Mencken Essay

Mencken's theory states that an artist of any dignity is against his country; and in a reciprocal manner his country is against him. Although Mencken’s views on the artist’s relation to society may be true to a degree, there is also some controversy with those views, in the sense that some artists may create their work based on the beauty of society rather than the problems with society.Mencken’s views of the artist’s relation to society are very belligerent, due to the fact that he believes that artists base their work off their problems with society. Keeping in mind the idea that art has branched categories, H.L Mencken's beliefs are valid to a certain degree. Not only does Mencken state what artists of dignity are, he also goes on to define them. "Artists have special qualities that break them apart from the rest of us." Artists have an "extraordinary capacity for irritation, a pathological sensitivity that separates them from the rest.” Mencken obviously believes that artist have a sort of sixth sense—a sense for appreciation of affect, cause and self-perseverance. Mencken describes the thoughts of these creators as minds that are able to see outside the ordinary. Mencken states, “It is almost impossible to find any trace of an artist who was not actively hostile to his environment”—exemplifying that all artists are against society. This is shown true through Picasso's painting "Guernica," Donald Justice's poem "Death in the Rose Garden," and E.B. White's essay "About Myself", which all demonstrate the artist's rebellion against environment or contemporary standards. In Picasso’s painting he created a tremendous distaste towards war. Justice’s poem translated to a radical reassessment of modern convention, by challenging the image of death. White critiques society's norm of cataloguing people with statistics and numerical identification. Mencken confronts the growing loss of self in society by reacting "sharply and in an uncommon manner to phenomena which