Connecting the Visual to the Verbal in the Classroom

Background

To start this unit, students will be exposed to varied works of art representing different cultures and periods. To sharpen their observation skills, students will be asked to write down as many details and observations as they can within a given time limit. As a class, we will share our responses and will also review some 'learning to look' activities, where students see in an artwork what they can infer based on observational evidence. This will spark a classroom discussion of the artwork and its representation of the historical event or era. Through observation and discussion, students will be able to make connections with The Great Gatsby, and see the similarities in the themes. The selected artwork provides a quick medium for enhancing thematic understanding, while also working on such skills as finding evidence from text, predicting, and comparing and contrasting.

The following paintings will be used for observation and class discussions:

The Persistence of Memory and The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali: Students will discover that both the paintings and the novel share the same theme—Time. Time is one of the most pervasive themes in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald not only manipulates time in the novel, he refers to time repeatedly to reinforce the idea that time is a driving force not only for the 1920s, a period of great change, but for America itself. Gatsby learns the hard way that you cannot repeat the past.

The Lovers, by Ren Magritte, reflects isolation. Isolation in The Great Gatsby is not the same as being alone. Although the characters are always in the company of others, their isolation is an internal one, stemming from their inability to truly experience intimacy with one another.

The False Mirror, by Ren Magritte, challenges the way that humans perceive the world. The universal role of the giant eye takes on a universal role equivalent to that of The Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg in The Great Gatsby.

A Bigger Splash, by David Hockney, has us question what lies between the visible, above the surface, and the invisible, beneath the surface. Gatsby throws lavish parties at his mansion, and yet no one shows up at his funeral. This will lead into a discussion of Pieter Bruegel's painting The Fall of Icarus. He too, takes a plunge, and everyone is so indifferent, they don't even notice.

Saint George and the Dragon, by Paolo Uccello, links with the superficial roles people play in The Great Gatsby, revealing that what one sees might not necessarily hold true. Often times, people's true identities are hidden behind masks, or stereotypes society has placed on them, and we never really know what lies beneath the surface.

I chose these paintings because no matter what time period we live in, human nature doesn't change. As much as we would like to believe we learn from our past mistakes, history keeps repeating itself over and over again. When Hockney painted A Bigger Splash, it was a time of turbulance and change in America, just as it was in the 1920s, and is today. All of these paintings have something to say. We still face the same problems we have always had in America. Although it is nice to believe the idealized version of the American Dream, the truth is that dreams are not reality. Man's nature does not change, and we face the same obstacles we did when our forefathers founded this country. There will always be someone, or something, that disrupts man's good intentions, often times the " good intention" itself.

These are just some of the points we will be discussing, which will fit nicely with the themes in The Great Gatsby. I am sure students will disagree with many of the statements above, but that is the point. I hope to spark something inside of my students, so they can express themselves through their poetry.

In order to expand students' perceptions, we will review some suggestions from David Perkins, ³, and while the students are using these guidelines, they should always be thinking in words. This should help them learn to see accurately, instead of processing information with preconceived notions or experiences. Students will begin to look at artwork critically using valid art principles as guides, rather than just personal tastes.

Next, after writing down all of the details they have observed, students will be asked to write a descriptive paragraph clearly, so that readers can visualize the subject as the writer sees it. We will review literary terms and how they can be applied to create vivid descriptions. Students must choose their language carefully and utilize the best literary devices in order to communicate their message.

On the following days, students will learn that both the literary arts and visual arts have certain basic elements in common. We will look at some of the comparative vocabulary that has been developed. Students will study mood, metaphor, symbol, pattern, and point of view in the context of both painting and poetry. We will also look at the use of color, how it affects our moods, the use of color metaphor, and color symbolism.

Students are now ready to be introduced to Ekphrasis. The meaning, the history, and the components of this form of expression will be discussed. We will use examples from sources I have found, first reading the poems as a class, then observing the art that inspired the poets. I might even have my students sketch the poem as they read it aloud. This will help develop their visualization skills, which gives them a better understanding of the poet's intent. Students will discuss their observations, inferences and interpretations, understanding the importance of carefully examining visual images to see how they were composed with intention and design. Some of the poems that might work well are Emma Lazarus' famous poem, "The New Colossus," "The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams, and "Number 1" by Jackson Pollock.

After studying several examples as models, students will engage (interfere with, invent, challenge, embellish) an artwork of their own choice. They will then write their own ekphrastic poem. This is a way to introduce art into the classroom, and to enhance my students' writing skills. Hopefully, it will spark my students' interest, while stimulating their minds by considering why an artist chose one detail over another or one design over another. Students learn to describe, interpret, and draw conclusions from richly layered material, developing "an eye" for how art communicates, by looking at and thinking about the images over time.

Why is it Important to Teach Students to Look and See?

The process of 'looking at' goes on all the time. True seeing is rare. Real seeing means making contact without any prejudice, expectation or limitation. It means connecting free of judgment and of conditioned reflex. James Elkins argues that although most people become literate by learning to read at an early age, very few people devote as much time to reading into and through conventional surfaces. ⁴ Studies show that in becoming more visually literate, one will learn how to think more effectively. Critical thinking, communication and evidential reading skills all increase with practice, which is important for all of our students.

What is Visual Literacy?

Visual literacy is the ability to understand and use images. This includes thinking, learning, and expressing oneself in terms of images. In this information age, it is important to help my students interpret the visual world around them. From books and television to billboards and animation, students are bombarded with visuals. Students need visualization skills to be able to decipher, interpret, and communicate the meaning of imagery—especially given the ease with which digitized visuals can be manipulated. Just as we learn to read text, we need to learn how to read pictures.

Visual Thinking is an inquiry–based method of teaching that can be used with original art works. It empowers viewers to trust their own observations, interpretations, and ideas about works of art. It focuses on viewer response and interest, allowing the viewer to guide the inquiry. In this sense it is not information–based, but information is woven into the discussion as it is asked for. Students need to articulate their responses and to find evidence to support opinions and reasoning. Through discussion, process writing, and other activities, students can learn to extend their visual and analytical skills to text.

With visual images, one obvious way to begin the analysis and interpretation is to describe as precisely as possible everything in the image. This forces us to look closely at the image, to examine it without missing any important detail. One way I promote visual literacy is by walking my students through a painting, yet encouraging them to come to their own conclusions. The point is to let them stretch their imaginations, and look beyond the surface, seeing with new eyes, so they can start making connections with the text. For example, in my Gatsby unit I will show David Hockney's painting, A Bigger Splash, on the overhead in my classroom. Even though it was painted in 1967, and the setting of Gatsby is the 1920s, there are strong parallels between the two.

To begin the discussion, I will ask my class: "What great American novel can you link this painting to? Look at it carefully, and think of some of the themes we have been discussing in class." Students should be relaxed, focusing on the details of the painting, looking for clues in the parts and whole of the picture. Students should try to "read" the painting, identifying the subject, plot and setting, searching for internal clues. What does it say? Look at it entirely first. After giving my students the time to look and make connections, the following questions will be: What do you see? What is the subject matter? It might take a few minutes to register, but I am sure they will see that this pool scene is much like the pool at Gatsby's mansion, where George Wilson shot him and then killed himself.

Next, I will ask my students to list all the different things that they can actually see in the work, imagining that they are describing the artwork to someone who has never seen it before. This is simply a way to get students to see as much as they can before moving on to analysis and interpretation. The following is a possible list of images my students might see in David Hockney's art work, A Bigger Splash:

• It is in an outside setting; a backyard with a swimming pool.
• There is a low modern dwelling with wall–sized glass panels.
• There are two towering palm trees and a patch of isolated grass.
• The picture is a perfect square.
• There is an unoccupied director's chair.
• It is almost perfectly divided—the sky above and the pool below.
• The shapes are all straight lines, mostly verticals, horizontals, parallels, and rectangles.'
• It looks like there are bars are across the glass windows.
• The water is motionless, except for a big splash.
• There is a diagonally placed diving board.
• •Blue is the prominent color in the painting, with bands of brown and green.

At the analysis stage, students will try to figure out what the artist has done to achieve certain effects. For example, a student might comment that the splash disrupts the calmness of the painting. Its explosion in the water is violent, interrupting the ongoing stillness from its surroundings. From this, students can compare their first impressions of the painting and explain why. More questions will follow, such as: How did the artist use color? What effect did the artist achieve through his use of color? Does the color draw your eye to any one image or part of the painting?

As a class, we will then divide the students' observations into the three categories of art: Color, Shape, and Line. Students might comment that there are just four colors—blue, brown, a bit of pink, and green in the painting. Using so little color has the effect of simplifying the painting. The colors remain uniform and do not suggest deep perspective by fading. The splash occupies the foreground because of the light colors. Some responses to Shape and Line might be: Everything is clear, flat, and simple, reduced to a geometrical plan. The flatness of the picture plane is contrasted with the splash, made of spidery lines, strokes, twirls, and sprays of tiny dots. This splash breaks all of the order in the painting, drawing the attention of the viewer.

After looking at all of the images in the painting, students will now try to figure out what the work is about. Interpretation is the stage where students' own perspectives, associations and experiences meet with the details found in the work of art. For example: What does the color blue represent, and what is the power of the visible blue above the surface, and the blue below the surface? Possible responses could be: Blue represents royalty, sadness, or "the blues." Or: "So above, so below." We can see what is on the surface, but what is inside or below is invisible. Students might notice that both the water and the house have no reflection. One can look out, but no one can see in. It looks like there are bars over the windows. It is almost like the occupant is a prisoner in his own home. The home is also isolated on a hill. Does it look inhabited, or does it stand alone, cold and empty? What can this home tell us in relation to Gatsby? Could this represent the isolation Gatsby felt being an outsider all of his life? Remember: Gatsby was as alone in death as he had been in life.

What about the diving board? Could it be a springboard for the changing seasons—reminding us that life goes on, with or without us? Perhaps someone is taking a plunge to their death. Does it remind you of a coffin? What about the vacant director's chair? Why a director's chair? Do you remember what Owl Eyes said when he was in the library at one of Gatsby's parties? "See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona–fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too––didn't cut the pages" (38). (Owl Eyes is referring to Belasco, a famous playwright and director, who spared no effort to make his settings and effects as true to life and nature as possible.) Does this sound like Gatsby? He has a library of books to impress his guests, but has he read any of them? And the books are uncut. They haven't been opened, just like the eyes of the characters in the novel. Behind the expensive parties, isn't Gatsby a lonely man? Does his greatness lie in his capacity to promote illusion? The only life in the painting is the little row of grass that doesn't even reach the end of the painting, and two towering palm trees. How do the two trees, standing together, create a contrast with the rest of the painting? And what about the splash? The splash is almost violent, breaking the calm in the rest of the painting, just like Gatsby's violent death in the swimming pool. Here is a vacant house, where the only sign of life is that someone has just sprung from the board and plunged beneath the water surface. But who ever thinks about that diver? Who ever thought about Gatsby after he was murdered? This is where the students can see some of the similarities, and draw parallels, between the painting and The Great Gatsby.

We will then conclude this section, and the following day will look at another painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, by the famous Flemish painter, Breughel, repeating the same process used above. This time, however, the painting will be accompanied with two ekphrastic poems, W.H. Auden's "Muse des Beaux Arts" and William Carlos Williams' "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," both describing the same painting.

Why Ekphrasis?

Carl R. V. Brown's article, "Contemporary Poetry about Painting" (1992), has argued that ekphrasis should be more widely taught in the English literature curriculum because of the many pedagogical advantages. Since its publication, several courses have been developed in colleges, and in the last decade the idea has gained momentum

Teaching ekphrastic poetry can be rewarding, because it presents numerous opportunities for the discovery of meaning. Students can get insight into the similarities and differences in the interpretation of famous works of art in popular culture. Brown suggests that teachers introduce paintings to literary works to illuminate matters of form, style, theme and historical context—to provide students with another perspective on the literature and create more opportunities for more understanding, response and inquiry. He also suggests that teachers encourage students to write their own interpretations of the paintings in poetry and prose, explaining why they agree or disagree with the poets' renderings. ⁵.

What is Ekphrasis?

Ekphrasis, from the Greek meaning to draw out or to make clear, is the practice of creating art in response to art. Historically, ekphrasis has been primarily seen in poetic responses to visual art as seen in Homer, Keats, Wordsworth, Auden, Williams, Ashbery, and others. Ekphrasis sometimes denotes a description of a work of art that is undertaken as a rhetorical exercise (Lucie–Smith, 72). In other words, the description is done in hopes of understanding the work of art described, possibly expanding its meaning. An ekphrastic description can be anything that responds to the work of art, whether it be a painting or an object. Ekphrastic poems are attempts to describe what the

eye sees; thus enabling the viewer to understand the painting, sculpture, or architecture, more fully (Cage and Rosenfeld, 2000).

Teachers of rhetoric, in ancient Greece, taught ekphrasis as a way of heightening the experience of an object for a listener through highly descriptive writing. This practice was designed not only to provide important details about an object, but also to share the emotional experience and content with someone who had never encountered the work in question. Ekphrasis has often served the principle of 'ut pictura poesis' (poetry as a speaking picture, and painting as mute poetry). Horace's Arts Poetica expressed the ekphrastic ideal of giving voice to a painting. "It has been treated as a mirror to the text, a mood of inversion, and a voice that disrupts or extends the voice of the narrative" (Elsner, Batsch). There are conventions with ekphrasis, as with other poetic modes:

• Giving Voice to the painting or making its characters speak.
• Praise, Response, with the poet or the persona praising the mastery of the work, or its stasis or permanence; or else the poet, drawn to the work, goes through a deeply moving visual experience.
• Paragone or Competitive Comparison (Leonardo da Vinci's term), where the poet competes or struggles with the painting either by pointing out its flaws or critically differentiating his art of words from that of images, or by exhibiting his own learning about the artwork itself.
• Energy or "Enargia," (from classical rhetoric) which is the natural vibrancy produced as the poet makes the artwork come to life before the reader's eyes.
• "Notional" ekphrasis, when the object itself is imagined by the poet and he proceeds to write a poem about it. ⁶.