1. Is Albert Bierstadt listed in your collegiate dictionary?

2. Does the size of the painting parallel or contrast with the subject matter? (What size is the original painting, exactly?) How so?

3. (A) What details, exactly, contribute to R&J's accurate assessment of the sky as "troubled"? (B) What contrasting features does the sky contain within itself, and what ideas might be conveyed by this contrast?

4. (A) How do the size and proportion in the painting of the sky and mountains compare to the size and proportion of the animals portrayed in the center foreground? What ideas or themes might be suggested by this? (B) How is the principle of parallel and contrast to be found within the animals portrayed in the center foreground? (C) How do the size and proportion in the painting of the trees in the right half of the painting compare to the size and proportion of the animals portrayed in the center foreground? What ideas or themes might be suggested by this? (D) What idea or ideas might be suggested by 3A and 3C, in combination?

5. (A) What themes, ideas, or tone might be conveyed by the lake, given what it is doing? (B) How does the peninsula of trees in the middle distance on the left side of the painting echo any themes or ideas conveyed by the lake?

6. (A) What themes, ideas, or tone might be conveyed by the colors used in the painting? (B) How are light and shadow used expressively, thematically, or tonally in the painting?

7. How do the components on the left side, middle, and right side of the painting create an effect of balance? (The overall structure or organization of a painting is summed up in the technical term "composition.") What themes, ideas, or tone might this balance help convey?