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Ekphrastic verse

Genre
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

Poetry that vividly describes or responds to a work of visual art

Detailed Definition
Ekphrastic verse is poetry that describes, responds to, or reimagines a work of visual art—such as a painting, sculpture, photograph, or installation—translating visual experience into linguistic form. More than mere description, strong ekphrasis interprets the artwork’s emotional, historical, or philosophical dimensions, often giving voice to silent figures or critiquing the artist’s perspective. Canonical examples include Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts”; students should practice close “reading” of visual art and consider whose perspective the poem adopts—the viewer, the subject, the artist, or the object itself.
Example
Example in poetry:
Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” describing the frozen scenes on the urn; Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” reflecting on Bruegel’s “Icarus”; Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo” responding to a sculpture; William Carlos Williams’s “The Dance” inspired by Brueghel’s painting; Anne Sexton’s “The Starry Night” interpreting Van Gogh’s masterpiece
Additional Notes
Ekphrastic verse describes or responds to a work of visual art—painting, sculpture, photograph—translating visual experience into language. Beyond mere description, strong ekphrasis interprets, critiques, or imagines the artwork’s inner life (e.g., Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn”). Students should practice “reading” art closely and considering perspective: who speaks—the artist, subject, or viewer?
Also Known As
Art description Pictorial verse
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