Description:
This course is about the way in which poets can approach an existing piece of visual art and through poetry bring something new to it that adds value to the readers experience of both the artwork and the poem. This process is today called ekphrastic writing, although the original meaning refers to a detailed description in literature of a work of visual art.
There is a long history of poets being inspired by a piece of art and turning out wonderful poems in response to it. But this has to go beyond a description of the artwork and bring something more to it. After all it has to be remembered that the reader of a poem today can Google the artwork and take a look at it themselves, and if your poem sparks an interest then they are very likely to do that, so a description is not enough, your poem has to bring something else to the table.
Leader: Samary
Moderator(s):
Objectives:
To write Ekphrastic poetry to a given work of art
To comment on each persons poem
To consider different approaches to Ekphrastic Art
Level of expertise: Open to all
Subject matter: Art.
Hello Samary
Sounds interesting... Please count me in dear
Rula I dont know if this shop
Rula I dont know if this shop can go ahead yet .Will let you know.
Hi Samary
I have a collection of ekphrastic poems "Poems hanging on the wall" which I am trying to publish with 35 poems. The idea for me is having the poem on the left side of this book and the poem on the right, so they become connected and interdependent. This was the biggest challenge. Most ekphrastics don't necessarily need the painting on hand, the poem works on it's own, as if the work of art was a prompt, like any other landscape. So that will be the difficulty in this workshop, as we can't show the art, only send the reader to a link...but if the work is not online, perhaps something you own, it becomes even harder.
Other wise there is the difficult choices of stance in the poems- do you speak in third person, address the painting directly, pick up the style of the art in the writing (like a 19th century landscape uses 19th century prosody). There's a lot to it, but always rewarding.
Another interesting workshop I do is find one painting and have everyone write a poem based on it, and compare. It keeps the workshop focused and everyone enjoys reading the other poets take on the same painting...
I'll be part of how you organize it, and contribute a poem and comments.
Eumolpus
Your book sounds intriguing but am a little confused have you written poems inspired by other poems? And if so will you be able to print the originals.
Re what voice one uses, these poems are about adding something to the art work rather than just describing them I think... in these days of google people can google so its about creating a link another dimension to spark the readers interest. So the poem can take myriad forms and voices and thats what I love when people write on the same piece, those totally different perspectives.
so sorry for dylesxia
yes the older you get, the more it happens! I meant to say PAINTING on the left, Poem on the right. Now that makes more sense I'm sure in my post, and I again apologize for the confusion...
None of the poems are more than a page, so the book is consistent. I am doing a major reading of the book with a large screen in Bethesda, MD, in May.
The idea of ekphrastic goes back to Greece, but obviously the Japanese made it into high art with Haiku accompanying scroll paintings.
so how might you want to run it? My suggestion of everyone choosing from a few different paintings of your choice might be interesting, as we could see multiple poems in reaction to a work of art...just a thought.
I'll join in as you decide the way you ant it done. sorry again for my not seeing my error.!
..
Workshop
Hi all this was supposed to be a proposal to run this workshop which I discover isnt the place to put it and it has generated a workshop prematurely... Big boo boo! Apologies. This may or may not go ahead..
Why not Samar
We can always link to the portrait required.
I posted my suggestion in the
I posted my suggestion in the wrong place and havent had permission from the board to run it.
This is
An example of an earlier poem by me
This is
An example of an earlier poem by me
Followed by the link for the portrait
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/poems/portrait-july-contest