Jordan Erekson

Period 6

Reading and Interpretation Exercise

1.       Q.  What is the “subject” of the first sentence?

A.      They refers to The Old Masters.

2.       Q.  Where do you find the subject?

A.      The second line.

3.       Q.  Are the words in the sentence in the “correct” order?
            A.       No, it is not where you expect it to be.

4.       Q.  What is Auden trying to say?

A.      People turn away from disasters unless it involves them.

5.       Q.   What is his “argument”?

A.      The Old Masters are trying to convey suffering.

6.       Q.  How does he make the argument or convey his message?

A.      He shows it in the actions of the people.

7.       Q.  Does he provide “evidence”?

A.      Yes, he does provide evidence.

8.       Q.  What does the title mean?

A.      The Museum of Beauty.

9.       Q.  Can you figure it out without help?

A.      Yes, the words look similar to English words.

10.   Q.  Who are “The Old Masters”?

A.      The Old Masters are Davinci, Michelangelo, Brueghal and Rembrandt.

 1.   Q.   Why is this capitalized?

A.      It is a list of important people.

12.   Q.  How can you find out more?

A.      Look online and in books as well as other resources.

13.   Q.  How does Auden move through his argument and thus the poem?

A.      He starts out general and moves to specific.

14.   Q.  What is “Brueghal’s Icarus”?

A.      It is a painting.

15.   Q.  Do you agree with that thesis?

A.      Yes, I do agree that people turn away unless it involves them.

16.   Q.  How might Auden’s historical or cultural context have affected what and why he says it?

A.      His writing reflects his own obstacles and what he has gone through in his life.

17.   Q.  Did his living in Europe in the 1930’s affect his views about human suffering and how people respond to it?

A.      Yes, this definitely affects his views, historical events always do.

18.   Q. Why does he say The Old Masters were never wrong when they displayed their understanding or suffering in their art?

A.      Because they were the first and went through horrible times of suffering in the world.

19.   Q.  What does this say about the esteem in which The Old Masters are held.

A.      They had poor self-esteem about themselves and it showed in their work.

20.   Q. Why might that be the case?

A.      The time period in which they lived in.

21.   Q.  Does Auden’s presence in a museum, which privileges certain painters, affect his views about what he sees?

A.      Yes, it does affect his views on others life.

22.   Q.  How does he use “Brueghal’s Icarus” to support his thesis?

A.      He uses it to show how one only cares about a problem if it involves them.

23.   Q.  Are there similarities between Auden’s “historical context” and that of The Old Masters that might account for their similarity of views as Auden sees it?

A.      Yes, there is similarities between his historical context and The Old Masters and you can see it used in his work.

24.   Q.  What about differences might allow for a different interpretation of The Old Masters?

A.      The point-of-view and previous life experiences.

25.   Q.  How does painting convey a message that can be read?

A.      You have to be able to look at it and say what you believe the painting is telling you in its story.

26.   Q.  What would we expect to see in the title?

A.      A description of the picture.

27.   Q.  What do we see?

A.      We see words that convey a message.

28.   Q.  What do all the components do to make you see what the painter is trying to make you see?

A.      It affects the mood and emotional feeling of the painting.

29.   Q. What about Icarus?

A.      He is the main character.

30.   Q.  Where is he?

A.      He is in the water.

31.   Q. Why is he so small?

A.      In the story of the painting he is supposed to be small and unnoticed.

32.   Q.  How are people in the painting responding to this tragedy?

A.      They are turning away from Icarus and the tragedy.

33.   Q.  How does that compare to what Auden said?

A.      It is the exact same concept.

34.   Q.  Is Auden’s interpretation of the painting a good one?

A.      Yes, his interpretation is right on.

35.   Q.  What about Brueghal’s interpretation of the story correct?

A.      Yes, his interpretation was correct.

36.   Q.  What about Brueghal’s historical and cultural context informed his art?

A.      Yes, both informed his art.

37.   Q.  What would we need to do?

A.      We would need to look deeper into it and previous occasions.

38.   Q.  What do you notice about this scene that is different from the way it is presented by Brueghal?

A.      It is a totally different point-of-view.

39.   Q.  Why is Ovid’s view of what people would do so different?

A.      He has gone through this scenario different and during a different time period.

40.   Q.  What was happening in the first century B.C.E. when Ovid wrote?

A.      The Greeks and Romans were fighting over rule.

41.   Q.  How might that have affected his storytelling?

A.      It is what he was going through, which changes how and why he told the story the way he did.