Ekphrasis is a literary description or commentary on a work of visual art.
Ekphrasis is a literary description or commentary on a work of visual art.
| Front | ekphrasis \EK-fruh-sis\ |
|---|---|
| Back | noun A literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art. [Although "ekphrasis" (also spelled "ecphrasis") is a relatively new entry in our dictionary, the practice of using words to comment on a piece of visual art is an ancient one. One of the earliest and most commonly cited forms of ekphrasis occurs in The Iliad, when Homer provides a long and discursive account of the elaborate scenes embossed on the shield of Achilles. It should be no surprise, then, that the term "ekphrasis" derives from Greek, where it literally means "description" and was formed by combining the prefix "ex-" ("out") with the verb "phrazein" ("to point out or explain"). "Ekphrasis" first appeared in English in the early 18th century.] "As an assignment for her Rhetoric & Composition class, Samantha wrote an ekphrasis on the theme of emotional isolation in the paintings of Edward Hopper." |
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