Unit 6 Poetry type, format, history, examples The Sonnet Two Major Types Petrarchan Shakespearian Two Major Types Petrarchan Shakespearian The Sonnet Terms to know • • • • • • Meter – measuring device Syllable – a unit of sound made in speech Lines Stanzas Rhyme Scheme – The Pattern Pentameter- This refers to the need to repeat the iamb five times (pentameter). Example: Today I know I’ll find my other shoe The man I love is quite illiterate • Quatrain-Four lines of a stanza or poem. Sestet: Six lines of a stanza or poem. Octave: Eight lines of a stanza or poem. Rhyming couplet: Two consecutive lines that must rhyme. “Turn” - Reemphasizes Or Redirects The Argument • Argument – The Message Of The Poem Petrarchan Sonnets: Format: - 14 lines – Two Quatrains – Concluding Sestet Rhyme Scheme: Quatrains: octave pattern of abbaabba Sestet: cdcdcd, cdecde, cdeed, cddece or cdcdee The Sonnet Shakespearian Sonnets: Format: - 14 lines – Three Quatrains – Couplet Rhyme Scheme: Quatrains: abab, cdcd, and efef Couplet: gg The Sonnet Example of a Petrarchan sonnet: William Wordsworth's "London, 1802" Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: - A England hath need of thee: she is a fen - B Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, - B Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, - A Have forfeited their ancient English dower - A Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; - B Oh! raise us up, return to us again; - B And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. - A Octave - Introduces the theme or problem Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; - C Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: - D Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, - D So didst thou travel on life's common way , - E In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart - C The lowliest duties on herself did lay. - E Sestet - Solves the problem XCVIII. From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud pied April, dressed in all his trim, Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing, That heavy Saturn laughed and leapt with him. Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell Of different flowers in odour and in hue, Could make me any summer's story tell, Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew: Nor did I wonder at the lily's white, Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose; They were but sweet, but figures of delight, Drawn after you, you pattern of all those. Yet seemed it winter still, and you away, As with your shadow I with these did play. A B A B C D C D E F E F G G Modern Poets Bend the Forms. . . What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why (Sonnet XLIII) by Edna St. Vincent Millay What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply, And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry. Thus in winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before: I cannot say what loves have come and gone, I only know that summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more. The Haw Lantern by Seamus Heaney The wintry haw is burning out of season, crab of the thorn, a small light for small people, wanting no more from them but that they keep the wick of self-respect from dying out, not having to blind them with illumination. But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes with his lantern, seeking one just man; so you end up scrutinized from behind the haw he holds up at eye-level on its twig, and you flinch before its bonded pith and stone, its blood-prick that you wish would test and clear you, its pecked-at ripeness that scans you, then moves on. Assignment : Write a sonnet . Here are the rules: • • • • • • • • • • It must consist of 14 lines. It must be written in iambic pentameter (duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH). It must be written in one of various standard rhyme schemes. If you're writing the most familiar kind of sonnet, the Shakespearean, the rhyme scheme is this: A B A B C D C D E F E F G G Every A rhymes with every A, every B rhymes with every B, and so forth. You'll notice this type of sonnet consists of three quatrains (that is, four consecutive lines of verse that make up a stanza or division of lines in a poem) and one couplet (two consecutive rhyming lines of verse). Create an argument – problem – solution Review your poem and fix any errors. Type Edit Place in your portfolio The Acrostic The Acrostic • Definition: An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. • A memory device • A type of verbal play • Constrained writing • The acrostic has been a popular form of entertainment for over 2,500 years. The Acrostic : Format: - any number of lines and stanzas – Initial letters (and sometimes final letters, syllables or whole words) are used to spell out a word or words or phrases. Rhyme Scheme: Any rhyme or no rhyme • According to nineteenth century literary historian Charles Vaughan Grinfield, the form originated in ancient times and functioned to “impress the memory, by means of alphabetic associations with the truths or facts contained in the verses” (iv). Grinfield, Charles Vaughan. A Century of Acrostics. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1855. History of the term: French acrostiche post-classical Latin acrostichis Koine Greek ἀκροστιχίς Ancient Greek ἄκρος "highest, topmost" and "veστίχοςrse“ - A famous acrostic was made in Greek for the acclamation JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, SAVIOUR -(Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός, Θεού Υιός, Σωτήρ; Iesous CHristos, THeou Yios, Soter — ch and th being each one letter in Greek). -The initials spell ICHTHYS (ΙΧΘΥΣ), Greek for fish. An Acrostic by Edgar Allan Poe Elizabeth it is in vain you say "Love not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way: In vain those words from thee or L.E.L. Zantippe's talents had enforced so well: Ah! if that language from thy heart arise, Breath it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes. Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried To cure his love — was cured of all beside — His follie — pride — and passion — for he died. Contained in A Calendar Acrostic is another example where the initial letters spell out the months of the year: • JANet was quite ill one day. FEBrile trouble came her way. MARtyr-like, she lay in bed; APRoned nurses softly sped. MAYbe, said the leech judicial JUNket would be beneficial. JULeps, too, though freely tried, AUGured ill, for Janet died. SEPulchre was sadly made. OCTaves pealed and prayers were said. NOVices with ma'y a tear DECorated Janet's bier. “No Sun Shines Today” No sun shines today; it is the blazing eye of Unholy design that scorches the earth at our feet. Chasing the devil’s tail, were we, when we Let this monstrosity come to be. Nevertheless, to Err is to be human, but to impose is to be more human, And we know that well, for upon that one thought Rests the fabric of all our decisions and practices. War is when a gleaming death parcel whistling above Explains the irony that a grain of life should become A particle of death; the irony that our white-coat Patriot saints should become white-faced in horror On hearing the chorus of shrill cries at ground zero. Nevertheless, to impose is to be human, but to Subdue is to be most human, for that is our nature. And where is the sport of it, when there are no Remaining souls to subdue, values to impose, or Errors to make in the dead vacuum of time and space? The hubris of man is attained, realized in an Earth-quaking spectacle, a torrent of fiery despair Rippling across the dirt. A particle perched in the air Reduced by half announces its explosive preamble Over valleys and cities, and the carrion are left to Rot as vermin in the hanging malaria of fallout. Its high-yield payload broke records today— So, what? We’re not any more dead, or less. Memento mori is the lecture, but who will listen? By Ryan Stroud, by Paul Hansford • Set among hills in the midst of five valleyS, This peaceful little market town we inhabiT Refuses (vociferously!) to be a conformeR. Once home of the cloth it gave its name tO, Uphill and down again its streets lead yoU. Despite its faults it leaves us all charmeD. Note: An example of a double acrostic. Hockey • Hockey is my favorite sport On the ice or street Cool and fun Keep on playing Exercise and stronger You should try Assignment : Write an Acrostic. • • • • • • • • • Review examples of the form. Brainstorm a topic, and choose a title. Write the word of your title vertically on the page. Add the lines of your poem to the acrostic. Your lines will begin with the corresponding letter of that particular line. Each line has to relate with each other line, and the acrostic letters must also relate to each other. Review your poem and fix any errors. Type Edit Place in your portfolio The Ode • The ode is a dynamic art form which in the beginning in ceremonial terms, praised heroic deeds and later, during the Romantic period, in less ceremonial forms, celebrated life. • The ode “elevated the person, the object, to occasion” (Strand and Boland 240). • Began with the Greek chorus accompanied by music. • "Ode" comes from the Greek aeidein, meaning to sing or chant, and belongs to the long and varied tradition of lyric poetry. Originally accompanied by music and dance, and later reserved by the Romantic poets to convey their strongest sentiments, the ode can be generalized as a formal address to an event, a person, or a thing not present. • Ode The ode is an elaborately structured lyrical poem praising and glorifying an individual, commemorating an event, or describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally. Odes originally were songs performed with a music. Here are a couple of examples of Odes Classic Odes Among the ancient Greeks, odes fell into two categories: choral odes • choral ode, patterned after the movements of the chorus in Greek drama, has a threepart stanza structure: – the strophe, – the antistrophe, – and the epode. • This structure marks a turn from one intellectual position to another and then a description of the entire ode subject. The strophe and antistrophe have the same metrical scheme; the epode has a different structure. Pindar is considered the greatest lyric poet of Greece and the best-known writer of choral odes; portions of his work include 45 victory odes commemorating the ancient Olympic Games. those to be sung by one person Bread, you rise from flour, water and fire. Dense or light, flattened or round, you duplicate the mother's rounded womb, and earth's twice-yearly swelling. How simple you are, bread, and how profound! You line up on the baker's powdered trays like silverware or plates or pieces of paper and suddenly ... Ode to Bread Pablo Neurda Assignment : Write an Ode. • Review examples of the form. • Brainstorm a topic, and choose a title. (An ode poem is a poem that is about only one specific thing that you think is truly amazing and praiseworthy. This type of poem can be centered upon an object, an idea, or even a person.) • Write your ode in any form • Review your poem and fix any errors. • Type • Edit • Place in your portfolio The Riddle Poem • What Is A Riddle? • A riddle is a statement or a question with a hidden meaning that forms a puzzle to be solved. • A “riddle rhyme” is a riddle that is written in the form of a poem. • Riddles are often set out in short verse, and have been found across the world throughout history; in Old English poetry, Norse mythology, Ancient Greek literature, and the Old Testament of the Bible! Riddles are of two types: • enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution. • conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer. One of the most famous examples is the riddle of the Sphinx (a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human being). According to the story, if you could answer the riddle you were free to pass, but if you failed, the monster would eat you! Can you solve it? What goes on four legs in the morning, On two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening? The answer is A Human – who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and uses a stick to support them when they’re old! The ‘morning’, ‘noon’ and ‘evening’ are metaphors for these times in a man’s life • Riddles occur extensively in Old English poetry, drawing partly on an Anglo-Latin literary tradition whose principal exponent was Aldhelm (c. 639-709), himself inspired by the fourth- or fifth-century Latin poet Symphosius He has no feet, yet travels far; literate, but no scholar he; no mouth, yet he clearly speaks. If you know him, you are wise. Subhasitaratnabhandagara (Sanskrit riddle poem) Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail, never clinking. -J.R.R. Tolkien Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters. -J.R.R. Tolkien At the back of every Igloo, And the middle of the Moon, Always running around in Loops you’ll find me, If you look inside the Room. What am I? We are little airy Creatures, All of diff’rent Voice and Features, One of us in Glass is set, One of us you’ll find in Jet, T’other you may see in Tin, And the fourth a Box within, If the fifth you should pursue It can never fly from you. -Jonathan Swift There is one that has a head without an eye, And there’s one that has an eye without a head. You may find the answer if you try; And when all is said, Half the answer hangs upon a thread. -Christina Rossetti The beginning of eternity, The end of time and space, The beginning of every end, And the end of every place. The Guess Book (c. 1820) I have streets but no pavement, I have cities but no buildings, I have forests but no trees, I have rivers yet no water. What am I? He has no feet, yet travels far; literate, but no scholar he; no mouth, yet he clearly speaks. If you know him, you are wise. Subhasitaratnabhandagara (Sanskrit riddle poem) A letter Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail, never clinking. -J.R.R. Tolkien Fish Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters. -J.R.R. Tolkien Wind At the back of every Igloo, And the middle of the Moon, Always running around in Loops you’ll find me, If you look inside the Room. What am I? oo We are little airy Creatures, All of diff’rent Voice and Features, One of us in Glass is set, One of us you’ll find in Jet, T’other you may see in Tin, And the fourth a Box within, If the fifth you should pursue It can never fly from you. -Jonathan Swift Vowels There is one that has a head without an eye, And there’s one that has an eye without a head. You may find the answer if you try; And when all is said, Half the answer hangs upon a thread. -Christina Rossetti Pins and needles The beginning of eternity, The end of time and space, The beginning of every end, And the end of every place. The Guess Book (c. 1820) The letter e I have streets but no pavement, I have cities but no buildings, I have forests but no trees, I have rivers yet no water. What am I? A Map Assignment : Write a Riddle Poem . Review examples of the form. start with the answer-choose something to write about (objects or animals are good for beginners). think of the clues that will lead someone to guess it. Imagine you are that thing, and describe yourself – creatively You can use sentences such as: I look like… I sound like… You find me… I have… I am… I feel… The Rules Don’t give away the answer by using the exact word in your riddle. Try not to use more than 5 or 6 lines, because a riddle should be easy to remember. It doesn’t have to rhyme, but it can if you like. Finish with the line ‘What am I?’ Review your poem and fix any errors. Type Edit Place in your portfolio Villanelle • The villanelle is a poem of nineteen lines and six stanzas. – The first five stanzas are made of three lines and carry a rhyme scheme of aba, – and the last stanza is made of four lines and carries a rhyme scheme of abaa. • The poem has two refrains. – The first line of the first stanza repeats as the last line of stanzas two and four and line three of stanza six. – The third line of the first stanza repeats as the last lines of stanzas three and five and the last line in stanza six. Villanelle: Format: - 19 lines - 6 Stanzas - 5 triplets - 1 quatrain – 2 refrains Rhyme Scheme: 5 triplets : octave pattern of aba quatrain: abaa • The form started as a simple ballad-like song with no fixed form; this fixed quality would only come much later, from the poem "Villanelle (J'ay perdu ma Tourterelle)" (1606) by Jean Passerat. • This form has become increasingly popular among poets writing in English. An excellent example of the form is Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night": Do not go gentle into that good night": Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. • Contemporary poets have not limited themselves to the pastoral themes originally expressed by the free-form villanelles of the Renaissance, and have loosened the fixed form to allow variations on the refrains. Elizabeth Bishop’s "One Art" is another wellknown example; other poets who have penned villanelles include W. H. Auden, Oscar Wilde, Seamus Heaney, David Shapiro, and Sylvia Plath. I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. A I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. B I learn by going where I have to go. A We think by feeling. What is there to know? A I hear my being dance from ear to ear. B I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. A Of those so close beside me, which are you? C God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there, D And learn by going where I have to go. A Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how? E The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair; D I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. A Great Nature has another thing to do C To you and me; so take the lively air, D And, lovely, learn by going where to go. A This shaking keeps me steady. I should know. A What falls away is always. And is near. B I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. A I learn by going where I have to go. A The Waking By Theodore Roethke 1908–1963 Drip- drip-splash, blue puddles - Spring. Mix and mash and plant the seeds Sugar snaps, carrots, lettuce greens. Blue birds posting and crows convene I dance ‘round and weed the weeds. Drip- drip-splash, blue puddles - Spring. Bending low a mushroom ring Magic grow and perlite beads Sugar snaps, carrots, lettuce greens. Weatherman watch the wren do sing Of retreating winter a-rattling Drip- drip-splash, blue puddles - Spring. One, four, nine, sixteen Drip drip drops a-pattering Sugar snaps, carrots, lettuce greens. Rising sunshine all aglow Here and now is all I know Drip- drip-splash, blue puddles - Spring. Sugar snaps, carrots, lettuce greens. Spring Garden By Amy Craig Beasley © 2013 Assignment : Write a Villanelle. Review examples of the form. The Rules Review your poem and fix any errors. Type Edit Place in your portfolio The Elegy • The elegy began as an ancient Greek metrical form and is traditionally written in response to the death of a person or group. • The elements of a traditional elegy mirror three stages of loss. – First, there is a lament, where the speaker expresses grief and sorrow, – then praise and admiration of the idealized dead, – and finally consolation and solace. • These three stages can be seen in W. H. Auden’s classic "In Memory of W. B. Yeats," • Many modern elegies have been written not out of a sense of personal grief, but rather a broad feeling of loss and metaphysical sadness. A famous example is the mournful series of ten poems in Duino Elegies, by German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The first poem begins: • If I cried out who would hear me up there among the angelic orders? And suppose one suddenly took me to his heart I would shrivel Other works that can be considered elegiac in the broader sense are James Merrill’s monumental The Changing Light at Sandover, Robert Lowell’s "For the Union Dead," Seamus Heaney’s The Haw Lantern, and the work of Czeslaw Milosz, which often laments the modern cruelties he witnessed in Europe. • Many modern elegies have been written not out of a sense of personal grief, but rather a broad feeling of loss and metaphysical sadness. A famous example is the mournful series of ten poems in Duino Elegies, by German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The first poem begins: • If I cried out who would hear me up there among the angelic orders? And suppose one suddenly took me to his heart I would shrivel This is what our dying looks like. You believe in the sun. I believe I can’t love you. Always be closing, Said our favorite professor before He let the gun go off in his mouth. I turned 29 the way any man turns In his sleep, unaware of the earth Moving beneath him, its plates in Their places, a dated disagreement. Let’s fight it out, baby. You have Only so long left—a man turning In his sleep—so I take a picture. I won’t look at it, of course. It’s His bad side, his Mr. Hyde, the hole In a husband’s head, the O Of his wife’s mouth. Every night, I take a pill. Miss one, and I’m gone. Miss two, and we’re through. Hotels Bore me, unless I get a mountain view, A room in which my cell won’t work, And there’s nothing to do but see The sun go down into the ground That cradles us as any coffin can. Another Elegy by Jericho Brown • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cESxOdu xOQ4 Assignment : Write an Elegy. Review examples of the form. Review your poem and fix any errors. Type Edit Place in your portfolio The Pantoum • The pantoum originated in Malaysia in the fifteenth-century as a short folk poem, typically made up of two rhyming couplets that were recited or sung. • As the pantoum spread, and Western writers altered and adapted the form, the importance of rhyming and brevity diminished. • The modern pantoum is a poem of any length, composed of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. • The last line of a pantoum is often the same as the first. • The pantoum was especially popular with French and British writers in the nineteenthcentury, including Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo, who is credited with introducing the form to European writers. How to Write a Pantoum Stanza 1: Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 Stanza 2: Line 5 (repeat of line 2 in stanza 1) Line 6 (new line) Line 7 (repeat of line 4 in stanza 1) Line 8 (new line) Stanza 3/Last Stanza (This is the format for the last stanza regardless of how many preceding stanzas exist): Line 9 (line 2 of the previous stanza) Line 10 (line 3 of the first stanza) Line 11 (line 4 of the previous stanza) Line 12 (line 1 of the first stanza) • One exciting aspect of the pantoum is its subtle shifts in meaning that can occur as repeated phrases are revised with different punctuation and thereby given a new context. • Consider Ashbery's poem "Pantoum," and how changing the punctuation in one line can radically alter its meaning and tone: "Why the court, trapped in a silver storm, is dying." which, when repeated, becomes, "Why, the court, trapped in a silver storm, is dying!" • Mark Strand and Eavan Boland explain in The Making of a Poem, "the reader takes four steps forward, then two back," making the pantoum a "perfect form for the evocation of a past time." It's All In The Canvas By Terrie Relf Naked in front of a full-length mirror, you roll and press those folds of flesh, think about Rubens' women, and how the critics call them art. You roll and press those folds of flesh, relishing yet another mocha. How the critics call them art, inspires a new perspective. Relishing yet another mocha, think about Rubens' women; inspire a new perspective naked in front of a full-length mirror. Notice the slight differences in the repetitions • four-line stanzas (Quatrains) • the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. • The last line of a pantoum is the same as the first. How To Write A Pantoum • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDmWLtl 7WYY • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz795gKRsY Examples • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVNTJp2X6g • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv_U2ybR VpY Parent’s Pantoum Carolyn Kizer, 1925 Where did these enormous children come from, More ladylike than we have ever been? Some of ours look older than we feel. How did they appear in their long dresses More ladylike than we have ever been? But they moan about their aging more than we do, In their fragile heels and long black dresses. They say they admire our youthful spontaneity. They moan about their aging more than we do, A somber group--why don't they brighten up? Though they say they admire our youthful spontaneity They beg us to be dignified like them • A good example of the pantoum is Carolyn Kizer’s "Parent's Pantoum," the first three stanzas of which are excerpted here: Quiz • • • • • How many lines? How many stanzas? How are the stanzas structured? What is the rhyme scheme? What lines repeat? • What is the mood of this poem? • How would you describe it? Pantoum Format: - 12 or more lines - 3 or more stanzas - All quatrains – regular repetitions Rhyme Scheme: varies Assignment : Write a Pantoum . Review examples of the form. Review your poem and fix any errors. Type Edit Place in your portfolio The Ekphrasis • Ekphrasis or ecphrasis, from the Greek description of a work of art, possibly imaginary, produced as a rhetorical exercise,[1] and is a graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art. In ancient times, it referred to a description of any thing, person, or experience. The word comes from the Greek ek and phrasis, 'out' and 'speak' respectively, verb ekphrazein, to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name. • • Ekphrasis has been considered generally to be a rhetorical device in which one medium of art tries to relate to another medium by defining and describing its essence and form, and in doing so, relate more directly to the audience, through its illuminative liveliness. A descriptive work of prose or poetry, a film, or even a photograph may thus highlight through its rhetorical vividness what is happening, or what is shown in, say, any of the visual arts, and in doing so, may enhance the original art and so take on a life of its own through its brilliant description. One example is a painting of a sculpture: the painting is "telling the story of" the sculpture, and so becoming a storyteller, as well as a story (work of art) itself. Virtually any type of artistic medium may be the actor of, or subject of ekphrasis. One may not always be able, for example, to make an accurate sculpture of a book to retell the story in an authentic way; yet if it's the spirit of the book that we are more concerned about, it certainly can be conveyed by virtually any medium and thereby enhance the artistic impact of the original book through synergy. In this way, a painting may represent a sculpture, and vice versa; a poem portray a picture; a sculpture depict a heroine of a novel; in fact, given the right circumstances, any art may describe any other art, especially if a rhetorical element, standing for the sentiments of the artist when she/he created her/his work, is present. For instance, the distorted faces in a crowd in a painting depicting an original work of art, a sullen countenance on the face of a sculpture representing a historical figure, or a film showing particularly dark aspects of neo-Gothic architecture, are all examples of ekphrasis. • • • • • • • • • • • • • Plato's Forms, the beginning of ekphrasis Plato discusses forms in the Republic, Book X, by using real things, such as a bed, for example, and calls each way a bed has been made, a "bedness". He commences with the original form of a bed, one of a variety of ways a bed may have been constructed by a craftsman and compares that form with an ideal form of a bed, of a perfect archetype or image in the form of which beds ought to be made, in short the epitome of bedness. In his analogy, one bedness form shares its own bedness - with all its shortcomings - with that of the ideal form, or template. A third bedness, too, may share the ideal form. He continues with the fourth form also containing elements of the ideal template/archetype which in this way remains an ever-present and invisible ideal version with which the craftsman compares his work. As bedness after bedness shares the ideal form and template of all creation of beds, and each bedness is associated with another ad infinitum, it is called an "infinite regress of forms". From form to ekphrasis It was this epitome, this template of the ideal form, that a craftsman or later an artist would try to reconstruct in his attempt to achieve perfection in his work, that was to manifest itself in ekphrasis at a later stage. Artists began to use their own literary and artistic genre of art to work and reflect on another art to illuminate what the eye might not see in the original, to elevate it and possibly even surpass it. Plato and Aristotle For Plato (and Aristotle), it is not so much the form of each bed but the mimetic stages or removes at which beds may be viewed, that defines bedness [1]: a bed as a physical entity is a mere form of bed any view from whichever perspective, be it a side elevation, a full panoramic view from above, or looking at a bed end-on is at a second remove a full picture, characterising the whole bed is at a third remove ekphrasis of a bed in another art form is at a fourth remove Socrates and Phaedrus In another instance, Socrates talks about ekphrasis to Phaedrus thus: "You know, Phaedrus, that is the strange thing about writing, which makes it truly correspond to painting. The painter's products stand before us as though they were alive, but if you question them, they maintain a most majestic silence. It is the same with written words; they seem to talk to you as if they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say, from a desire to be instructed, they go on telling you just the same thing forever".[2] Okinami – mighty in the open ocean off Kanagawa—Two fisherman’s boats climb The mountain, Fuji . Blue and blue and blue and white Rowing, reeling, rising roar Okinami – mighty in the open ocean Centered solid permanent Wall of water The mountain, Fuji. Beautiful Ominous Okinami – mighty in the open ocean Capped in white And a white spray The mountain, Fuji. Rising cloud in pinkish sky The guard whispers, “Closing time.” Okinami – mighty in the open ocean The mountain, Fuji. The Great Wave By Amy Craig Beasley Assignment : Write a Ekphrasis. Review examples of the form. Review your poem and fix any errors. Type Edit Place in your portfolio