Ekphrastic Poetry
Ekphrasis is the Greek practice of responding to art, and ekphrastic poetry is the verse that comes from such a response. Found in poems as diverse as John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” and Leah Umansky’s recent work responding to “Game of Thrones,” ekphrasis is a far-reaching tradition within poetry, one perfectly suited for the visual culture of our digital age.
This course will offer a brief introduction to ekphrastic poetry and present an opportunity to create and share your own work in this tradition at the home of one of D.C.’s most impressive collections of visual art. We’ll start out with some historical background before wandering through the museum galleries to find inspiration and write our own ekphrastic poems. We’ll all come back together at the end to share our new poems.
Bring your pens and notebooks!
Location
National Portrait Gallery atrium
F and Eighth streets NW
Washington,
DC
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Past event
Instructor
Anthony Moll is a poet and essayist living in Baltimore with his dog, Chickpea. He reviews books for Baltimore Gay Life and City Paper, and his own work has appeared in the Baltimore Ekphrasis Project, Gertrude Journal, Assaracus, and more. Anthony has taught writing at University of Baltimore, Morgan State University and University of California-Santa Cruz, and he holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts.