Question 1: ​The relationship between people and landscapes is never one-dimensional.

How does the

representation of this relationship support this comment in De Botton’s The Art of Travel and ONE
other related text?
The relationship between people and landscape is complex due to the transformative nature of the
environment due to the individual’s ability to experience hardships through their relationship with the
landscape. This idea is explored in Alain de Botton’s non-fiction text ‘​The Art of Travel​’ and John Keats’
poem ‘​An Ode to a Nightingale​’ where both composers use literary techniques to illustrate the
relationship between people and landscape, whether individuals desire to find beauty, escape from
reality or establish unrealistic expectations and establish a relationship with an imagined landscape. As a
result, both texts demonstrate the importance of having a multi-faceted relationship with the
environment.

Paragraph 1​: Individuals often search for happiness within the beauty of new landscapes where they
cannot find in their usual, mundane lives
AOT:​ de Botton’s exploration of new landscapes through the mixture of personal experiences and
intertextuality, reflecting an individual’s desire to find happiness within the beauty of landscapes
Visual imagery​: ​‘By December, the new season was entrenched and the city was covered almost every
day by an ominous​ steely-grey sky...’ (p. 5)
- Colour represents how de Botton feels towards his landscape as he associates feelings of misery
during winter in London
- This emphasises an individual’s desire to find happiness in new landscapes as de Botton
deliberates how a familiar landscape results in an individual’s desire to find beauty in a new
landscape
Allusion:​ Painting of William​ Hodges ​Tahiti Revisited (p. 6)
- Allusion of a painting (i.e. a representation of a painter’s relationship with an imagined
landscape) reflects how an individual’s desire to find beauty is associated with finding happiness
within the imagined landscape
Rhetorical question:​ ​‘Why be seduced by something as small as a front door in another country? Why fall
in love with a place because it has trams and its people seldom have ​ curtains in their homes?’ (p. 76)
- Reinforces how de Botton appreciates the smallest details in Amsterdam as he finds beauty
within the minute details
- His relationship between the trivialities of the landscape emphasise how the relationship with
new landscapes can result in meaningful experiences due to him finding beauty within
insignificant details
Inclusive language:​ ​‘What we find exotic abroad may be what ​ we hunger for in vain at home.’ (p. 77)
- Emphasises the universality of how individuals desire to find beauty in foreign landscapes
- Ironically, individuals do not consider familiar landscapes as beautiful since they associate the
mundane in familiar landscapes
Juxtaposition:​ Image of de Botton’s apartment
- Illustrates how despite the exploration of new landscapes, this enhances an individual’s
newfound appreciation of the familiar landscape
Paragraph 2​: Individuals use new, imagined landscapes as a form of escapism through the desire to find
beauty
ORT:​ Keats’ presentation of new landscapes through the emphasis of the imagined landscape reinforces
the notion of landscape providing an option to escape from reality.
Allusion:​ ​‘Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,/ But on the viewless wings of Poesy,’
- Since Bacchus alludes to Greek mythology with Bacchus being the god of wine, Keats alludes to
Greek mythology to reinforce the elevation of poetry (Poesy) due to its ability to be the
immortal
- With nightingale representing the elevation of poetry, this illustrates how imagined landscapes
emerges out of the persona’s desire to escape the physical landscape and his problems in the
physical world
Capitalising:​ ​‘Darkling I listen: and, for many a time/ I have been half in love with easeful Death,/ Call’d
him soft names in many a mused rhyme,’
- Illustrating how the sound of the nightingale is alluring him to death
- Reinforces how the natural landscape provides him a way to escape from the physical world due
to him feeling ​‘such an ecstasy!’
Symbolism:​ ​‘Thou was not born for death, immortal Bird!’
- Keats vacillates back to the importance of poetry being able to overcome death through natural
landscape
Rhetorical question:​ ​‘Was it a vision, or a waking dream?/ Fled is that music:- Do I wake or sleep?’
- Despite Keats referring to the nightingale facilitating his imagined landscape through the
immortality of poetry, Keats recognises the limitation of poetry as he questions whether his
experience with the natural landscape is imagined or reality
- Nevertheless, Keats reflects on the power of imagined landscapes being able to escape from
reality

Paragraph 3​: individuals often set unrealistic expectations as a way of establishing a relationship with
imagined landscapes. However, it is the natural landscape, physical or imagined, that facilitates a
multi-layered relationship with the landscape
AOT:​ de Botton deliberates over the purpose of travelling since reality will undermine the anticipated
expectations in the new landscape
… that the paintings had lied, there had been some simplicity and joviality but these gems
‘It was not
were blended… ​ in a stew of ordinary images which these Dutch artists had never painted ’ (p. 16)
- De Botton expresses the danger of visiting new landscapes through Des Eissentes’ anticipation
of Holland as the physical landscape has the ability to contrast with the expectations set by the
imagined relationship between people and landscape
Intertextuality:​ Jacob van Ruisdael painting ‘​View of Alkmaar’
- This illustrates how art is used to stimulate a relationship with an imagined landscape
- However, art only represents the artist’s relationship with the land, resulting in varying
relationships with the individual and the artist
- Nevertheless, de Botton suggests that a relationship with the landscape through an artwork of
the landscape becomes the solution to preventing reality from undermining the imagined
 landscape → the danger in relying on imagined landscape undermines the complex relationship
individuals experience with the landscape
​ ‘Regular travel through nature was a necessary antidote to the evils of the city.’ (p. 139)
- Including Wordsworth’s philosophy on the importance of the natural landscape reinforces de
Botton’s idea on how experiences with the physical landscape allow individuals to experience
the transformative nature of the relationship with the landscape
- This is contrasted with Des Eisseintes’ conclusion that ​‘the imagination could provide a
more-than-adequate substitute for the vulgar reality of actual experience.’ (p. 27)
Listing:​ ​‘Natural scenes have the power to suggest certain values to us- oaks dignity, pines resolution,
lakes calm ’ (p. 148)
- Juxtaposes Des Eissentes’ attitude towards the physical landscape through Wordsworth’s
philosophy towards nature
- De Botton expresses the importance of the natural landscape through an individual’s ability to
form an intimate relationship with the land and the abstract ideas individuals are able to
experience through the physical landscape

Question 2: ​The challenge for a composer is to represent the many layers of possible influence on an
individual’s response to a landscape. How is this represented in your prescribed text (The Art of
Travel) and ONE other related text of your own choosing?
It is a challenge to represent the many layers within a relationship with the landscape. However, this is
reflected through the hardships individuals experience with the landscape. This idea is explored in Alain
de Botton’s non-fiction text ‘​The Art of Travel​’ and John Keats’ poem ‘​An Ode to a Nightingale​ where
both composers use literary techniques to represent the relationship between people and landscape,
where individuals desire to find beauty, escape from reality or establish unrealistic expectations and
establish a relationship with an imagined landscape. As a result, both texts illustrate the challenge
composers face is the representation of an individual’s complex relationship with the environment
through the multiple layers that influence their relationship.

Paragraph 1​: Individuals often search for happiness within the beauty of new landscapes where they
cannot find in their usual, mundane lives. As a result, composers are challenged to reflect this notion to
emphasise the multi-faceted nature of this relationship
AOT:​ de Botton’s exploration of new landscapes through the mixture of personal experiences and
intertextuality, reflecting an individual’s desire to find happiness within the beauty of landscapes
Visual imagery​: ​‘By December, the new season was entrenched and the city was covered almost every
day by an ominous steely-grey sky...’ (p. 5)
- Colour represents how de Botton feels towards his landscape as he associates feelings of misery
during winter in London
- This emphasises an individual’s desire to find happiness in new landscapes as de Botton
deliberates how a familiar landscape results in an individual’s desire to find beauty in a new
landscape
Allusion:​ Painting of William Hodges ​Tahiti Revisited (p. 6)
 - Allusion of a painting (i.e. a representation of a painter’s relationship with an imagined
landscape) reflects how an individual’s desire to find beauty is associated with finding happiness
within the imagined landscape
Rhetorical question:​ ​‘Why be seduced by something as small as a front door in another country? Why fall
in love with a place because it has trams and its people seldom have curtains in their homes?’ (p. 76)
- Reinforces how de Botton appreciates the smallest details in Amsterdam as he finds beauty
within the minute details
- His relationship between the trivialities of the landscape emphasise how the relationship with
new landscapes can result in meaningful experiences due to him finding beauty within
insignificant details
Inclusive language:​ ​‘What we find exotic abroad may be what we hunger for in vain at home.’ (p. 77)
- Emphasises the universality of how individuals desire to find beauty in foreign landscapes
- Ironically, individuals do not consider familiar landscapes as beautiful since they associate the
mundane in familiar landscapes
Juxtaposition:​ Image of de Botton’s apartment
- Illustrates how despite the exploration of new landscapes, this enhances an individual’s
newfound appreciation of the familiar landscape

Paragraph 2​: The composer’s exploration of the notion that individuals use new, imagined landscapes as
a form of escapism through the desire to find beauty reflects the difficulty in representing the
multi-layered nature of relationships with the landscape
ORT:​ Keats’ presentation of new landscapes through the emphasis of the imagined landscape reinforces
the notion of landscape providing an option to escape from reality.
Allusion:​ ​‘Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,/ But on the viewless wings of Poesy,’
- Since Bacchus alludes to Greek mythology with Bacchus being the god of wine, Keats alludes to
Greek mythology to reinforce the elevation of poetry (Poesy) due to its ability to be the
immortal
- With nightingale representing the elevation of poetry, this illustrates how imagined landscapes
emerges out of the persona’s desire to escape the physical landscape and his problems in the
physical world
Capitalising:​ ​‘Darkling I listen: and, for many a time/ I have been half in love with easeful Death,/ Call’d
him soft names in many a mused rhyme,’
- Illustrating how the sound of the nightingale is alluring him to death
- Reinforces how the natural landscape provides him a way to escape from the physical world due
to him feeling ​‘such an ecstasy!’
Symbolism:​ ​‘Thou was not born for death, immortal Bird!’
- Keats vacillates back to the importance of poetry being able to overcome death through natural
landscape
Rhetorical question:​ ​‘Was it a vision, or a waking dream?/ Fled is that music:- Do I wake or sleep?’
- Despite Keats referring to the nightingale facilitating his imagined landscape through the
immortality of poetry, Keats recognises the limitation of poetry as he questions whether his
experience with the natural landscape is imagined or reality
 - Nevertheless, Keats reflects on the power of imagined landscapes being able to escape from
reality

Paragraph 3​: Individuals often set unrealistic expectations as a way of establishing a relationship with
imagined landscapes. However, the composers’ emphasis on the natural landscape, physical or
imagined, reflects the challenge in representing how relationships with the landscape can be
multi-layered
AOT:​ de Botton deliberates over the purpose of travelling since reality will undermine the anticipated
expectations in the new landscape
‘It was not that the paintings had lied, there had been some simplicity and joviality but these gems
were blended in a stew of ordinary images which these Dutch artists had never painted ’ (p. 16)
- De Botton expresses the danger of visiting new landscapes through Des Eissentes’ anticipation
of Holland as the physical landscape has the ability to contrast with the expectations set by the
imagined relationship between people and landscape
Intertextuality:​ Jacob van Ruisdael painting ‘​View of Alkmaar’
- This illustrates how art is used to stimulate a relationship with an imagined landscape
- However, art only represents the artist’s relationship with the land, resulting in varying
relationships with the individual and the artist
- Nevertheless, de Botton suggests that a relationship with the landscape through an artwork of
the landscape becomes the solution to preventing reality from undermining the imagined
landscape → the danger in relying on imagined landscape undermines the complex relationship
individuals experience with the landscape
‘Regular travel through nature was a necessary antidote to the evils of the city.’ (p. 139)
- Including Wordsworth’s philosophy on the importance of the natural landscape reinforces de
Botton’s idea on how experiences with the physical landscape allow individuals to experience
the transformative nature of the relationship with the landscape
- This is contrasted with Des Eisseintes’ conclusion that ​‘the imagination could provide a
more-than-adequate substitute for the vulgar reality of actual experience.’ (p. 27)
Listing:​ ​‘Natural scenes have the power to suggest certain values to us- oaks dignity, pines resolution,
lakes calm ’ (p. 148)
- Juxtaposes Des Eissentes’ attitude towards the physical landscape through Wordsworth’s
philosophy towards nature
- De Botton expresses the importance of the natural landscape through an individual’s ability to
form an intimate relationship with the land and the abstract ideas individuals are able to
experience through the physical landscape