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Arts and Entertainment:
Sample reading and responding task answers
Text 1
- Why is Fernando Botero’s style easily
recognised worldwide?
Fernando Botero’s art is easily recognised because it has a style that is unmistakable. It is a combination of realism and humour. His paintings are of fat and voluminous shapes and his sculptures are huge.
- What elements provide Botero with his artistic
inspiration?
The elements from which Botero draws his artistic inspirations are from Colombia’s daily life; these may be elements such as typical towns, folkloric festivities, traditional families and religious personalities.
- How do we know that his art is well known every
where?
We know he is well known because not only is he very famous in his native country, Colombia, but his paintings are exhibited in famous museums around the world (Japan, Paris) and his sculptures were on display in the avenues of famous cities such as New York, Paris, Washington, Madrid and Chicago.
- According to the text, how would you describe
Fernando Botero?
Botero is an artist with a sense of humour, who loves to portray and sculpt huge and voluminous shapes.
He is creative and original, being able to transfer his daily environment into appealing masterpieces.
He is proud of his background. Even though he likes to travel and live in other countries, he goes back to Colombia once a year to get in touch with his roots and to be inspired.
He is a cosmopolitan person who likes to live and visit different countries. He owns houses in Paris, New York and Bogotá.
He is a person with a social conscience who, through his art, criticises the social injustice and inequality that is present in Latin America.
Text 2
- Why is Neruda well known worldwide?
Neruda is well known worldwide because he was one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, his reputation goes beyond language boundaries. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
- What was his first attempt as a poet?
His first attempt as a poet were some love letters that he wrote for a friend’s beloved.
- What are Neruda’s sources of
inspiration?
Neruda’s sources of inspiration are his childhood memories which are associated with nature, trees, rain, mountains as well as the peasants of his country.
- What was the aim of Neruda’s poetry?
Neruda believed that poetry could change society.
- How does the writer portray Pablo Neruda’s
death?
He uses language to portray the sadness and tragic circumstances of Pablo Neruda’s death. The use of images such as “militares revolviendo sus papeles, sus versos, su intimidad” “quemaban los libros en la plaza pública” allow the reader to visualise the tragedy of what was happening while Neruda was dying thus being able to empathise with the sadness and sense of violation experienced by the poet.
Also the use of metaphor “el trueno sangriento del golpe militar” and dramatic language such as “los tanques en las calles” reflect the seriousness of the political situation at the time of his death and allow the reader to create images in his mind of the violence and destruction which was taking place.
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