Text Complexity Analysis of The Meaning of Art: Its Nature, Role, and Value by Emile Boutroux
Text Type: Informational – Preface
Text Description
Recommended Complexity Band Level
This preface to The Meaning of Art: Its Nature, Role and Value by Paul Gaultier is
written by Emile Boutroux and provides an overview of the main ideas of the
book—specifically by describing the relationship between art and beauty and art’s
role in society.
While the quantitative measures place the text in the 9-10 band, the associated
qualitative and reader and task considerations place it in the 11-12 band. This is
mainly due to the structure of the text and language features, as well as the
complex meaning and discussion of abstract ideas.
Quantitative Measure
Quantitative Measure of the Text:
1270L
Range:
1080-1350L
Associated Band Level:
9-10
Qualitative Measures
Text Structure: Exceedingly Complex
The text addresses subtle, intricate, theoretical elements about art and beauty. Connections between ideas are deep, complex, and subtle. The organization of the text is
specialized for an arts/humanities discipline. This is an authentic situation in which a letter is intended to be informational. First person is often thought not to be used in
informational writing, so this form offers a unique perspective. There are narrative elements within it as well, as the author of the preface speaks directly to the author of
the book, who is clearly a friend: “Although it may seem rash for me to appreciate critically the value of your point of view, especially since the agreement between most of
your ideas and my own tendencies makes me a partial judge…”
Language Features: Exceedingly Complex
The language conventionality is dense and complex with many abstract ideas and terms. The vocabulary is generally unfamiliar and specialized with some archaic terms.
Aesthetic, recondite, venerate, raison d’ etre, transfiguration, incarnate and inimical are a few examples. The sentences are mainly compound complex: “Does the artist
have no function save that of procuring for us, by means of things whose read signification is for the time ignored, the subtle and recondite pleasure which privileged
persons enjoy under the name of aesthetic emotion?”
Meaning/Purpose: Exceedingly Complex
The text is abstract and deals with lofty ideals about art, beauty and the role of art to an artist and to society. “The apostles of new ideas have always begun by using forms
which they found already existing.”
Knowledge Demands: Exceedingly Complex
The author presents challenging abstract and theoretical ideas. It includes many allusions to other texts and ideas. “An Antisthenes and a Pascal are, in the moral world,
creators of will.” “‘You put order in disorder, and under your glance inimical things became friendly,’ sang Cleanthus in his ‘hymn to Jupitor.’”
Text Complexity Analysis of The Meaning of Art: Its Nature, Role, and Value by Emile Boutroux
Text Type: Informational – Preface
Considerations for Reader and Task
Possible Major Instructional Areas of Focus (include 3-4 CCS Standards) for this
Text:
Below are factors to consider with respect to the reader and task:
Potential Challenges this Text Poses:
RSS.11-12.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key
term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No.
10).
Students may struggle with the complex sentence structure, which also includes
archaic spelling, phrasing and wording.
Differentiation/Supports for Students:

Focus on how the author introduces and develops messages related to
the terms beauty and aesthetics.
RI.11-12.2. Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on
one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the
text.

How does the author explain the role of aesthetic and the role of beauty
in relationship to art?
SL.11-12.6. Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the
rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the
power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.

Select a quote (or set of quotes) that clearly illustrates the author’s point
of view in this text. Why did you select this quote? How do the style
and/or content of this quote contribute to the overall impact of the text?
This text presents an opportunity to work with students on unpacking particularly
long, complex sentences. Select 2-3 particular long sentences in this passage. Ask
students to break apart these sentences into several shorter sentences. Then, ask
them to say in their own words what the sentence is trying to communicate. This
kind of practice with syntax will benefit all students.
Additional background information through other readings on the role of art in
society may enhance students’ comprehension of this preface.
Related readings might enhance the student’s understanding of the various
perspectives, especially over different time periods, or the role of art in society.
Repeated readings may deepen the reader’s comprehension of the text.
For learning extension:
 Consider having students apply the ideas in the preface to a piece, or
collection, of art, arguing for or against the perspective presented in the
preface.
 Ask students to research different perspectives on the role of art in
different time periods and show how a particular work of art is a
reflection of the attitudes of the time.
Digital Preface available at
http://www.archive.org/stream/meaningofartitsn00gaulrich#page/n7/mode/2up