THE BISHOPS’

HIGH SCHOOL
GRADE 10B
ENGLISH
LITERATURE
SIR ANDRE
RAMALDO

Submitted by:
David Subnauth

Landscape painter
By Vivian Virtue
 In “Landscape Painter” by Vivian Virtue, the themes of Life and Nature are connected via the use
of poetic devices such as personification and imagery. It concisely describes the scene without much
elaboration, yet still delivers an evocative piece that shows how both life and nature are ever-changing
In the poem, we are shown a group of mountains and hills which are referred to as a family, this
may also be compared to life, we are told “low green foothills, sprawl like grandchildren about the knees
of seated elders”, this reveals the image of a family portrait. However, with the addition of the line, “the
little hills fidgeting” two points may be found. It may be seen as the grandchildren or the foothills, are
fidgety and are unable to stay in one state for long, unlike the larger mountains which are still and rigid
like elder grandparents. Another interpretation of these two lines may be, just as life occurs, we start small
and restless changing between stages and phases, but as we age our mind settles, and the physical body
follows suit as we end up in a particular field of work or some other point from which the rest of our life
revolves around. At such ages our life becomes much more rigid and set on specific goals, much as the
mountains are in the poem.
Continuing, the artist plays the role of conveying the dynamic and continuously altering nature of
the environment. The poem states, “The mountains pose for him,” This explores the idea of nature
changing much as a person tries many poses before the perfect scene is achieved. The painter is also while
painting, franticly trying to capture the moment, “his brush a hummingbird’, this reveals to us the sheer
speed at which he must work to confine this moment, but, the fluctuating state of the hills proves volatile.
This shows that life and nature will continue to change no matter what, and we like the artist must try to
keep up to capture that perfect scene that is ever sought by the artist.
Furthermore, the use of imagery was key in the portrayal of the scene. From the inception of the
poem, we are given a scene of the location through the line, “A corner of the twisted, climbing mountain
track”. In the following stanza, his brush is likened to a hummingbird, “A tireless humming-bird, his
brush, dips, darts, hovers, now here, now there”, much as a hummingbird swiftly moves from flower to
flower, his brush franticly switches from color to color on his palette. Continuing, the use of imagery is
further used to create the scene of the family of mountains as in previously mentioned lines, the use of
imagery in the poem was also used to portray the artist in a state of impatience as he awaits the perfect
moment in lines, “Studies positions, impatiently waiting, the perfect moment to fix their preparedness, to
confine them”, it shows the artist examining every detail of the landscape meticulously capturing the
much-awaited moment.
In conclusion, the poem evocatively explores the “painter’s art” using devices such as imagery and
personification to concisely describe the scenery of the landscape which the artist is frenzied to capture at
the perfect moment. The poem connects the themes of life and nature by use of the aforementioned
devices, and creates a beautiful mental portrait of a family of mountains, which like nature and life alike
are “changelessly changing”, and thus the artless frustration of the painter's art.

Word Count: 587