Ekphrasis is a word that comes from the Greek that literally means “to describe an object”. It is a term often used to describe any writing about the visual arts, whether in the form of prose or poetry. It is commonly associated specifically with poetry, however, and some very famous poems are of this type – John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, Elizabeth Bishop’s “Large Bad Picture” and John Ashbery’s “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” are all notable examples. The ekphrastic poem often includes a sort of commentary or analysis of the visual art object, which can then be used by the poet to create new imagery or meaning (if s/he wants). What I’m wondering is, can writing poetry about movies be considered alongside these more traditional forms of ekphrasis, or is it a fundamentally different game? Since movies (usually) include various forms of music, characters, plots (and so on), it seems likely. And yet, the main element of almost all film is ultimately visual. Alternatively, what about writing an ekphrastic poem from a still shot (from a movie)?
I’ve included a link to a blog that I really enjoy. It’s dedicated to ekphrastic poems written on images found online.
http://thestorialist.blogspot.com/
I think you make a good point. The beauty of poetry is that it allows you to express yourself however you like. In this day and age I think you can objectify anything so why not movies or emotions? The link you posted answers your question, it may be hard to make a still image into an object at first, but I suppose it is just a different way of looking at the overall image.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a good point. The beauty of poetry is that it allows you to express yourself however you like. In this day and age I think you can objectify anything so why not movies or emotions? The link you posted answers your question, it may be hard to make a still image into an object at first, but I suppose it is just a different way of looking at the overall image.
ReplyDeleteDifferent game or not, I'm confident nearly any from of artistic expression can be twisted a form of ekphrasis. "Ekphrasisism"? - is probably what I experience most when exploring expression. I spell check myself by picturing the word in my head and analyzing whether or not it "looks right".
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