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| Etruscan Culture Youth with hands raised in ancient prayer gesture late 5th century BC bronze statuette Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Hellenistic Greece Diadumenos 1st century BC terracotta statuette Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Ancient Rome The Stephanos Youth 1st century BC - 1st century AD marble statue Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Misreading Housman
On this first day of spring, snow
covers the fruit trees, mingling improbably
with the new blossoms like identical twins
brought up in different hemispheres.
It is not what Housman meant
when he wrote of the cherry
hung with snow, though he also knew
how death can mistake the seasons,
and if he made it all sound pretty,
that was our misreading
in those high school classrooms
where, drunk on boredom, we had to recite
his poems. Now the weather is always looming,
in the background, trying to become more
than merely scenery, and though today
it is telling us something
we don't want to hear, it is all
so unpredictable, so out of control
that we might as well be children again,
hearing the voices of thunder
like baritone uncles shouting
in the next room as we try to sleep,
or hearing the silence of snow falling
soft as a coverlet, even in springtime
whispering: relax, there is nothing
you can possibly do about any of this.
– Linda Pastan (1991)
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| Ancient Rome Head of Youth AD 117-171 marble Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Ancient Rome Head of Youth AD 117-171 marble Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Ancient Rome Youth 1st century AD marble statue Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian sculptor Youth ca. 1450-1500 bronze statuette Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Bartolomeo Bellano David with Head of Goliath 1470-80 bronze statuette (gilt at later date) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Bartolomeo Bellano David with Head of Goliath (detail) 1470-80 bronze statuette (gilt at later date) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian sculptor Youthful Hercules 16th century bronze statuette Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Domenico Pieratti Youthful St John the Baptist ca. 1625-30 marble statue Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Domenico Pieratti Youthful St John the Baptist ca. 1625-30 marble statue Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Domenico Pieratti Youthful St John the Baptist (detail) ca. 1625-30 marble statue Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Auguste Rodin Pierre de Wiessant - Nude Study modeled 1885, cast before 1950 bronze statuette Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Auguste Rodin Pierre de Wiessant - Nude Study modeled 1885, cast before 1950 bronze statuette Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |