What in the world is Ekphrasis???

What inspires you? Have you ever been so inspired by a work of art, be it a painting or a photograph, that you just had to write about it? Well, essentially, that is what is meant by Ekphrasis.

 According to Wikipedia, "Ekphrasis or ecphrasis is the graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art. In ancient times it referred to a description of any thing, person, or experience. The word comes from the Greek ek and phrasis, 'out' and 'speak' respectively, verb ekphrazein, to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name...Ekphrasis has been considered generally to be a rhetorical device in which one medium of art tries to relate to another medium by defining and describing its essence and form, and in doing so, relate more directly to the audience, through its illuminative liveliness. A descriptive work of prose or poetry, a film, or even a photograph may thus highlight through its rhetorical vividness what is happening, or what is shown in, say, any of the visual arts, and in doing so, may enhance the original art and so take on a life of its own through its brilliant description."

To prepare for your next assignment, visit the website at the link below.  Take a look at some of the poems that have been written about various works of art. Choose a few, look at the works of art and read the poems. Do the poems make more sense after viewing the image??

http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/titlepage.html

For a look at the different forms of poetry, some of which are described on your handout, click the link below, find the style of poem you would like to look at, then click on that style for samples.
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/197

Let's get inspired!!
As a prewrite for our next assignment, it is important to get in touch with our "artistic self." What do I mean by that?
Browse the following web-site :

http://www.metmuseum.org/

Type in anything you like in the search bar: paintings, photographs, prints, etc.

Choose ONLY ONE...this will take you a while to decide!

Then, work on the  pre-writing handout you received in class.

HAVE FUN!