Ekphrasis

Ekphrasis or ecphrasis (from the Greek έκ and φρασις) is a rhetorical device indicating the written description of a work of art, either real or imagined.^[1][2] In addition to its descriptive qualities, in classical antiquity, ekphrasis was also used to evoke strong emotional responses in the reader, by using enargeia, or vivid language, and evidentia, or evidence, to prompt images in the reader's mind's eye.^[3] Ekphrastic writing also has scholarly value, and has recently become a common method in art history scholarship.^[4]

An early example of ekphrasis is in Plato's Phaedrus, where Socrates is discussing writing and painting with Phaedrus, in a lovely spot by a plane tree outside the city. His speech, praising the tree and its location goes in great detail — describing the tree's size, the shade it gives, the blossoms, a nearby spring, etc., and is indeed considered over the top by Phaedrus.^[5] Later, he says, "You know, Phaedrus, that is the strange thing about writing, which makes it truly correspond to painting. The painter's products stand before us as though they were alive, but if you question them, they maintain a most majestic silence. It is the same with written words; they seem to talk to you as if they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say, from a desire to be instructed, they go on telling you just the same thing forever".^[6]

A commonly cited instance of ekphrasis comes from Homer's Iliad (Book 18), in which the speaker describes the Shield of Achilles.^[7] Later examples of ekphrastic poetry occur in Virgil's Aeneid, such as the description of the doors of the temple of Juno in Carthage^[8], and Catullus 64, which contains an extended ekphrastic passage on an imaginary coverlet depicting the story of Ariadne.

Ekphrastic poetry flourished in the West during the Romantic era, and again among the pre-Raphaelite poets. John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is another frequently cited example of ekphrasis. In the poem, the speaker muses on a piece of ancient pottery, likely an amphora, and the story depicted on it^[9]. Felicia Hemans made extensive use of ekphrasis,^[10] as did Letitia Elizabeth Landon, especially in her Poetical Sketches of Modern Pictures^[11]. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "double-works" exemplify the use of the genre by an artist mutually to enhance his visual and literary art. Rossetti also ekphrasized a number of paintings by other artists, generally from the Italian Renaissance, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks.^[12]

Other examples of the genre from the nineteenth century include Michael Field's 1892 volume Sight and Song, which contains only ekphrastic poetry^[13]; Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem "Before the Mirror", which ekphrasizes James Abbott McNeill Whistler's Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl, hinted at only by the poem's subtitle, "Verses Written under a Picture"^[14]; and Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess", which although a dramatic monologue, includes some description by the duke of the portrait before which he and the listener stand^[15].

Twentieth-century examples of ekphrasis include Rainer Maria Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo",^[16] and The Shield of Achilles (1952), a poem by W. H. Auden,^[7] which brings the tradition back to its start with an ironic retelling of the episode in Homer (see above), where Thetis finds very different scenes from those she expects^[17]. In contrast, Auden's earlier poem "Musée des Beaux Arts" describes a particular real and famous painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, thought until recently to be by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, and now believed to be "after" him, which is also described in the poem by William Carlos Williams "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"^[18]. Both the Russian poet Vyacheslav Ivanov^[19] and the American playwright Tennessee Williams^[20] wrote ekphrastic poems about the bronze statuette identified as Narcissus or Dionysus discovered at Pompeii.

The shield of Achilles is described by Homer in an example of ekphrastic poetry, used to depict events that have occurred in the past and events that will occur in the future. The shield contains images representative of the Cosmos and the inevitable fate of the city of Troy. The shield of Achilles features the following nine depictions:

1. The Earth, Sea, Sky, Moon and the Cosmos (484–89)
2. Two cities — one where a wedding and a trial are taking place, and one that is considered to be Troy, due to the battle occurring inside the city (509–40)
3. A field that is being ploughed (541–49)
4. The home of a King where the harvest is being reaped (550–60)
5. A vineyard that is being harvested (561–72)
6. A herd of cattle that is being attacked by two lions, while the Herdsman and his dogs try to scare the lions off the prize bull (573–86)
7. A sheep farm (587–89)
8. A scene with young men and women dancing (590–606)
9. The mighty Ocean as it encircles the shield (607–609)

Although not written as elaborately as previous examples of ekphrastic poetry, from lines 609–614 the belt of Herakles is described as having "marvelous works,"^[21] such as animals with piercing eyes and hogs in a grove of trees. It also contains multiple images of battles and occurrences of manslaughter. In the Odyssey, there is also a scene where Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, must prove to his wife, Penelope, that he has proof that Odysseus is still alive. She asks him about the clothes Odysseus was wearing during the time when the beggar claims he hosted Odysseus. Homer uses this opportunity to implement more ekphrastic imagery by describing the golden brooch of Odysseus, which depicts a hound strangling a fawn that it captured.^[21]

The Cloak of Jason is another example of ekphrastic poetry. In the Argonautica,^[22] Jason's cloak has seven events embroidered into it:

1. The forging of Zeus' thunderbolts by the Cyclops (730–734)
2. The building of Thebes by the sons of Antiope (735–741)
3. Aphrodite with the shield of Ares (742–745)
4. The battle between Teleboans and the Sons of Electryon (746–751)
5. Pelops winning Hippodameia (752–758)
6. Apollo punishing Tityos (759–762)
7. Phrixus and the Ram (763–765)

The description of the cloak provides many examples of ekphrasis, and not only is modeled on Homer's writing, but alludes to several occurrences in Homer's epics the Iliad and the Odyssey. Jason's cloak can be examined in many ways. The way the cloak's events are described is similar to the catalogue of Women that Odysseus encounters on his trip to the Underworld.^[23]

The cloak and its depicted events lend more to the story than a simple description; in true ekphrasis fashion it not only compares Jason to future heroes such as Achilles and Odysseus, but also provides a type of foreshadowing. Jason, by donning the cloak, can be seen as a figure who would rather resort to coercion, making him a parallel to Odysseus, who uses schemes and lies to complete his voyage back to Ithaca.^[24]

Jason also bears similarities to Achilles: by donning the cloak, Jason is represented as an Achillean heroic figure due to the comparisons made between his cloak and the shield of Achilles. He also takes up a spear given to him by Atalanta, not as an afterthought, but due to his heroic nature and the comparison between himself and Achilles.^[25]

While Jason only wears the cloak while going to meet with Hypsipyle, it foreshadows the changes that Jason will potentially undergo during his adventure. Through the telling of the scenes on the cloak, Apollonios relates the scenes on the cloak as virtues and morals that should be upheld by the Roman people, and that Jason should learn to live by. Such virtues include the piety represented by the Cyclops during the forging of Zeus' thunderbolts.^[26] This is also reminiscent of the scene in the Iliad when Thetis goes to see Hephaestus, and requisitions him to create a new set of armor for her son Achilles. Before he began creating the shield and armor, Hephaestus was forging 20 golden tripods for his own hall, and in the scene on Jason's cloak we see the Cyclops performing the last step of creating the thunderbolts for Zeus.^[27]

In Virgil's Aeneid, the mother of Aeneas convinces her husband to make a set of armor for her son.^[28] This scene is almost identical to the one in the Illiad where Thetis asks Hephaestus to create new weapons and armor for her son Achilles. The shield of Aeneas is described in book eight, from lines 629–719.^[29] The difference in the descriptions of the two shields are easily discernible; the shield of Achilles depicts many subjects, whereas the shield made for Aeneas depicts the future that Rome will have, containing propaganda in favor of the Emperor Augustus.^[28] Several key moments in Roman history are depicted on the shield:^[30]

1. Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf (lines 630–634)
2. The capture of the Sabine Women (lines 635–641)
3. The death of Mettius Fufetius (lines 642–645)
4. The Siege of Rome by Porsena (lines 646–654)
5. The Gauls' attack on Rome (lines 655–662)
6. The Battle of Actium (lines 671–713)
7. The Peaceful City, with Augustus Caesar standing triumphant in the center (lines 714–723)

There is speculation as to why Virgil depicted certain events, while completely avoiding others such as Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Virgil clearly outlined the shield chronologically, but scholars argue that the events on the shield are meant to reflect certain Roman values that would have been of high importance to the Roman people and to the Emperor.^[31] These values may include virtus, clementia, iustitia, and pietas, which were the values inscribed on a shield given to Augustus by the Senate.^[32] This instance of ekphrastic poetry may be Virgil's attempt to relate more of his work to Augustus.

Earlier in the epic, when Aeneas travels to Carthage, he sees the temple of the city, and on it are great works of art that are described by the poet using the ekphrastic style. Like the other occurrences of ekphrasis, these works of art describe multiple events. Out of these, there are eight images related to the Trojan War:^[29]

1. Depictions of Agamemnon and Menelaus, Priam and Achilles (459)
2. Greeks running from Trojan soldiers (468)
3. The sacking of the tents of Rhesus and the Thracians, and their deaths by Diomedes (468–472)
4. Troilus being thrown from his Chariot as he flees from Achilles (473–478)
5. The women of Troy in lamentation, praying to the gods to help them (479–482)
6. Achilles selling Hector's body (483–487)
7. Priam begging for the return of his son, with the Trojan commanders nearby (483–488)
8. Penthesilea the Amazon, and her fighters (489–493)

Another significant ekphrasis in the Aeneid appears on the baldric of Pallas (Aeneid X.495–505). The baldric is decorated with the murder of the sons of Aegyptus by their cousins, the Danaïds, a tale dramatized by Aeschylus. Pallas is killed by the warrior Turnus, who plunders and wears the baldric. At the climax of the poem, when Aeneas is on the point of sparing Turnus's life, the sight of the baldric changes the hero's mind. The significance of the ekphrasis is hotly debated.^[33]

There are several examples of ekphrasis in the Metamorphoses. In one of these, Phaeton journeys to the temple of the sun to meet his father Phoebus. When Phaeton gazes upon the temple of the sun, he sees the following carvings:^[34]

1. The seas that circle the Earth, the surrounding lands, and the sky (8–9)
2. The gods of the sea and the Nymphs (10–19)
3. Scenes of men, beasts, and local gods (20–21)
4. Twelve figures of the Zodiac, six on each side of the door to the temple (22–23)

As art history gained popularity as an academic subject in the 19th century, ekphrasis as formal analysis of objects was regarded as a vital component of the subject^[4]. Concurrently, art critics such as John Ruskin produced many ekphrastic descriptions of art with great literary as well as art historical merit^[35]. Today, ekphrasis is considered an important device in art history writing and methodology^[36]. Erwin Panofsky writes about the difficulty of describing a work of art and its sensory qualities in his well regarded essay "On the Relationship of Art History and Art Theory: Towards the Possibility of a Fundamental System of Concepts for a Science of Art."^[37] Art historian TJ Clark took a more experimental approach to ekphrasis in The Sight of Death: An Experiment in Art Writing (2008), using a diaristic style of writing to describe specific artworks^[38]. In media studies, too, WJT Mitchell, has theorized ekphrasis as a rhetorical and artistic tool used to reproduce social and political power dynamics^[39].

• Tennessee Williams reads aloud his ekphrastic poem (here called "A Fable") about a statuette of Dionysus in this recording of a 1982 presentation at the 92nd Street Y in New York City (poem begins at 00:04:51, with text in the transcript).
• Discussion of Form
• Essay on musical ekphrasis Archived 23 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College Ekphrastic Poetry Web Page
• Hephaestus Starts Achilles' Shield
• Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, Ashbery
• Ekphrastic poem by Jared Carter on the Lorado Taft sculpture, "The Solitude of the Soul."