March 23 - Ekphrasis

1. March 23 - Ekphrasis Agenda: • Poetry groups • Class Discussion • The Street - Balthus HW: • Read “The Street” and answer the “Questions to Consider” based on the poem

2. In your group • Share your answers to the “questions”: • Approach: What does the poet take into consideration first? What features of the painting does the poet dwell and what does he ignore? What is the poet’s most central preoccupation? What is the bottom line? • Guided Viewing: How does the poet guide your eyes across the painting? Top-to-bottom (vice versa), diagonally? Drawing attention to coded clues in the painting? • Description: Could you reconstruct the painting from the poem without actually seeing it? • Interpretation: Is the poem simply an objective verbal description of the work of art, or does the poet make conclusions about what the painting means? Do you agree with the meaning the poet "reads" in the painting, or do you think the writer misreads it or warps the scene depicted to personal ends? • Philosophy of Art: How does the poem show us the significance of art? Does the poem speak to the process of how art is made? What are some differences between painting and poetry? • Lyric versus Narrative: Does the poem retell a story the writer believes is depicted in the painting, or does it focus solely on distilling the imagery absent any discernable story?

3. Class Discussion • How does each poet approach the painting? • What do the different interpretations show you about the poets? The painting? • It’s still about the poetry! What Is the meaning of each poem? What message or idea is the poet attempting to convey?