sample passage for analysis

Identify and analyze the following passage. Be sure to situate the passage within the text from which it comes and to define and elaborate on the terms and concepts it introduces. Consider its literary and rhetorical aspects, in addition to what it claims or describes. Finally, make sure to relate your interpretation of the passage to the overall themes and purposes (communication) of the text.

>>>>Begin by asking yourself--as with any text--where you have questions.<<<<<<<

"Until lately the best thing that I was able to think of in favor of civilization, apart from blind acceptance of the order of the universe, was that it made possible the artist, the poet, the philosopher, and the man of science. But I think that is not the greatest thing. Now I believe that the greatest thing is a matter that comes directly home to us all. When it is said that we are too much occupied with the means of living to live, I answer that the chief worth of civilization is just that it makes the means of living more complex; that it calls for great and combined intellectual efforts, instead of simple, uncoordinated ones, in order that the crowd may be fed and clothed and housed and moved from place to place. Because more complex and intense intellectual efforts mean a fuller and richer life. They mean more life. Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have enough of it.

I will add but one word. We are all very near despair. The sheathing that floats us over its waves is compounded of hope, faith in the unexplainable worth and sure issue of effort, and the deep, sub-conscious content which comes from the exercise of our powers."

exam study guide

Section I: Short Answer (50%)
Please choose 6 of the following 8 short answer questions and answer them in 3-5 sentences. Make sure to define, identify, and contextualize the question in terms of the texts from the course. Be sure to use examples from relevant texts in order to offer evidence for your answer and to more fully develop and articulate your ideas.
***study tip: review study questions

Section II: Passage Analysis (25%)
Identify and analyze the following passage. Be sure to situate the passage within the text from which it comes and to define and elaborate on the terms and concepts it introduces. Consider its literary and rhetorical aspects, in addition to what it claims or describes. Finally, make sure to relate your interpretation of the passage to the overall themes and purposes (communication) of the text. A good answer will give a clear and detailed reading of the passage as a unit, as part of a larger work, and as part of the course.
***study tip: a document from the Nazis and degenerate art readings; the Shostakovich libretto; a passage from Jane Jacobs.

Section III: Essay (25%)
In a well developed, insightful essay, please answer one of the following two essay questions. You should offer an introductory paragraph with a thesis claim (which answers all parts of the question). Then offer supporting paragraphs, each with evidence from texts, support, and explanation. Make sure to be as detailed and descriptive as you can when you offer your analysis and interpretation.
***study tip: the essay will also ask you to relate the texts to the overall theme of Humanities Core--making!

Shakespeare
Fancy/Imagination
Power and Authority (Athens as Aristotelian City)
Relationship of crafts (rude mechanicals) to theatrical making
Naming, as a form of making

Alberti
istoria
painting as a liberal art

Weimar Art
“can a maker ever not be a doer?”bourgeoisie/proletariat
Weimar Republic
Dadaism
Expressionism
Bauhaus
Grosz, Heartfield
Hoch
Photomontage
Brecht, realism
Function of Art: communication, expression, document

Degenerate Art
politicization of aesthetic issues (Barron)
Degenerate Art Exhibit 1937
public/private treatment of women (Mosse)
beauty/sensuality
National Socialist aesthetic
respectability
propaganda
Volk

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Shostakovich
Leskov
socialist realism
triple burden of women
Stalin
dissident/collaborator/in-between?
opera, as bourgeious form of art
Porgy and Bess
folk opera/opera/musical theater
Dubose Heyward
Great Migration
Virgil Thomson, “folklore subjects”
Hall Johnson, critique
Downes, music critic
Atkinson, theater critic
American “idiom”
racism in Porgy and Bess
Catfish Row, folk community
double time of opera
revivals of Porgy and Bess
recitative
libretto
contrapuntal
jazz/folk/classical/popular/blues

Jane Jacobs and Built Environment
Garden City (Howard)
Radiant City (Le Corbusier)
City Beautiful
Decentrists (Mumford)
Radiant Garden City Beautiful
city vs. town (strangers)
“Parks are not automatically anything”
urban renewal
urban renewal vs. negro removal (James Baldwin)
organized complexity
diversity
ethnoburbs
slums
new urbanism
city as garden (park)
children/play
sidewalk ballet

Pierre Levy and Cyberculture
cyberspace vs. cyberculture
Noah’s Ark analogy
analogy/substitution/assimilation/articulation
digital urbanism