ART

APPRECIATION
(GE 106)

SUMITTED BY:
RAÑA MAY F. COMPAS
BSED 1-F

SUBMITTED TO:
MRS. ELEANOR REMO
 SONG:
Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)
ARTIST:
Don McLean
 Essay of Appreciation

Sometimes, in the darkest moments of our lives, our mind can be our
worst enemy. Our thoughts are just uncontrollable and it becomes our nastiest
rival of all. Most of the time, we are dealing with our complex minds and
delicate thoughts. Some people win but some people lose.
The song “Vincent” by Don McLean helps me understand the life of
Vincent Van Gogh. This song also brought me to the realization of something
with regards to his condition. I admire how Don McLean composed this song
because he created a masterpiece out of a masterpiece as well. He artistically
used the colors as the symbol of emotions and probably a reflection of the colors
that Vincent Van Gogh used to his artworks. Upon hearing the lyrics of the
song with the imagery, I was impressed not only with the message but also with
the rhythm that makes it more captivating. I appreciate how the composer put
the meaning in each line of the song. He effectively displayed and described the
works of the artist and the problems he had in mind. Vincent’s subjects to his
masterpiece were creatively used as the symbol that represents his life and
death.
There are lines in this song wherein the composer mentioned how
difficult it was for Vincent to deal with the life he had. Before, I was not aware
of the story of Vincent Van Gogh even though I am one of the admirers of his
works. I just knew that Vincent suffered from his sanity and it makes sense
now that I heard this song. The second stanza of the song caught my attention
because it talks about how he suffered from his sanity. We all know that it is
not that easy to deal with our own thoughts. The thought of having our own
thoughts contradicting and fighting to itself is an ironic idea yet true and
possible. And it will become more difficult if we have no one to talk and if
there’s no one who wants to listen. Even if we want to free ourselves from the
thoughts that are killing us inside, sometimes, we just can’t because we are
afraid that we might be neglected by the people around us. And that idea put
us to a situation wherein we are imprisoning ourselves in our own thoughts
and makes us feel lonely and miserable. We are lucky enough if we have that
one person whom we can trust and the person who can help us free ourselves
from the thoughts that makes us suffer.
This song also reflects what it feels like to be misunderstood. We can’t
deny that we already experienced how hard it was to be misunderstood
especially by our own family or the important people in our life. We always
expect them to understand us but sometimes our expectations are far from the
reality. Instead of being understood by them, we sometimes received judgments
and it leads us to disappointments.
As the composer tells us the story of Vincent, he also pinpointed that the
world was never meant for one as beautiful as him. In that line, I realized that
no matter how difficult it is for us to deal with our own thoughts, we still have
to try and win because we all matter, maybe not in this world but with our
own world. If it is possible for our thoughts to be our enemy, it is also possible
that our mind can be our best friend. We just need to learn how to handle the
difficult situation and look at the light out of the darkness as if we are looking
at the starry night. We just need to find the glowing light.