Summary Of Feeling And Form By Susanne Langer

In the essay "Feeling and Form," Susanne Langer discusses how art is not a thing, but a symbol that shows feeling (58). In Chapter 3 she writes: "A work of art is often a spontaneous expression of feeling, I.e., a symptom of the artist's state of mind. If it represents human beings it is probably also a rendering of some sort of facial expression which suggests the feelings those beings are suppose to have. Moreover, it may be said to "express," in another sense, the life of the society from which it stems, namely to indicate customs, dress, behavior, and to reflect confusion or decorum, violence, or peace" (25).
The words "spontaneous expression of feeling" refers to how some art is different than others due to the fact that how an artist