Assignment for 1/24: Analysis of description

Assignment Due in Class (in hard copy, printed) Wed 1/24:

Analysis of Description


In the Stella responses blog entry (see list on the left of all entries), find the blog comment posted below your own and paste this paragraph description of Battle of Lights along with the author’s name, at the top of a document. Below, write your own paragraph or two (at least 8 sentences) about the description. In the top right corner of the page be sure to put your own name.

Don’t argue about how ‘good’ or effective the description is, analyze exactly how it works. Point out specific details in the description and show how they create specific kinds of effects or produce meaning in specific ways. For example, if you noticed your author used the words “blending” and “oozing” you might point out some of the implications or effects of those words:
The author describes the colors as “blending” and “oozing,” suggesting that the colors intersect in fluid ways rather than defining clear boundaries. The gerund form of these verbs imagines the paint as still moving on the canvas, as if the paint is still wet and the painting is still in-process.

Remember you are writing about the description not about the painting, so, maybe you notice the author says “I noticed tons of lines.” You could point out the use of the first person, the fact that it is in the past tense, the unusual pairing of “tons” and “lines” (a ton is a unit of weight; so is he suggesting that the lines in the painting look heavy or is this a translation of number into weight, an exaggeration used to express being overwhelmed?). You might notice the author writes that “shadows are cast by a building” and notice that instead of describing how black paint angles from a rectangular patch of white paint, taking up the perspective of someone looking at a painting, the author imagines the paint as what it may represent, taking up a perspective that is projected into the ‘world’ the painting seems to represent.

Below are some things to think about as you read and begin to think about the paragraph you are analyzing. Don’t answer these questions directly, like a list, in your response. Use them to help you pick up on details, but then structure your analysis around what you discover. You might choose to move through the description following the order of its sentences. Or you might choose to group certain patterns you notice. Or, you might start with surface observations that you then develop into insightful interpretations. Don’t judge the description or suggest what the author could have done better; don’t talk about how their words affect you personally as a reader or how their experience of the painting compares to your experience or description—write impersonally and analytically.

++++++What words stand out in this description? What patterns of language do you notice, and how do these patterns correspond with what they describe? Does the author make judgments or offer interpretations, or does she simply describe? Where might you find implicit judgments and interpretations in what looks like pure description? How does the author convey his point of view (not in the sense of opinion, but in the literary sense) and what effect does this create? Pay attention to the verbs in every sentence. Who or what ‘acts’ in the description; does the author describe her own actions, the actions of the artist, the ‘actions’ of the artwork? Is the action literal or figural; if it is figural what might it actually correspond to or attempt to express? Where are passive constructions used and why; what ‘actors’ are being obscured or avoided? What is the tense or temporality of the action? How does time work in the description: what is described as in the past and what is described as in the present? Does the author describe the experience of the painting as if it is happening right then, at the time of the description—or does he describe the experience as if he is reflecting back on it? Do you as a reader have the sense of being shown or made to share the author’s experience, as if you were looking at what she looks at in the order she looks at things—does this bring you as a reader into the imagined ‘present’ moment of the description? Do you have the sense that the author is sharing his reflections about a past experience, allowing you to participate or share in the moment of his description as you read and consider it in your own moment of reflection? Where are there shifts in time and why do you think they happen; what effects do these shifts have?