# examples of ecphrasis **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641 "2007-07-05T20:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/1 "2007-07-05T20:33:14Z")
[FONT=Verdana]In the Forum, “Comments on Cecil’s Columns,” in the thread, “_[Don McLean Speaks Out (American Pie)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425621)_,” ‘brendon\_small’ observes (in Post 3), “Obviously, Don McLean is a fan of the Straight Dope…or at least knows it exists… Now, was he ever a poster here on the boards?” ‘Fear Itself’, in Post 4, answers, “I am pretty sure he [Don McLean] was either ‘Whiskey’ or ‘Rye.’ ‘Elendil’s Heir’ mentions, in Post 10, she (or he) is fond of the Don McLean song _Vincent_. I am a Guest at SDMB so cannot access Member Profiles, so don’t know whether ‘Whiskey’ and ‘Rye’ was said tongue-in-cheek. (Nor whether someone is he or she.) But I’m another who highly regards Don McLean as a songwriter, and especially _Vincent_, so I replied in Post 17: In any case, [FONT=Times New Roman]_if_ you are reading this, Don, thank you for giving the world[/FONT][/FONT] _[COLOR=Navy]Vincent_. It is on the short list of works of art that illuminate, interpret, define or redefine, and become forever associated with another work of art.[/COLOR] There’s actually a term for this, ecphrasis, and, again, Guest status precludes my Searching so I don’t know if other threads have discussed it. My niece, Rebecca, at a July 4 picnic, came up with another example, W. H. Auden’s _Musee des Beaux Arts_, a poem Auden wrote after viewing Pieter Breughel’s painting, _Fall of Icarus_. Examples don’t have to be limited to poems or songs reflecting on paintings. Any work of art enhancing and becoming associated with another work of art is ecphrasis. Can anyone mention some others? 1. _Vincent_, by Don McLean \>\>\> _Starry Night_, by Van Gogh 2. _Musee des Beaux Arts_, by W.H. Auden \>\>\> _Fall of Icarus_, by Breughel ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/2 "2007-07-05T21:55:10Z")
Since this thread is about the arts, I’ll go ahead and move it to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/3 "2007-07-05T22:00:45Z")
Well, keeping in the spirit of Don… “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)” —\> Don McLean ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/4 "2007-07-05T22:13:10Z")
[QUOTE=Mark Ryle] There’s actually a term for this, ecphrasis, and, again, Guest status precludes my Searching so I don’t know if other threads have discussed it. [/quote] There’s nothing relevant on the boards for “ecphrasis” or “ekphrasis”, but I’ve waiting more than twenty years to impart this bit of knowledge gleaned from my Higher English teacher: [William Wordsworth - “Peele Castle”](http://ipcvision.com/page02/peele01.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/5 "2007-07-05T22:21:10Z")
"Breughel’s great picture, [_The Kermess_"](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www2.bc.edu/~dohertyp/web_site/images/kermess.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www2.bc.edu/~dohertyp/web_site/home.htm&h=776&w=1111&sz=155&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=y3FeScu5avM3cM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3DThe%2BKermess%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff) inspired William Carlos Williams’s poem _The Dance_. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/6 "2007-07-05T22:52:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] "Breughel’s great picture, [_The Kermess_"](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www2.bc.edu/~dohertyp/web_site/images/kermess.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www2.bc.edu/~dohertyp/web_site/home.htm&h=776&w=1111&sz=155&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=y3FeScu5avM3cM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3DThe%2BKermess%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff) inspired William Carlos Williams’s poem _The Dance_. [/QUOTE] I notice, on that same webpage, William Carlos Williams also wrote a poem, _Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus_. Also there are one or two other poems there related to the painting. Thanks for the link. I’ll share it with my niece. > [@](#): > > **OneCentStamp** writes: Well, keeping in the spirit of Don… > > _“Killing Me Softly (With His Song)”_ —\> Don McLean Brings it full circle. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/7 "2007-07-05T23:15:05Z")
Keats: “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” King Crimson: “The Night Watch” (about the Rembrandt painting) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/8 "2007-07-05T23:35:14Z")
“Mona Lisa” - Nat King Cole ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/9 "2007-07-05T23:46:48Z")
Keats - Ode on a Grecian Urn maybe not since this isn’t about a known Greek urn . hmmm would dance fit into this? Isn’t dance an interpretation of what the music is saying? Many ballets have become so connected to music it is rare to think of Swan Lake without the Ballet or the music. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/10 "2007-07-06T00:46:00Z")
There are tons in classical music. Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Hovhaness’ “Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints.” Rachmaninoff’s “The Bells” and “Isle of the Dead.” Coates’ “Three Bears.” Daugherty’s “Metropolis Symphony” and “Bizarro.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/11 "2007-07-06T00:46:32Z")
_West Side Story —\> Romeo & Juliet_ ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/12 "2007-07-06T00:51:35Z")
Certain works of literary criticism are so brilliantly written that they can stand as works of art on their own. Anything by Hugh Kenner or Christopher Ricks, for example. And also [Can’t Buy Me Love](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092718/). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/13 "2007-07-06T01:21:32Z")
[QUOTE=jackelope] Certain works of literary criticism are so brilliantly written that they can stand as works of art on their own. Anything by Hugh Kenner or Christopher Ricks, for example. [/QUOTE] And any book or author review by [George Orwell.](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300011h.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/14 "2007-07-06T01:39:09Z")
[Sunday in the Park With George](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_in_the_Park_with_George), a play inspired by the painting [A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte) by Georges Seurat. [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_&_Guildenstern_Are_Dead), a Tom Stoppard play which follows the misadventures of two minor characters from Shakespeare’s **Hamlet**. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/15 "2007-07-06T03:13:35Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] _West Side Story —\> Romeo & Juliet_ [/QUOTE] I don’t think that meets the criteria. WSS is based on R&J, but it’s not \*about \*R&J. If this qualifies, we’d have to include at least half of the operas and musicals. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/16 "2007-07-06T03:31:15Z")
I mentioned one recently in another thread: Roger Zelazny’s “24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai”. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/17 "2007-07-06T04:25:15Z")
[The New Colossus](http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm), the poem by Emma Lazarus about the **Statue of Liberty**. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/18 "2007-07-06T04:43:05Z")
And [“Ozymandius”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias) by Percy Bysshe Shelley sort of qualifies, since it was inspired by the arrival in London of a **colossal statue of Ramses II** (minus its legs). ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/19 "2007-07-06T05:12:34Z")
[QUOTE=adhemar] Keats - Ode on a Grecian Urn maybe not since this isn’t about a known Greek urn . [/QUOTE] It’s an excellent example. The urn fits my short definition of art – [FONT=Times New Roman]_something able to be contemplated_. Keats contemplates it. Even if I’m too dull to see its beauty, Keats shows it to me. I _never_ see a Grecian urn (in a museum) without the poem’s first line coming to mind.[/FONT] ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641/20 "2007-07-06T05:19:14Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] [The New Colossus](http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm), the poem by Emma Lazarus about the **Statue of Liberty**. [/QUOTE] Exactly. Impossible to think of the statue without [FONT=Times New Roman]_Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free_ …[/FONT] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-ecphrasis/410641.md?page=2)