1Realistic color painting classical timelessness neo classical sharp

etching toga bucolic smooth worried wrinkled crow’s feet pouches curly frizzy chin mouth sad down in the mouth crestfallen radiant blurred

dimples receding hairline

Study the list above, decide which words are relevant to the picture then listen to the commentary

Before proceeding, peruse this list of mythical allusions and pick out the one relevant to the picture you’ve just seen

Then listen

Sisyphus : King of Corinth, the son of Aeolus, king of Thessaly. Sisyphus saw the god Zeus carry off the beautiful maiden Aegina and told her father what he had witnessed. Enraged with Sisyphus, Zeus condemned him to Tartarus, where he was compelled for eternity to roll to the top of a steep hill a stone that always rolled down again.

Narcissus : in Greek mythology, a handsome youth, the son of the river god Cephissus. Because of his great beauty many women fell in love with Narcissus, but he repulsed their advances. To punish Narcissus, the avenging goddess Nemesis made Narcissus fall hopelessly in love with his own beautiful face as he saw it reflected in a pool. As he gazed in fascination, unable to remove himself from his image, he gradually pined away. At the place where his body had lain grew a beautiful flower, honoring the name and memory of Narcissus.

The androgyne: the attraction between man and woman, and the consequent institution of marriage, is explained by the myth that primeval man was one creature, subsequently divided into two parts, male and female, which are attracted to each other to regain their pristine unity. Aristophanes expresses this theory of sexual attraction in Plato’s Symposium. Genesis relates the same theory in the familiar myth that a rib, taken out of Adma, was fashioned into Eve; and precisely because wman was taken out of man, man forsakes his father and mother to cleave unto his wife so that they become one flesh.

The Phoenix : legendary bird that lived in Arabia. According to tradition, the phoenix consumed itself by fire every 500 years, and a new, young phoenix sprang from its ashes. In the mythology of ancient Egypt, the phoenix represented the sun, which dies at night and is reborn in the morning. Early Christian tradition adopted the phoenix as a symbol of both immortality and resurrection

COMPOSITION

COMPOSITION

ONE HALF

TWO HALVES

MOVEMENT OF THE EYE

Try and re-order the different moments using the right adverbs beloweventually / then / first / before v-ing / after v-ing /

  

 The eye .........    

(go) up along the tree trunk

(follow) the man’s forearm (avant-bras)

(catch) by the red spot of the man’s toga

(focuse) (se concentre) on the cypress in the top left-hand corner.

(go) up to his face and (dwell) on it (s’attarde)

A penny for his thoughts

What functions suit best his frame of

mind?

regrets

fear

nostalgia

despair

resignation

Why did I never …. I wish I had …

I’m terrified at the thought of

Those were the days .. What a pity we can’t put the clock back

I’d rather die right away than …. I can’t bear the idea of

There’s no point in v-ing There’s no hope of my v-ing

A PENNY FOR HIS NOW

Can you fill in the blanks?

EXPECTATIONS

WISHES AND HOPES

ANTICIPATION

APPREHENSION

FUTURE

Listen to the commentary and write down the functions corresponding to the headings above

ALLUSIONS AND SYMBOLS

Decay decline degeneration weakness impotence

powerlessness nursing home go gaga crippled

Immortality renewal timelessness animism be

reborn