Swords, swords, and more swords! In spite of the fact that a sword is essentially a long, skinny meat cleaver designed to cut human beings open and let their life juices drain out, they have a kind of highly possessive magic, don't they? I have several swords; I have two sword canes with excellent blades, two new sabres with carbon steel sharpness, and one antique English sabre that not only looks cool, will cut one quite severely if mishandled! I can totally see how the concept of Excalibur came about, and how the Samurai, by all accounts, considered them a part of their soul. It's a part of our DNA, at least for boys; it has been the bane of every hippie homeschooling mother that boys with no TV or public school friends will pick up sticks and start doing their best Errol Flynn imitations...without ever seeing him in duelistic action. I have lots of scars from such childhood battles.
Art in general has benefited greatly from the depiction of this tool; it has become an icon in classic painting on the level of the Lute and the chess set, items that get popped in for colour in hundreds and hundreds of artworks. It's a case of instant drama; that thing in the scene that automatically implies that razor's edge between death and life, and the contrast it adds in a scene of joy or fun is amusing...like, "yep, I'm having fun, but I could open you like a piñata. They're also wonderful in Movies! THE MARK OF ZORRO, with Tyrone Power, or THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, with the afore-mentioned Flynn? Magical and exciting fun.
Here are a few of my fave sword images.
Art in general has benefited greatly from the depiction of this tool; it has become an icon in classic painting on the level of the Lute and the chess set, items that get popped in for colour in hundreds and hundreds of artworks. It's a case of instant drama; that thing in the scene that automatically implies that razor's edge between death and life, and the contrast it adds in a scene of joy or fun is amusing...like, "yep, I'm having fun, but I could open you like a piñata. They're also wonderful in Movies! THE MARK OF ZORRO, with Tyrone Power, or THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, with the afore-mentioned Flynn? Magical and exciting fun.
Here are a few of my fave sword images.
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