Talk:The Stages of Life

A fact from The Stages of Life appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 24 November 2008, and was viewed approximately 3,641 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that in The Stages of Life (pictured), German painter Caspar David Friedrich depicted his son holding a Swedish flag because Friedrich considered himself half-Swedish?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/November.

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I translated this page from the German article:[1]. Feel free to improve it or correct my German. Lithoderm (talk) 22:07, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ceoil, I can't tell from reading the last section whether or not it was his title. Could you clarify that? Thanks, Lithoderm (talk) 20:09, 21 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Clarified. Ceoil (talk) 20:20, 21 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Just wondering if anyone found this confusing but the description contradicts itself. "On the sea three sailing ships returning home can be seen; the large ship in the middle has already begun to draw in its sails. Two smaller sailboats have almost reached land." vs "...echo the positioning of the ships at various different distances from the shore as allegorical of the stages of life, and closeness to death. The central ship is thought to represent the mother, while further inshore, two small boats--references to the two children--have only just begun their voyage and still remain in shallow, clear water. To the horizon, the farthest ship disappears into the setting horizon, symbolizing the aged man's voyage from this life into the unknown." anonymous (confused) user —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.147.151.154 (talk) 04:43, 23 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Contradiction and Repetition?[edit]

Following on from the last comment above, the description section still appears to be contradictory. It says the "five figures correspond to the five ships visible in the harbour [...] the farthest ship disappears into the setting horizon, symbolizing the aged man's voyage from this life into the unknown. Alternatively, other critics have interpreted the two ships in the distance as the mother and father sailing off..." Then at the end of the description, it repeats what has already been said, that "the five people on the beach match the five ships on the sea," and adds, "which all head towards the bank." The bulk of the description seems to suggest that critics are divided on whether the ships are sailing towards the shore or away from it, and then the penultimate line (which I'd suggest is unnecessary anyway, as the introduction also states that the ships symbolise the people) concludes that they're all heading in to the shore. Am I reading it wrong? Would it be better to delete that whole line? I think I will go ahead and delete it, but feel free to correct if I'm not in the right.Sadiemonster (talk) 14:09, 13 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]