134 Interdisciplinary Writing/Essay 2/Dr. Gao 2011
Essay 2 Visual Works and Literary Texts
One hard copy due on February 8th 2011 for grading at the beginning of class
Note all grades are provisional (temporary) until revised and finalized.
You are welcome to revise your essay.
In this assignment, you are to integrate two texts, either visual works or literary
texts, with options that combine the two. Consult Chapter 9 in Frames of Mind.
The material from which you are to select includes poems, paintings and
photographs, short stories, and essays. The objective is to develop an argument
about the works you select that explains their significance. What counts most is
learning to think with, and to think about visual works and literary texts.
The options provide you with starting places, from which to develop your own
argument. Note that for this assignment, I have made available two sample student
essays, by Karen DiYanni and Michael DiYanni, from Robert DiYanni’s Writing
about the Humanities, that will provide a concrete illustration of what your papers
should look like, as well as some useful hints about developing arguments and
citing sources.
Options
1. TWO PAINTINGS OR PICTURES COMPARED: With John Canaday in
mind, you can build on your first essay and integrate another painting or
picture. You can also explore something new. To make it more manageable,
describe, analyze and summarize each picture first. Use the double-column
notebook and jot down all the similarities and differences. Identity some
points of connections and larger themes. For instance, in Travelers amid
Mountains and Streams AND Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, scale and
proportion contribute to the meaning obviously or subtly. In your essay,
argue that a visual text could impact our ways of seeing. For another
instance, if you compare Las Meninas with The Peale Family, you will
notice that both artists put themselves in the paintings. In the examples of
Gestalt figure/ground switch, you may have seen something even more
challenging. Specific textual details may suggest some larger themes or
philosophical concerns. What is the role of the artist in our society? What is
the function of art in its philosophical, cultural and historical dimensions?
As E. M. Forster claims: “Not looking at art leads to one goal only. Looking
at it leads to so many” (148).
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134 Interdisciplinary Writing/Essay 2/Dr. Gao 2011
2. POEMS and PAINTINGS: For this option, you will be writing about
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, the selected passage from Ovid’s
Metamorphosis about Daedalus and his son Icarus (on the website), and
William Carlos Williams’ poem of the same title from his book, Pictures
from Breughel (also on line). In developing your argument, start with
Ovid’s description of the myth of Icarus, noting all the details that Ovid
includes in these lines from his poem. Then concentrate your attention on
what Williams does in his poem. Is the poem about the picture or the painter
or both? What does Williams notice in the painting? Are there things you
think are important that Williams does not treat? As you go back and forth
between the two poets, one telling the story of Icarus, and the other
reflecting on what the painter and the painting do, what ideas emerge? AS
AN ALTERNATIVE, you may select a different poem by Williams and its
corresponding painting by Breughel. If you wish, you may select two poems
with corresponding paintings.
3. POETRY: Write an essay on Robert Frost’s “The Road not Taken,” in
which you go through the poem carefully, analyzing all the cases in which
Frost expects the reader to visualize what he is describing. As you visualize
what he writes, consider how it changes or makes more precise your
understanding of what, exactly, he is saying. Take your argument to the
next level by thinking more exactly about the title of the poem. Is this poem
about two roads or is it only one? Generally there are two interpretations of
the poem: a romantic yearning that endorses individualism and an irony that
undercut our confidence about the choice we have made or underscore
human limits since none could take two roads simultaneously. In your
analysis, you must integrate these two strands from some secondary
sources.1 How do you reconcile the last lines (taking “the road less travelled
by”) with the title, “The Road not Taken”? What is the alternative to such
an oppositional/exclusive approach? This topic relates to the first CUSP
learning goal, namely, inclusive practice.
4. FICTION and POETRY: “Eveline” and “The Road not Taken”
For this option, you are to focus your attention on James Joyce’s story,
“Eveline,” on the specific question of making choices. Develop your
argument (and your reading of “Eveline”) by using Robert Frost’s poem,
“The Road not Taken” as a tool or critical frame for thinking through
Joyce’s story. What do we have to take into account to understand Eveline?
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http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/road.htm
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134 Interdisciplinary Writing/Essay 2/Dr. Gao 2011
How do we prepare ourselves to appreciate her situation? How do we make
choices in what we think of Eveline, and her choices, including the choice of
not appearing to make a choice? Elaborate your worksheet on “Eveline”
and analyze specifically on what has crushed her dream for a new life.
Sigmund Freud’s definition of Super-Ego could shed some light on your
argument.
5. Film and Essays: For this option, you are to select an essay from our main
textbook, among those listed below, and develop your argument by
expanding what the essay says or argues, to apply it to another example from
material we have considered so far. Maya Lin’s essay on the design of the
Vietnam Memorial. She insists strongly on putting the names in
chronological order, against equally strong opinions that the names should
be listed alphabetically. Why does she insist as she does? Why is it a better
choice? Can you tease out or formulate the principle here, and see it in
operation in another case?
6. With Gladwell in mind, identify a social virus that could potentially tip.
You could either focus your analysis on the causes, internal or external, or
effects or consequences. At the end of your paper, offer some solutions.
When you build your case, be specific. You need to do some research on a
specific problem in a specific community. To make your claim more
socially or culturally significant, make sure what you have identified in one
particular setting can also be applied to other communities.
7. Examine Eveline’s family situation by using John Canaday’s critical essay
as a theoretical frame to illustrate how family life could become fictive.
Integrate some key concepts from Sigmund Freud, especially his comments
on family.
Essential components: original or risk-taking claims (implicit or explicit), rich and
solid evidence (logically sequenced), logical warrant at a higher, more general
level (try your best), and counter-argumentation.
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