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Ekphrasis in Four Poems About Urns and Vases

Received: 22 July 2021     Accepted: 16 August 2021     Published: 4 September 2021
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Abstract

In this interdisciplinary article, we apply the concept of the rhetorical figure of ekphrasis. We will show, in a first instance, that it can be understood as any type of description serving to bring to the reader’s eye something that is distant; however, with the passage of time, this rhetorical figure will be understood in a more complex way, that is, a type of description that targets only and exclusively artistic objects. This new conception will imply that ekphrasis will change from a simple figure that performs a “mimesis of nature” to a rhetorical figure that performs a “mimesis of culture”. Next, we will analyze poems by four poets (Theocritus, Greek, John Keats, English, Alberto de Oliveira, Brazilian and Wallace Stevens, American), each of whom describes a specific sculptural object, either a classical Greek urn, with ornaments or a common, bare jar. We show that there are modifications of the descriptive look, from a classical figuration, through the romantic, and the Parnassian, to the parodic, in the modernist or postmodernist conception, which, using a readymade, in Marcel Duchamp’s sense, deconstructs the relation between the artistic object, the poet and the reader, and thus implies the dismantling of the traditional convention of the rhetorical figure of ekphrasis.

Published in International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation (Volume 7, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijalt.20210703.14
Page(s) 109-115
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ekphrasis, Vase, Convention, Classic, Post-modern

References
[1] ABRAMS, Meyer Howard. El espejo y la lámpara. Buenos Aires: Editorial Nova, 1962.
[2] BOZEC, Yves. Ekphrasis de mon coeur, ou l’argumentation par la description pathétique, Littérature, Paris: Larousse, nº 111, out. 1998: 111-124.
[3] CASSIN, Barbara. L’effet sophistique. Paris: Gallimard, 1995.
[4] DESBORDES, Françoise. La rhétorique antique. Paris: Hachette, 1996, p. 135, cited in Yves Le Bozec, Ekphrasis de mon coeur, ou l’argumentation par la description pathétique, Littérature, Paris: Larousse, nº 111, out. 1998: 111-124, p. 111.
[5] HEFFERNAN, James A. W. Ekphrasis and Representation, Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, New Literary History, 1991.
[6] HORÁCIO, F. Arte poética. Lisboa: Clássica Editora, s.d.
[7] ELIOT, T. S. “Hamlet and His Problems,” Selected Essays, London: Baer & Faber, 1961, p. 145.
[8] KEATS, John. Selected Poems. New Jersey: Random House, 1993.
[9] MITCHELL, Willian John Thomas. La écfrasis y el otro. Teoría de la imagen. Madrid: Akal, 2009.
[10] MOISÉS, Massaud. A literatura brasileira através dos textos. 10ª ed., São Paulo: 1983.
[11] MOISÉS, Massaud. Albano Martins: a poética do olhar. A literatura como denúncia. São Paulo: Íbis, 2002.
[12] MOSES, Henry. A Collection of Antique Vases, Altars, Paterae. London: Books on Demand, 2013.
[13] NOGUEIRA, Érico. Vontade, contenda e poesia nos Idílios de Teócrito, tese de doutorado defendida na USP em 2012.
[14] STEVENS, Wallace. Anedocte of the Jar, cited in MITCHELL, Willian John Thomas, La écfrasis y el otro. Teoría de la imagen. Madrid: Akal, 2009.
[15] THEOCRITUS. Translated into English verse, by C. S. Calverley, the Project Gutenberg EBook of Theocritus, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11533/11533-h/11533-h.htm#IDYLL_I 2004 [EBook #11533].
[16] THÉON, Aelius. Exercices préliminares, cited in DESBORDES, Françoise. La réthorique antique. Paris: Hachette, 1996, p. 135.
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  • APA Style

    Alvaro Cardoso Gomes. (2021). Ekphrasis in Four Poems About Urns and Vases. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 7(3), 109-115. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20210703.14

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    ACS Style

    Alvaro Cardoso Gomes. Ekphrasis in Four Poems About Urns and Vases. Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Transl. 2021, 7(3), 109-115. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20210703.14

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    AMA Style

    Alvaro Cardoso Gomes. Ekphrasis in Four Poems About Urns and Vases. Int J Appl Linguist Transl. 2021;7(3):109-115. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20210703.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijalt.20210703.14,
      author = {Alvaro Cardoso Gomes},
      title = {Ekphrasis in Four Poems About Urns and Vases},
      journal = {International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation},
      volume = {7},
      number = {3},
      pages = {109-115},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijalt.20210703.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20210703.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijalt.20210703.14},
      abstract = {In this interdisciplinary article, we apply the concept of the rhetorical figure of ekphrasis. We will show, in a first instance, that it can be understood as any type of description serving to bring to the reader’s eye something that is distant; however, with the passage of time, this rhetorical figure will be understood in a more complex way, that is, a type of description that targets only and exclusively artistic objects. This new conception will imply that ekphrasis will change from a simple figure that performs a “mimesis of nature” to a rhetorical figure that performs a “mimesis of culture”. Next, we will analyze poems by four poets (Theocritus, Greek, John Keats, English, Alberto de Oliveira, Brazilian and Wallace Stevens, American), each of whom describes a specific sculptural object, either a classical Greek urn, with ornaments or a common, bare jar. We show that there are modifications of the descriptive look, from a classical figuration, through the romantic, and the Parnassian, to the parodic, in the modernist or postmodernist conception, which, using a readymade, in Marcel Duchamp’s sense, deconstructs the relation between the artistic object, the poet and the reader, and thus implies the dismantling of the traditional convention of the rhetorical figure of ekphrasis.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AB  - In this interdisciplinary article, we apply the concept of the rhetorical figure of ekphrasis. We will show, in a first instance, that it can be understood as any type of description serving to bring to the reader’s eye something that is distant; however, with the passage of time, this rhetorical figure will be understood in a more complex way, that is, a type of description that targets only and exclusively artistic objects. This new conception will imply that ekphrasis will change from a simple figure that performs a “mimesis of nature” to a rhetorical figure that performs a “mimesis of culture”. Next, we will analyze poems by four poets (Theocritus, Greek, John Keats, English, Alberto de Oliveira, Brazilian and Wallace Stevens, American), each of whom describes a specific sculptural object, either a classical Greek urn, with ornaments or a common, bare jar. We show that there are modifications of the descriptive look, from a classical figuration, through the romantic, and the Parnassian, to the parodic, in the modernist or postmodernist conception, which, using a readymade, in Marcel Duchamp’s sense, deconstructs the relation between the artistic object, the poet and the reader, and thus implies the dismantling of the traditional convention of the rhetorical figure of ekphrasis.
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Author Information
  • Department of Portuguese Literature, University of S?o Paulo, S?o Paulo, Brazil

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