Eli Siegel (1902-1978), great American poet, critic, and founder of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism, is the author of Self and World: An Explanation of Aesthetic Realism; Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems; Hail, American Development (Poems); Modern Quarterly Beginnings of Aesthetic Realism, 1922-1923; and James and the Children: A Consideration of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.
In 1925 his groundbreaking poem “Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana” won the highly esteemed Nation Poetry Prize and swept America. In 1958 his book of poems with that title was nominated for the National Book Award and he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. For his centenary in 2002, the city where he grew up, Baltimore, Maryland, celebrated Eli Siegel Day, with proclamations by the mayor and governor and a celebration in Druid Hill Park.
Teaching in New York City for four decades, Eli Siegel gave thousands of thrilling lectures and classes on the arts and sciences, including many on the relation of science and art. Based on the principles he taught, the Aesthetic Realism Foundation provides a variety of classes, currently via video conferencing.
The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known
Many of Eli Siegel’s groundbreaking works are published in The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known (TRO), the international periodical he began in 1973. It explains what is happening in the world, and in people—in you. The Right Of contains immensely valuable and timely essays, poems, and lectures by Mr. Siegel and articles by Aesthetic Realism teachers and students. In every issue there is an editorial commentary by Ellen Reiss, who Mr. Siegel appointed the Aesthetic Realism Chair of Education. With scholarship and humanity, she has continued his work, together with many others.
Receive email alerts for each new issue of The Right Of, and announcements of events at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation.
Current issues of The Right Of:
The Kindness of Art
(Issue #2151, December 18, 2024) The new issue has an irresistible and urgent title: “The Kindness of Art.” What does it mean to see in a way that’s kind—solidly kind? Does art show that kindness is not some soupy thing but is powerful, terrifically accurate self-expression? Yes! In this issue you’ll meet instances of the difference between writing that’s just to things, people, the world itself—and writing that’s not. There’s nothing more needed now than for people to see that real kindness is keen and ever so strong. read
The Greatest Evidence
(Issue #2150, December 4, 2024). Is there such a thing as a best way of seeing what we don’t like, what’s confusing and disorderly? And what does true poetry, including the poetry of Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage, have to do with honestly making sense of our world? The knowledge that awaits you here will move you profoundly and bring real light to this urgent subject. You’ll have a wonderful time reading the new issue. read
Is It the Real Thing?
(Issue #2149, November 20, 2024). Is there such a thing as the “Real Thing” in poetry? What is it, and why is it hugely different from verse that’s not truly poetic? You’ll learn why Aesthetic Realism sees it as crucial for a person’s life to understand the distinction. (A big reason is: we need to know the difference between a real poem and something that’s not in order to be clear about ourselves—what way of seeing we have that really stands for us, and what doesn’t!) For a deeply cultural experience that will have you see what you’re most hoping for, read this new issue. read
What Kind of World Is It?
(Issue #2148. November 6, 2024). “What Kind of World Is It?” is the title of the new issue of TRO. That important question has an answer—an urgently needed and thrilling answer—given mightily here! With all there is in the world to rightly be against—you’ll learn how all true poetry, all true art, shows the world itself has a structure we can like unlimitedly. The basis of this TRO is the following great principle of Aesthetic Realism, stated by Eli Siegel: “The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites.” The authentic, logical comprehension and hope that people are looking for is in this issue. read
Selected issues from the TRO Archives:
Like of the World versus Racism
(Issue #2034, June 24, 2020) This issue explains three hugely important things: 1) the cause of all prejudice and racism; 2) the state of mind we need to have as we think about other people if we’re going to be just to them—including, very much, people who look different from us; 3) how the way of seeing in all true art is utterly opposed to racism. The means by which people’s minds and feelings can really change from prejudice to justice is in “Like of the World versus Racism.” read
What Opposes Love?
(Issue #150) “The history of the world and the history of literature tell us that love has been opposed by hate and contempt….The play in French literature that stands for the discomfort of love, the unsettlement of passion, is the Phèdre of Racine…” read more
The Greatest Gift: Authentic Criticism
(Issue #820) “We publish here the great essay ‘Art as Criticism,’ by Eli Siegel….Aesthetic Realism shows…that no amount of praise or ‘acceptance’ will ever have us like ourselves. We want authentic criticism, criticism with enough knowledge in it.” read more
What Is Art For?
(Issue #226) “Aesthetic Realism sees the purpose of art as, from the beginning, the liking of the world more…. [Helen] Gardner’s mighty work, Art Through the Ages… tells carefully of Etruscan art, medieval Russian art, and certainly the art of Renaissance Italy; tells of the art of the American Indian and of United States art.” read more
The Suppression of Good Will
(Issue #160) “One of these days, it will be seen that the chief thing man has suppressed so far is his good will. This, perhaps, is the largest matter in human history….The reason Edgar Allan Poe is so valuable as artist is his dealing so much with the consequences of suppressed good will.” read more
As We Were Saying
(Issue #85) “We have with us the structure of the world as it has been for a long time; and there is the structure of man. What is true about these? Aesthetic Realism has said that the oneness of opposites is the decisive explanatory thing…. Look at the fact that scientists, busy with space and time, have not been able to say whether the world or universe is infinite or finite; that is, unlimited or limited.” read more
The Shakespearean Awareness
(Issue #156) “Every dramatist has to be aware of the three great emotions which, when used not in behalf of a more just world but in behalf of a superior self, can do such harm….Shakespeare says much of fear, anger, contempt. Some of the highest points in the world’s literature have Shakespeare’s awareness of these three emotions.” read more
What Caused the Wars
(Issue #165) “It is necessary to see that while the contempt which is in every one of us may make ordinary life more painful than it should be, this contempt is also the main cause of wars. It was contempt that made for the trenches of France in 1915; it was contempt which made for the labor camps of the Second World War. It was contempt which made for that awful mode of retaliation called Nazism.” read more
The Two Pleasures
(Issue #162) “One thing that is clear in the history of man is that he has had pleasure of two kinds. Man has had pleasure from seeing a sunset; from Handel’s Messiah; from seeing courage in someone; from a great rhythm in words. He has also had pleasure from making everything he can meaningless….Man, then, praises; he also diminishes.” read more
Aesthetic Realism Is Education
(Issue #12) “Aesthetic Realism believes that a person who doesn’t like the world on an honest basis is not educated. The purpose of all education is, as Aesthetic Realism sees it, to find sense in the world; also honestly to hope to find sense in the world when that finding, as it often is, is difficult.” read more
Knowing Oneself
(Issue #200) “Geoffrey Chaucer, the first unquestionably eminent English poet, said about six hundred years ago in his ‘The Monk’s Tale,’ this: ‘Ful wys is he that kan hymselven knowe!’ Well, even now, Chaucer is not agreed with, though certainly people often act as if they felt it was wise to know oneself.” read more
America Has Literature
(Issue #284) “The first American novel that impressed Europe was The Spy of 1821 by James Fenimore Cooper….It is important to relate a writer like Cooper to the young people in Henry James’s Turn of the Screw. Miles and Flora represent wickedness in a field of engaging innocence. Innocence and wickedness meet more deeply in the novels of Cooper than is recognized.” read more
The Fight
(Issue #151) “The greatest fight man is concerned with, is the fight between respect for reality and contempt for reality that has taken place in all minds of the past and is taking place now. There are three places in literature which make the fight between respect and contempt clearer….Sonnet 66 of Shakespeare; Baudelaire’s ‘O Mort, vieux capitaine’; and Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind.’ read more
Our Dear Minds
(Issue #239) “Perhaps the person who was most successful in philosophic history was John Locke, 1632-1704…. Locke meant a good deal to the plain, money-getting person; and still means a good deal….Today, I deal chiefly with John Locke; but I hope to show that all the philosophers…present a world we can see as usable for our lives, deeply on our side.” read more
