ekphrasis

Or ec·phra·sis

[ek-fruh-sis]

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

• ekphrastic adjective
• ecphrastic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ekphrasis¹

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. )

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.

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Most of Schwartz’s protagonists are artists — poets, painters, novelists, actresses — and, fittingly then, many of the novel’s most elegant moments consist of ekphrasis, the representation of a work of art within another artwork.

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The Reger was a marvelous example of musical ekphrasis — i.e., poetry about art.

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We must do what is sometimes called “ekphrasis,” a thorough elaboration of both what we are seeing and what we imagine must have taken place, filling in details, adding meaning, making connections.

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

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