The Noble Pursuit of the Arts

By Yelena Bagdasaryan

Although it has only been a month, this semester has already been so hectic to the point that I have already felt like I've been stretched in multiple places at once. However, a call from my little brother Alek slowed me down and put my life back into perspective. A week ago, he asked me to help him learn his first Shakespeare sonnet, an assignment that every student has to take in their theater elective at the School for Creative Performing Arts (SCAPA) in Lexington. His simple question brought me back to the nine years I spent at SCAPA, from fourth grade to my senior year of high school. This past year has been amazing to relive all of my childhood experiences and to see my favorite teachers from when I was a kid, but also see how Alek’s experience has been different than mine. Alek is a visual art major while I was a theater major and it has been interesting to see how different we are because of the fields that we specialized in. For reference, Alek has already drawn two beautiful self-portraits; meanwhile, I can hardly draw a stick figure. On the other hand, I was not afraid to get up on a stage and perform a monologue, but Alek has stage fright. As a theater major in fourth grade, I had to memorize sonnets eighteen and twenty-nine as my first assignment, and I can still recite both of these sonnets from the heart. When the time finally came for Alek to memorize sonnet eighteen, he had procrastinated and asked me to help him out. With lots of repetition and explaining to him line by line what the words meant (I found that Shakespeare is kind of hard to explain to a fourth grader), he finally memorized it and will be performing it in the next upcoming week. 

I am incredibly proud of him, but this experience reminded me how much the arts and performing were a part of my life. I miss reading different plays for classes, getting to act out scenes with my friends, creating sets and costumes, being an assistant director, living in the Opera House, singing classically, and playing the piano. Although I have completely shifted my academic focus from performance to public health and political science, the arts have had a tremendous impact in my life. I do not think I would be where I am today if I had not been exposed to these subjects. Having an arts education in addition to an academic one taught me to use my imagination, embrace my emotions, think critically, and, most of all, appreciate the little things in life!  In SCAPA, our end-of-the-day announcements always began with “Keep the arts in our hearts, appreciation, respect, teamwork, and self-discipline”, and these principles are something that I will never forget. One of my favorite quotes is from the Dead Poets Society, where Mr. Keating says, “Medicine, law, business, engineering — these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love — these are what we stay alive for.” 

I absolutely love majoring in public health and political science as well as serving my community, but the arts will always have a place in my heart and I hope to always appreciate that side of myself even if I am not pursuing it as a career. When my little brother asked me to help him learn the sonnet, it reminded me to once again appreciate the little things around me. During a time when I was just going through the motions due to all of the obligations that I had on my plate, his call was a reality check for me.

Alek’s assignment was sonnet eighteen, the infamous “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”, and this is a beautiful sonnet. However, the one that has a special place in my heart is sonnet twenty-nine below. Sonnet twenty-nine was the first sonnet where I can say that I truly understood the meaning behind the words. To this day it reminds me to be grateful for the love and support I have around me during times when I can take things for granted, and I hope it can do the same for others. 

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee—and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate;

    For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,

    That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Yelena Bagdasaryan is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2024. She is studying public health and political science at the University of Louisville.