Ekphrastic Poetry and the art of Description

Step 1: Journal For this journal, you need music. Put on a favorite song, close your eyes, and listen, focusing on the instruments, the rhythm, beat, the cadence. If there are vocals, describe the voice is it high and sweet? Low and husky? What sounds can you hear in the instrumentation? Whats the mood of the song? How does it progress (i.e., does it start out slow and speed up at the chorus? Does the intensity rise and fall like a roller coaster?). How do you feel as you listen to the song? Describe the song in as much detail as possible. Now, imagine you are trying to describe this song for someone who has never heard music before (theyve been living in a bomb shelter or they come from a music-less culture. Whatever.). Describe the song so you make this person hear this song through your writing. Step 2: Revisiting Description. Read the chapter What is Description? (pg. 4) and From eye to word (pg. 36). of the book Word Painting. hand-out. Choose one of the ways of naming techniques. Write a 300 word description of something you love in the style of one of those techniques. Step 3: What is Ekphrastic Writing? Ekphrasis: writing that comments upon another art form, for instance a poem about a photograph or a novel about a film. The term ekphrasis means writing inspired by art. Step 5: Reading examples. Go to the following website and read examples of ekphrastic poetry. Then, briefly discuss 2 of the examples with your facilitator. http://valerie6.myweb.uga.edu/ekphrasticpoetry.html Step 6 write your own ekphrastic poetry. You will submit 3 poems for this unit. Ms. Champine has more handouts.