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Ekphrastic sonnet

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A sonnet specifically devoted to describing, interpreting, or meditating on a painting, sculpture, or other artwork.

Detailed Definition
An Ekphrastic sonnet is a 14-line poem that describes, interprets, or dialogues with a specific work of visual art, using the sonnet’s formal constraints to focus and intensify the encounter; it often employs the volta to shift from description to meditation, as when a static image sparks reflection on time, beauty, or mortality.
Example
Example in poetry:
Sonnet describing art: Keats’s urn sonnet; Wordsworth’s “On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic”; Modern: Terrance Hayes’s sonnets on Basquiat; Example: “This canvas weeps cobalt tears”
Additional Notes
A 14-line poem responding to or describing visual artwork, combining sonnet structure with ekphrastic tradition. Contemporary hybrid form. Related to traditional ekphrasis but uses sonnet's argumentative development. Practice translating visual experience to verbal form.
Also Known As
Art-descriptive sonnet Visual fourteen-liner Gallery sonnet Picture sonnet Pictorial sonnet Ekphrastic fourteen-liner
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