Assignment: Viewing Material in

Different Mediums

1. What are the similarities between the painting and the

poem?
Both, in the poem and in the painting there’s a starry night. In the
painting we can see eleven stars and, in the poem, elven stars are
mentioned by the author. Also, in the picture there’s a tree with
black leaves and in the poem the author talks about a black-haired
tree. The author mentions the movement of the stars and also in
the painting the stars seem to have a kind of movement.
2. What is missing from one medium but present in the
other?
In the picture there isn’t any reptile, while in the poem a dragon
and a snake are mentioned. In the poem there’s any mountain,
while in the picture we can see some of them behind the village. In
the picture we can see a surrealistic landscape, while, in the poem,
the author can express the words and feelings of Van Gogh. In
addition, in the poem there’s a fragment from a letter wrote by
Van Gogh.
3. How accurate do you believe the poem to be in
representing the painting? Why or why not?

That does not keep me from having a terrible

need of –
shall I say the word - religion. Then I go out at
night to paint the stars. 
- Vincent Van Gogh in a letter to his brother 

The town does not exist 

except where one black-haired tree slips 
up like a drowned woman into the hot sky. 
The town is silent. The night boils with eleven
stars. 
Oh starry night! This is how 
I want to die. 

It moves. They are all alive. 

Even the moon bulges in its orange irons 
to push children, like a god, from its eye. 
The old unseen serpent swallows up the
stars. 
Oh starry starry night! This is how 
I want to die: 
 into that rushing beast of the night, 
sucked up by that great dragon, to split 
from my life with no flag, 
no belly, 
no cry.
I think that the poem is trying to interpret the landscape; for
example, instead of the rolling figure in the sky, in the poem
there’s a serpent who swallows the stars. Also, the sun is
compared with a god and the leaves of the tree with dark hair. In
my opinion, the poem is trying to express the emotions
transmitted by the painting.