Aesthetics in the Potterverse (Was: Lily and Snape)

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 140445

> houyhnhnm:
> Appreciation of nature is one of the things that has struck me as
> being absent from the Potterverse, 

Amiable Dorsai:
Erm... the ceiling of the Great Hall at Hogwarts is charmed to look
like the sky.  Is this the sort of thing that people who have no
appreciation of nature would do?

> houyhnhnm:
along with art, music and poetry. 

Amiable Dorsai:
Harry lives in a castle stuffed to the rafters with portraits, still
lifes, and landscapes. Not to mention suits of (presumably ornate)
armor and a sword with a jeweled hilt.  We not only know they have
music, we know the names of some popular musicians (Celestina Warbeck,
The Weird Sisters).  Poetry? You may have a stronger case here, but
The Sorting Hat, at least, enjoys writing doggerel.  

> houyhnhnm:
> There don't seem to be any artisans, either, except among the >Goblins.

Amiable Dorsai:
Well, there's Madame Malkin, Mr. Olivander, and Florean Fortescue. 
Not to mention whoever made all of the instruments in Dumbledore's office.


> houyhnhnm: 
> 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...

Amiable Dorsai:
Or Harry's lack of interest.  Can you really see Harry waxing lyrical
about a sunset?  On the other hand, remember Harry's first sight of
Hogwarts?  From "Sorcerer's Stone":

"There was a loud 'Oooooh!'

    The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great
black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its
windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many
turrets and towers."

If the whole boat trip isn't arranged to give the first years an
aesthetic experience, I'll eat the Sorting Hat.  

Amiable Dorsai