"Description" means "description" in Greek. A vivid depiction of a situation or, more typically, a work of art is the subject of an ekphrastic poetry. The poet can augment and deepen the meaning of a painting or sculpture by imaginatively telling and reflecting on its "movement." As with any poetic form, this mode depends on strict rules that define how words are arranged on the page or screen to create a poem.
Ekphrasis is a difficult term to translate into English. It usually refers to the act of describing a visual image in detail using language. In classical Greek literature, it was often used as a synonym for imitative verse. Today it is used to describe the act of depicting something through descriptive writing.
The adjective ekphrastic describes something done in an ekphrastic manner. Thus, an ekphrastic poem is one that vividly describes a scene or object from nature or art.
Ekphrasis was popular among ancient poets, especially those who wanted to express their admiration for works of art. Some examples include: "I will sing of your beauty, most noble Alexander," (Lines 1-2), "Andros sings of the hunt upon the plain," (Line 3). Here we have three ekphrastic poems written about three different artists.
Ekphrastic. An ekphrastic poem is one that investigates art. Within their writing, the poet incorporates any form of visual art. Although ekphrastic poems are typically linked with painting, drawing, sculpture, and other forms of art, they can also be poetry about music for dances. The term comes from the Greek eikon + skopein, meaning "to gaze at." Ekphrastic poets often use words or phrases found in the artwork they write about.
Poetry about art is a common theme in many languages around the world. Many languages have terms to describe this type of poetry such as in English where we have ekphrastic poems, art poetics, art lyric, and even aesthetician. In French, we have ekphrasis (ek-fa-sis) and in Spanish we have ekfasis (eg-fa-sis).
In addition to using actual words or phrases from the artwork, ekphrastic poets will sometimes create original ones. This is especially common when discussing modern artists since many new words need to be coined to accurately describe their work. For example, if an artist creates paintings that contain references to other works of art within the gallery they're being shown in, an ekphrastic poet would have to come up with new words to accurately represent these relationships.
The term ekphrasis, or ecphrasis, is derived from Greek and refers to the description of a piece of art created as a rhetorical exercise; it is frequently used in the adjectival form ekphrastic. It is a verbal description of a visual work of art, either actual or imagined, that is vivid and frequently dramatic. The description may be written or spoken and can be done by anyone who has seen the artwork. Ekphrastic poetry is often very poetic.
Ekphrastic painting is a genre of artistic creation in which an artist describes a scene from nature or history and then paints it accordingly. The term was first used by the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne in 1580 to describe his own writing practice, but it is now commonly applied to other artists' works as well.
Ekphrastic poems are also called "pictures" because they use words to describe scenes that could be painted on a canvas. These poems can tell us about people, places, events, and ideas through images rather than only with text. They can be about anything that happens in life that an artist might want to show us including natural wonders, historical figures, and even dreams.
Poets have been describing scenes for centuries using all kinds of tools such as poetry, music, and paintings. In the early 21st century, computer technology has made it possible for artists to combine these different methods into one work of art called an electronic poem.
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