Close Reading of Visual Art with "The Kiss"
Have students read and analyze the poem: "Short Story on a Painting of Gustav Klimt" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti using the TPCASST or other analytical approach. Compare and contrast the details the author of the poem observed about the painting and the details the students observed. How was his interpretation similar to or different from the students' observations? What might these similarities and difference reveal about the nature of close-reading as a tool for analysis?
Summative Activity: Have students write their own original "textual conversation" poem responding to the painting (or to a different painting if you want to increase the challenge) by mimicking a poetic form currently being studied or by writing several poems in multiple poetic forms to analyze and consider how changing the poetic form shapes the reader's understanding of the text.