Art and Poetry

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This seminar examines the complex relationship between art and a certain kind of poetry, called ekphrasis. Departing from the Roman poet Horace’s (65 B.C.E. to 8 B.C.E.) observation, “Ut Pictura Poesis,” (as is Painting so is Poetry), we will study ways in which poets have written about works of visual art that inspire them to respond in their own artistic medium of words. The class will investigate the history of this phenomenon, tracing how the established traditions or parameters of the relationship between painting and poetry have been accepted or rejected over time. We will also consider the 19th-century notion of “Ut pictura musica.” In addition to critical readings, discussions, guest appearances by poets, and a session with the curators from Special Collections to study original works of art, students will compose ekphrastic poems and create their own projects at the end of the semester. For more information about this and other courses in the Department of Art and Art History, please visit https://art.georgetown.edu This course is not available to audit.