ekphrasis

American  

[ek-fruh-sis] / ˈɛk frə sɪs /

Or ecphrasis

noun

plural

ekphrases, ecphrases

1. a literary device consisting of a vivid, detailed description of a visual work of art.

   John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a classic example of ekphrasis.

---

Other Word Forms

• ecphrastic adjective
• ekphrastic adjective

Etymology

Origin of ekphrasis

First recorded in 1630–40; from Greek: “description,” from ekphrá(zein) “to describe” (from ek- ec- ( def. ) + phrázein “to speak”) + -sis -sis ( def. ); phrase ( def. )

Explanation

Ekphrasis is a technique of writing about a work of visual art in great detail, as when a writer includes a vivid description of a painting in her novel. Ekphrasis is a literary device, a description of art which is so expressive that your reader can imagine it in detail. John Keats' famous "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is one well-known ekphrasis, a detailed reflection on a specific work of art. Ekphrasis can also be spoken or take other artistic forms — for example, your painting of a sculpture is also an ekphrasis, as is the song you wrote describing Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Example Sentences

It succeeds, too, in rising beyond a specific ekphrasis to a wider meditation on the exchange between a work of art and its context.

From Washington Post • Apr. 4, 2023

The performance was a kind of call and response, or ekphrasis, with lyrics and chords inspired by Lethem's prose.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2018

The first printings of ekphrasis titles by Marcel Proust and Paul Gauguin sold out, as did a heftier collection of Donald Judd’s criticism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2018

Take the classic example of ekphrasis: the description of Achilles’ shield in the Iliad.

From The New Yorker • May 27, 2016

D. Khristodorou poietou Thebaiou ekphrasis ton agalmaton ton eis to       demosion gumnasion tou epikaloumenou Zeuxippou.

From Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology by Mackail, J. W. (John William)