have it influence others. More than anything art shapes the way people
react to different situations.
One example of arts influence on society is through different renaissance. Art, in it's
literary form, created humanism and thus created the italian renaissance. Petrarch was a
famous poet who one day climbed to the top of a mountain with his brother. At the top of this
mountain he opened a book of Cicero's letters and read a line, And men go about to wonder at
the heights of the mountains, and the mighty waves of the sea, and the wide sweep of rivers,
and the circuit of the ocean, and the revolution of the stars, but themselves they consider not.
When he read this he went home and from it humanism was born, and then following came the
renaissance where man started to believe in his worth.
Art also have an influence on politics as well. A famous poem has been used many times
in the most recent 2016 election. The poem The second Coming by William Butler Yeats
explains the moment of the second coming. A biblical moment in which the world is to end.
People had related the end of the world to the elections because of how bad the candidates
were. For instance the line, Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed
upon the world is a prime example of this. With America waiting for chaos because of the
Trump election it seems like the world is going to end. Many peoples thoughts are changed
because of this as well. Even poetry can influence many people although older than it's time.
Art has many forms and many of them have the power to change what those believe or
influence them to act a different way. Art is the medium in which many thoughts and opinions
can be displayed to the world. Both Yeats and Petrarch have show this in their art of literature.