![]() ![]() In the past we have also written about art museum pieces, posters chosen from the We the People posters that are given to schools as part of an NIH grant, and we regularly use laminated photos and artwork to get us started writing in our journals. The painting proved a source of inspiration for many of the students, leading them to the creation of their own short stories and poetry. ![]() This past year my class participated in a journal writing exercise on the Hopper painting "Nighthawks." Many students not only enjoyed the exercise, but noted it as one of the most rewarding writing experiences when looking back on the school year in June. In fact we have been writing ecphrastically for the past several years. Although my students and I had no knowledge of the theory attached to the verbal description of artwork, that does not mean that we as a class had not been practicing writing ecphrastically. 1" This bit of information was reassuring for me, having taught middle school for over twelve years and having never used the term or the named theory at all. ![]() In his book The Gazers Spirit: Poems Speaking to Silent Works of Art, John Hollander asserts that the term, Ecphrasis, has been until very recently a "technical term used by classicists and historians of art to mean a description of a work of art. ![]() Reading Art through Poetry by Sean Griffin ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |