Deakin University
Browse

Yellow

chapter
posted on 2017-06-01, 00:00 authored by Cassandra AthertonCassandra Atherton
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe believed that yellow was the first colour transmitted from light (150). Discussing the psychology of colour and emotion, he identified yellow as a ‘plus’ colour, emphasizing its ‘serene, gay, softly exciting character [and] warm and agreeable impression’ (306). However, he also acknowledged that yellow can be contaminated easily and when it is sullied, it has a very disagreeable effect: By a slight and scarcely perceptible change, the beautiful impression of fire and gold is transformed into one not undeserving the epithet foul; and the color of honour and joy reversed to that of ignominy and aversion. (308) The prose poems in this chapbook address this yellow dualism: the ‘softly exciting’ and the ‘disagreeable’. They prioritise light and equally explore the absence of it. They also refer to J. W. M. Turner’s innovations around yellow, which he used in both his oil and watercolour paintings. Between 1814 and 1815, Turner moved from using Indian Yellow to Chrome Yellow. While Chrome Yellow was a bright, opaque yellow pigment, it darkened upon exposure to light. Renoir called this a ‘nasty trick’ (André, 22). Analogically, many of the prose poems in this chapbook explore disappointment and transience – perhaps even the Frostian sentiment that ‘nothing gold can stay’. They include allusions to classic literature that prioritises yellow (most notably Stevie Smith’s, Aldous Huxley’s and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novels). These prose poems also make reference to contemporary studies into the psychology of colour, which have demonstrated that yellow increases appetite, respiration rate and is often connected with food (Rikard, n.p). In this chapbook, yellow is the colour of hunger and abandonment.

History

Pagination

1-25

Edition

1

Language

eng

Publication classification

J3 Poems

Copyright notice

2017, Recent Work Press

Extent

21

Publisher

Recent Work Press

Place of publication

Canberra, A.C.T.

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC