Monday, July 12, 2021

The Song of the Lark

SOURCE:  

KEYWORDS:  dawn, hope, morning, possibility, 

The painting The Song of the Lark by Jules Breton was painted in 1884 and is currently at the Art Institute of Chicago.  The painting was deemed as the most popular painting in America by a poll in 1934.  The painting apparently was Eleanor Roosevelt's favorite work of art.  

The painting depicts a peasant woman in the flat fields of the artist's native Normandy.  As the sun rises, she listens to the song of the lark.  

Shakespeare wrote of the lark in Sonnet 29, "the lark at break of day arising / From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate" (11-12).

Bill Murray speaks about a time when he was struggling as an actor in Chicago, contemplating whether he wanted to live or die.  This painting inspired him.  

He said, "There's a girl who doesn't have a whole lot of prospects, but the sun is coming up anyway.  And she has another chance at it."



When life seems chaotic or hopeless, sometimes the constants of life can give us hope.  We can depend on the rising of the sun and the morning song of the lark.  The constancy of God's love is something that we all can depend on.  It certainly gives us hope.  

 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." -- Hebrews 13:8

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