My Last Duchess

For a long time, I was of the opinion that any form of art has to be purely original. I couldn't just bear to see any kind of resemblance from another work revealing itself in someone else's creation and somehow I was quick to note this kind of theiveries which bothered me and also discouraged me from showing any kind of reverence to the work, leave alone appreciating it .

I even remember having long conversations over a period of time with someone, debating that this was not right and the artist was just a thief who needed no form of recognition whatsoever. This applied to movies, songs, novels or any kind of art for that matter. And somehow I was deaf to whatever she had to say because of my overwhelming sense of self-righteousness at that point of time. One fine day, this other person must have come to the end of her rope and as a last attempt gifted a book by Salman Rushdie named "Haroun and the sea of stories" for my birthday and let it go. This was her final words, " If you read this book you'll understand that no form of art is 100% original". 

It's been ages now since this happened and of late I am in a way coming to grips with this whole idea of "inspiration" and the more I keep my mind open, the more I feel justified of the notion that no kind of art can be "unadulteratedly original". ( By the way, there's a world of difference between getting inspired and exactly reproducing someone else's work and claiming the credit for it.)

Now, a series of events had led me to the re-reading of the poem "My last duchess" by  Robert Browning. After reading the poem I realised that today the way I see whole the poem has completely changed. Today, I tend to see the duke objectively without judging him, which in turn has inspired me to come up with a story idea! I've been working on it for quite some time now and in the process of putting it to paper. And no, it's not going to be an exact reproduction of the duke's story or a retelling of any sort but I accept that it will be "inspired" by the poem.

Maybe the duchess also had a story to tell.. maybe the duke was having a bad day when narrating the story... maybe it's all right to say that all is fair in love and war....

And maybe getting inspired after all is not such a bad thing and could be totally unintentional too!

Lucrezia de' Medici, by Bronzino, generally believed to be My Last Duchess - source Wikipedia

Like I always tell "Every moment has it music" . I somehow relate this song to the story of the duke.

"A Time For Us"