Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Life Imitating Art: Discovering the Secrets of Our Loved Ones Through Paintings, Poems, and Other Works of Art”

Just as Dante and Ari learned about one another through a mutual love of art, students will research a work of art that reminds them of a loved one—be it a friend, a family member, or a significant other—and then perform a deep analysis to see what the work of art reveals about their loved one and perhaps even themselves.

Visual art and literature serve as a thread that connects characters emotionally in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Through their discussions about art, Ari and Dante deepen their knowledge of each other and of themselves. Sometimes, Ari and Dante make direct comparisons between each other and works of art. For example, in Part 4, Dante says that Nighthawks by Edward Hopper reminds him of Ari because in the painting everyone is “remote and unknowable.”

In this exercise, you will describe someone you love—a friend, family member, or significant other—through a direct comparison with a piece of art of your choice.

• First, identify the loved one who will be the focus of your presentation.
• Next, find a piece of art that captures the essence of your loved one; consider their personality traits, the things they like/dislike, and how they make you feel when you’re with them.
• Use these emotions to guide you in your search to find a piece of art—whether literature, visual art, or music—that reminds you of this person.
• Finally, present to the class your selected piece of art. If it is a work of literature, you can read an excerpt; if it is a visual work, you can display it via a poster board and/or electronically; if it is a piece of music, you can play a snippet for the class.
• Then, describe in 2-3 minutes how this artwork reminds you of your loved one and whether, in your research, you discovered anything new about your loved one (or about yourself).

Teaching Suggestion: Students may need guidance on how to organize their search for a work of art. If so, you might ask students some leading questions to help them generate some loose keywords about their chosen loved one: What emotions does this person make you feel when you’re with them? What colors make you think of this person? Would you describe them as “warm” or “cold”? What other words come to mind when thinking of this person? Helping students come up with 8-10 broad keywords will help them search for relevant art. Two additional resources that may be of use to them are Google’s Art Emotions Map, which allows students to seek out visual works of art with tagged emotions, and the Poetry Foundation’s Collections that group poems by themes.