WHAT IS ART?

     Marshall McLuhan's famous statement, "Art is anything you can get away with," in The Medium is the Message, references an 82' x 20' statue, by Niki de Saint Phalle at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, may provide one answer to our question, but it does not provide the insight we need.  I prefer to examine this simple poem by Robert Frost:
The Pasture
 
    I'm going out to clean the pasture spring; 
    I'll only stop to rake the leaves away 
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may): 
I shan't be gone long. -- You come too. 

    I'm going out to fetch the little calf 
    That's standing by the mother. It's so young, 
    It totters when she licks it with her tongue. 
    I shan't be gone long. -- You come too.
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     I see this poem as a clear statement of the nature of art, as it reflects the needs of the artist in any genre.  Read it carefully and be prepared to discuss it in class.

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