Submitted by Prairie Schooner on Fri, 01/16/2015 - 15:06
Ekphrasis comes from the Greek, meaning “to speak out,” referring to poetry written in response to a work of art, typically painting. Poet Brandon Som suggests, in Air Schooner Episode 20, that ekphrastic poetry comes from the impulse to tell a piece of art about itself. Som also reads his poem “The Tribute Horse,” which was inspired by the painting “Finches and Bamboo.” On the other hand, as Scott Winter explains, “Perhaps wanting to speak to the art is really seeing the self somewhere in the art.” So ekphrasis might also refer to art that uses another piece as a starting point and refracts it somehow, developing it into a distinct work. I’m not talking about those books that, say, retell Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view, or pick up the story after the original novel ends—much less Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.