Eli Siegel, who grew up in Baltimore, was trying, from an early age to find a unifying theory of existence--is there any principle that relates everything? You can see how much he was interested in the idea of relation from his prize-winning poem, Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana. That poem won the Nation poetry prize in 1925. About it, poet William Carlos Williams stated "I say definitely that that single poem, out of a thousand others written in the past quarter century, secures our place in the cultural world." (Something To Say, New Directions, 1985)

As a person who studied philosophy at university, I am sure that the principle he came to is crucial to our understanding of existence and our own lives. Moreover, he said that reality, truly seen, is beautiful -- hence the name "Aesthetic Realism."

The principle is:

"The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites."

For illustrations of this principle see, for instance,

I -- By Eli Siegel himself:

• Selected Lectures
• Excerpt from Self and World, an Explanation of Aesthetic Realism
• Poetry and literary criticism, including comments by others on Mr. Siegel's poems

II--Links to some of my favourite Eli Siegel poems:

• Ralph Isham, 1753 and Later
• Dear Birds, Tell This to Mothers
• Something Else Should Die: A Poem wIth Rhymes
• To Dylan Thomas
• The Dark that Was Is Here
• Twenty-one Distichs about Children
• Eli Siegel's translation of Catullus' Mourn This Sparrow
• Mr. Siegel's translation of At Thermopylae, by Simonides of Ceos
• Eli Siegel's translation of The Idea of Beauty Is Adored in This World, by Joachim du Bellay

III -- Writing by Others:

• Ellen Reiss on poetry of Eli Siegel
• Ellen Reiss on Robert Burns, punctuation, loyalty to America, Harry Potter, and more
• the website of renowned anthropologist Arnold Perey PhD.
• artist Dorothy Koppelman on the life and work of Jackson Pollock
• Educator Rosemary Plumstead on the relation between sports, dance and biology
• composer and music educator Professor Edward Green
• the website of actress and teacher Ann Richards and myself, Aesthetic Realism & Our Lives
• Aesthetic Realism consultant Irene Reiss
• Aesthetic Realism Is True -- UK blog
• Filmmaker Ken Kimmelman, whose film of Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana has been winning awards all round the US
• Aesthetic Realism Can End Racism

Point of information: Eli Siegel had read all of Shakespeare's works by the time he was 16. He would later lecture on every single one of his sonnets, and gave lectures on other Shakespeare plays. I have heard him refer to Hamlet in many (recorded) lectures, to illuminate a principle about economics, or beauty, or mental health, or ethics, and he's always fresh. These lectures, by the way, are the highest point in my education. His knowledge was astounding on a wide variety of subjects, yet he never summed up anything. His knowledge was matched only by his desire to know and to have a good effect on people through his knowledge. I love Oxford, but I never heard anything to match this there!


Eli Siegel and students of Aesthetic Realism on Shakespeare--some instances:

• The first section of Eli Siegel's Shakespeare's Hamlet: Revisited
• Eli Siegel discusses Othello
• Ann Richards & Carol McCluer on Twelfth Night
• Anne Fielding, Aesthetic Realism consultant, actress, singer, Director of the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company
• Report of Eli Siegel's Shakespeare's Interesting, by Lynette Abel
• Anne Fielding: "I Believe This About Acting."
• "Shakespeare, Compactly," by Eli Siegel

Eli Siegel, Poet and Educator

Some links:
To find out more about Eli Siegel visit the following:

• Aesthetic Realism Online Library-- this is the definitive website with many poems, reviews, essay, lectures, and more
• Biography of Eli Siegel at the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company website
• Aesthetic Realism Foundation home page -- the education he founded, continued by Ellen Reiss and others
• Biography of Mr. Siegel at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation's website
• Books by Eli Siegel also available at Definition Press