Modern World History
Mr. Edwards
Romantic Art (or Poetry) Paper
Answer the following question in a well-organized, well-researched two to three page paper:
How does your painting or poem reflect the zeitgeist of the time period in which it was painted?
This paper does have a research component. We will be spending three days in the library on Sept 13, 14 and 15. The paper will be due on Tues, Sept 27th.
Late papers will be docked one full letter grade per day.
Required:
1. Works Cited page and citations. For a paper of this size you should have at
least four sources. Remember, not citing your research is a serious honor offense. Be diligent about this.
2. You will turn in your paper on Turnitin.com no later than midnight on Tues,
Sept 27.
3. You will need to cite at least two (other) primary sources. I say “other” because your painting or poem is a primary source, but you need two more on top of that to fulfill this requirement. Be sure to use a variety of sources in order to fully answer the question.
4. Your paper should be organized into an introduction, supporting body paragraphs and a thoughtful conclusion. Your introduction should include a thesis, which I would like underlined for this first paper, please.
Helpful Hints:
1. A good thesis is going to succinctly and directly answer the question given above. You are not writing a general paper on a painting or a poem. That is too vague. You are specifically answering the question above. Use only the facts and information that are relevant to answering that question directly. I will be looking carefully at this as I grade your essay.
2. Use your librarians. Ms Stuart and Ms Smith are wonderful and quite knowledgeable about history and how to write great papers.
3. Use the guiding questions that I gave you on the “Working with Cultural
Documents” handout.
Possible Topics: Paintings
1. Goya, “Executions of the Third of May” 1814
2. Goya, “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” 1798
3. Constable, “Salisbury Cathedral” 1825
4. Constable, “Wivenhoe Park” 1816
5. Turner, “Rain, Steam, Speed” 1844
6. Turner, “Slave Ship” 1840
7. Gericault, “Raft of the Medusa” 1819
8. Gericault, “Insane” or “The Madman” 1821
9. Fuseli, “The Nightmare” 1781
10. Daumier, “Third Class Carriage” 1863
11. Delacroix, “Death of Sardanapalus” 1827
12. Delacroix, “Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi” 1822
13. Friedrich, “Two Men Contemplating the Moon” 1830
14. Friedrich, “Man in Fog” 1818
15. Friedrich, “Sea of Ice” 1823
16. Friedrich, “Cloister Cemetery in the Snow” 1817
17. Gustave Corbet, “Stonebreakers” 1849
18. Audubon, “White Gerfalcons” (1785-1851 life of the artist)
- more on the collected works of the artist, not just one particular work.
19. Gros, “Napoleon at the Plague House in Jaffa” 1808
20. Meissonier, “Friedland, 1807” 1861
Poetry: Pick a couple of poems by any of the following poets:
William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake, Lord Byron, John Keats…