Ekphrastic, the Poetic Art of Description
by Nancy Sackheim
What better time than April, National Poetry Month, to share my recent introduction to ekphrastic poetry, one of the 160+ poetic forms recognized today.
Here's what I've learned, along with some examples:
Ekphrastic originates from ekphrasis, the Greek expression for description.
The Poetry Foundation describes an ekphrastic poem as "a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the 'action' of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning." An ekphrastic poem should not only be descriptive of the artwork inspiring the poem, it should also reveal both the poet's intellectual and emotional response to the art.
Any poem about art, whether rhymed or unrhymed, metrical or free verse, may be considered ekphrastic. One of the most recognized examples of ekphrastic poetry is John Keats' “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Keats may not have been writing about a real urn, but one that existed in his imagination. Writing about an imagined work of art is called notional ekphrasis.
"Ozymandias," another example of a notional ekphrastic poem, was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1817, likely after learning that archaeologists had discovered the shattered remains of a statue of Ramesses II. While Shelley did not actually see the statue before writing what has become his most famous poem, the description of this ruined monument led Shelley to reflect on the insignificance of man to the passage of time.
Here are two examples you could say are doubly ekphrastic because the artist created a new visual work for the poem written about visual art and architecture. What the poet did here was not only create a poem about a work of art, but crafted another compelling piece of visual art in which to ensconce a portion of his ekphrastic poem, then utilized the back of the artwork to include the entire poem.
Steven Biondolillo’s response to the Steven Pressfield novel, Gates of Fire, captures Biondolillo’s perceived parallel between the World Trade Center attack and the Persian invasion of Greece at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. The artpiece, “480 B.C.” is created from that poem, the full text of which is displayed on the back of the artwork.
This doubly ekphrastic creative process is repeated by Biondolillo in his “30th Street Station,” which is derived from his poem inspired by the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, titled Angel of the Resurrection. This magnificent 28-foot bronze sculpture portrays Michael the Archangel lifting heavenward a dead soldier. “30th Street Station” is an homage both to the towering bronze statue of Michael, and Karl Bitter’s stunning 30-foot frieze The Spirit of Transportation, which depicts in breathtaking and exquisite detail travel from ancient to modern and even futuristic times.
The next time you are in Philadelphia, stop by 30th Street Station and spend some time with these two magnificent works of art. You could find yourself ekphrastically inspired!
