HU 103 Paper 2: Ekphrasis
Purpose: This assignment will strengthen your critical thinking and knowledge transfer skills by
using the concept of ekphrasis to discover how one form of art can talk to another.
Assignment: From the options below, choose one ekphrastic response to a work we’ve studied
this semester. Based on your analysis of the ekphrastic work in relation to the earlier work,
answer the following question:
How does the later artist use ekphrasis to deepen/enhance/challenge our understanding
of the earlier work? In other words, how does the later artist use the capabilities of his
or her art form to comment on or to influence our interpretation of the original work?
Draw upon sources and class notes as needed to deepen your analysis with relevant
contexts and aesthetic conventions for both works. I’ve placed any sources you might need on
Blackboard in the “Paper 2 materials” folder. No additional research is needed. Although I
highly recommend that you use all of the sources, some of your context and conventions
might come from class discussions. But either way, you must use specific contexts and
conventions to deepen your analysis.
Options:
 Angelina Weld Grimké’s 1926 poem “A Mona Lisa,” a response to DaVinci’s Mona Lisa
o Available sources: Strickland’s AML on Renaissance painting; Readings on DaVinci
and Grimké in Blackboard folder
 Mantegna’s 1555 painting, Presentation at the Temple, a response to Luke 2
o Available sources: Strickland’s AML on Renaissance painting; Reading on Mantegna
in Blackboard folder; NAWL intro to the Christian Bible (1149-52)
 Ary Scheffer’s 1835 painting Francesca da Rimini, a response to Dante’s Inferno, Canto
V (78-141)
o Available sources: Strickland’s AML on Romanticism (76-82); Reading on Scheffer
in Blackboard folder; NAWL intro to Dante (1595-99)
 Rita Dove’s 1992 poem, “The Venus of Willendorf,” a response to the Paleolithic
figurine, the Venus of Willendorf
o Available sources: Strickland’s AML on prehistoric art (2-4); Readings on Rita
Dove’s biography & the Venus of Willendorf in Blackboard folder
Due Date: You may turn in any of the topics on either of the following days:
 Option A: Fri Apr 27, by the end of the day (midnight)
 Option B: Weds May 2, by the end of the day (midnight)
 Due to university policy, I cannot offer any extensions beyond May 2. So if the last
week of class looks very busy for you, I highly encourage you to choose Option A, to
minimize end-of-semester overload.
Format Requirements:
 email a Microsoft Word .doc file (I cannot open a pages file & my comments crash pdfs)
to kareng@bu.edu
 double-space, 12 point, Times New Roman font, standard 1-inch margins
 MLA style citations and list of Works Cited
Grading: Papers will be scored on a 100 point scale, with points allotted to the skills on the HU
103 Grading Rubric, as follows.
 Critical Thinking: 20 points
 Mastery of Aesthetic Conventions: 20 points
 Awareness of Context: 20 points
 Knowledge Transfer: 20 points
 Use of Sources: 10 points
 Written Communication: 10 points

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