Take this opportunity to write about something that has really touched your imagination in the last few weeks, or that has ignited your interest in our visit to the Romantic and Victorian Halls of the NSW Art Gallery on April 14th. Remember you are permitted to create your own topic as long as it falls within the parameters of what you have been learning in this unit.
Here are some topics designed to excite your imagination:
1/ You are Dorothy Wordsworth. Tell your brother William why you think your own description of events seen together in the Lake District are superior to you brother’s rather obscure depictions of the same event. Give a couple of clear examples to prove your point.
2/ You are William Wordsworth. Tell your sister Dorothy that while she is pretty good at describing events her descriptions lack the depth of insight that comes with transforming an experience into poetry. Give a couple of clear examples to prove your point.
3/ Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” powerfully captures the way forces in nature can mirror forces at work on the human level. Using Shelley as a model, write a short two stanza poem which uses a force in nature to describe something happening at the human level.
4/ You are Mary Shelley. Write a paragraph describing the world as you imagine she might have seen it at the time of writing “The Mortal Immortal”.
5/ Chose one of the paintings from our NSW Art Gallery visit, describe the painting in some detail and say how the painting has expanded your understanding of the links between painting and and understanding of literature and its contexts.
6/ Remember you are absolutely permitted to create your own topic that expresses what you have found to be most interesting and stimulating in the last few weeks of the uni.
Michael Griffith: Home Page- Literature and Life Summer 2023 