Question 2, Olivia Miller

Although King Solomon wrote, "There is nothing new under the sun," people continue to find inspiration within their surroundings and continue to write, and possibly eventually tell, new stories. Creators evolve their work, whether it's in the form of writing or removing the magnifying glass to see art as a whole and categories that lie within that form of expression. There may never be anything new under the sun, but King Solomon's belief does not prevent future generations from creating. Foster applies King Solomon's precept by saying, "writing and telling belong to one big story," due to his belief that every segment of the writing process and what comes after develops a connection among readers and writers alike. People use writing and other forms of art as a way to express themselves, make a connection and level of understanding that might not be possible to reach any other way. This connection and being able to explore another’s thoughts, emotions, and imagination adds to the richness of the reading experience because it's seeing a person in a new light. It makes strangers not seem so distant or unknown. If a person can relate to a writing it can make them feel a little less alone and realize there's someone that possesses similarities that would otherwise be unfounded without being a reader. I know people unable to verbally express themselves in the face of another person, and I have had to reach these people through their writing. I know someone who has trouble expressing their feelings, and in order to do so they have to type or handwrite it in a story-based style. Writing is one of the few ways that person is able to fully express themselves and it adds to my experience as a reader because I am able to not only read their perspective and emotions but also their other writings. Art in general, specifically studio art, is an escape for me and I’ve known many people where theatre was an escape for them. Many people put their heart and soul into art as a whole and it adds to the viewer’s experience because it gives them an outlet to another person they might otherwise never notice. “Auden’s poem, on the other hand, is a meditation on the private nature of suffering and the way in which the larger world takes no interest in our private disasters” (Foster 68). Foster’s mention of Auden’s poem can be linked to art as a whole because writing is focusing in on a person’s mind, but looking at art in general is every category and person within it grouped together; not fixated on one person but every form of expression and how it affects the outside world, including whether or not it may care.