What evokes emotions in you? -- by Vonnie Davis

I recently heard a violin solo of one of Edward Elgar's compositions. The piece was haunting, beautiful and rich with melancholy. Music has the ability to evoke emotions. We know that. Some songs make us smile and infuse our spirits with a buoyancy. Others make us cry. Take Handel's "Messiah" for instance. I can barely get through it without reaching for a tissue. And rarely do I hear Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed and Delivered" without singing and dancing along.

Artwork can have the same effect. Can we study a Thomas Benton or Monet or Dali or DaVinci painting without feeling it's magnetic pull? In Benton's composition to the right, we can almost hear the music, the shuffle of feet and the snap of fingers. The energy pulsates. Movement is both seen and felt.

The written word also pulls at our heartstrings. We remember passages of the Bible, Shakespeare and Jane Austin. A well-crafted story can make us angry, sad and feel enriched. Some can make us laugh out loud.

Theatre, film and architecture mold us, too. But make no mistake about it, all elements of art, of creativity touch, massage and change our souls. We are the better for it. What things evoke emotion in you?