Ekphrasis

Ekphrasis is a literary description of a visual work of art, typically an extended, vivid, and often dramatic passage that aims to render the artwork in language and evoke its image in the reader’s mind. The term derives from the Greek ekphrasis, literally meaning a statement or explanation that goes out to express something external.

Etymology and scope: The word comes from ek (out) and phrasis (speech or expression). In classical usage it referred to descriptive passages that bring a visual object before the audience’s eyes, and the technique expanded to describe paintings, sculptures, and other works, as well as imagined or secular artifacts. In later periods ekphrasis became a flexible, self-conscious device in poetry and prose.

History and examples: Ekphrasis appears in ancient Greek literature in descriptive passages within epic and rhetoric, notably the Shield of Achilles described in the Iliad. In the modern era it evolved into a prominent form of poetic commentary on art. A well-known example is John Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn, which meditates on the urn’s imagery, beauty, and permanence. Other instances include poems that respond to paintings such as Pieter Bruegel or Vermeer, and poets who imitate or reimagine painting’s visual phenomena.

Functions and influence: Ekphrasis can serve as a bridge between senses, a critique or reflection on meaning, or a meditation on perception and memory. It may foreground the act of description itself, question the authority of the visual, or use the artwork as a prompt for the reader’s own imaginative interpretation. The form remains adaptable and has influenced literature, film, and other media.