Aesthetics in the Potterverse (Was: Lily and Snape)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 140416

Dungrollin:

> And I think that translating a more efficient way of getting juice 
> out of a bean into a love of nature is a bit of a stretch. 
[snip]
> And, furthermore, why should a love of nature (if it's a valid 
> deduction, which I don't think it is) be more obviously ascribable 
> to Lily than Snape?

houyhnhnm:

Appreciation of nature is one of the things that has struck me as
being absent from the Potterverse, along with art, music and poetry. 
There don't seem to be any artisans, either, except among the Goblins.

Despite the setting of Hogwart's Castle, there are no lyrical
descriptions of nature such as one finds in Mary Stewart's Merlin
trilogy, for instance.

I had assumed this must be due to the author's inability to write such
passages or her own lack of interest.  However, there has been some
discussion recently of the way in which wizards are different from
Muggles or Real People, revealed indirectly rather than directly
stated, such as their greater physical and emotional resilience.  I am
wondering now, whether the lack of aesthetic sensibility may not be
another way in which wizards are different.

Just as "a lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic",
perhaps both the ability to create art and the ability to appreciate
art or natural beauty are qualities lost in the acquisition of magical
powers.