Exploring the Text

1. How would you describe the images depicted on the left side of the painting? What mood or atmosphere do they create for the viewer? How would you describe those to the right? What mood or atmosphere do they create? What is the effect of the contrast that Thomas Cole presents between the two sides of the painting?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - How would you describe the images depicted on the left side of the painting? What mood or atmosphere do they create for the viewer? How would you describe those to the right? What mood or atmosphere do they create? What is the effect of the contrast that Thomas Cole presents between the two sides of the painting?
2. What is suggested by the presence of the figure in the lower right? If it is the painter himself, why does the figure play such a seemingly insignificant role in the painting?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What is suggested by the presence of the figure in the lower right? If it is the painter himself, why does the figure play such a seemingly insignificant role in the painting?
3. Cole painted The Oxbow after returning from the European trip that William Jennings Bryant refers to in his sonnet “To Cole, the Painter, Departing for Europe.” In what way could this painting be a response to his friend’s poem? Refer specifically to the text of the poem and to details in the painting.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - Cole painted The Oxbow after returning from the European trip that William Jennings Bryant refers to in his sonnet “To Cole, the Painter, Departing for Europe.” In what way could this painting be a response to his friend’s poem? Refer specifically to the text of the poem and to details in the painting.