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Lecture 3 William Carlos Williams, Pictures from Brueghel |
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Lecture Sections:
1. Review questions to be answered in the analysis of ekphrasis
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1 Review questions to be answered in the analysis of ekphrasis |
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A Intrinsic features (pre-iconological analysis) 1.1 What are the key features that distinguish the pictorial elements: (a) line, (b) space (shapes, forms), (c) colour (light, tone, colour-combinations), and texture? 1.2 What are the key features that distinguish its composition (design): (a) unity & variety (balance, emphasis & subordination); (b) directional forces (& contrasts); (c) repetition (& rhythm), and (d) scale and proportion? 1.3 What is the role of the temporal dimension (its narrative potential) in the picture? B Extrinsic features (iconological interpretation) 1.4 What does the title provide by way of allusions and clues to interpretation? 1.5 What can you identify of the picture’s relations to other pictures, and to the history of art, in terms of (a) Genre, (b) Period, (c) Convention, (d) Motif, and (e) Style.
1.6 Where does the verbal text place itself on the spectrum ranging from “close description” to “weak and casual allusion”? That is, how closely does it adhere to (or how much does it depart from) the key features of the picture? 1.7 Does the poem “invent”/”ascribe” as a narrative dimension “latent to”/“implied by” the picture? 1.8 In what senses does the poem “interpret”/”evaluate”/”criticize” or “diverge from” the picture? 1.9 How do you evaluate the relation set up by the verbal text to the picture in terms of the issues and values (in art and life) that are activated by the interaction? 1.10 What does the verbal text “add to” or “subtract from” the picture? What is the nature of the imaginative engagement of the verbal arts with the plastic arts?
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2 William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): Backgrounds |
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2.1 Biographical information Links: The Academy of American Poets: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/119 Cary Nelson: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/williams/williams.htm Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carlos_Williams NUS CL Video: Voices & Visions series:
NUS CL: Williams on Art: A recognizable image : William Carlos Williams on art and artists . Ed. Bram Dijkstra, 1978.
2.2 Verbal images, imagery, and imagism Link: A brief guide to Imagism: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5658 Link: The Red Wheelbarrow: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15537 Link: Ecphrasis: Poetry Confronting Art: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5918 Link: The Armory Show of 1913: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armory_Show Link: Online recreation of the Armory Show: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSEUM/Armory/entrance.html Link: Video Clip (“The Great Figure”): http://www.learner.org/catalog/extras/vvspot/video/williams.html Link: Bonnie Costello on Williams & Paintings: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR04.6/costello.html
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3 Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c.1525/30-1569) |
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Link: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/brue/hd_brue.htm Link: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/bruegel_the_elder_pieter.html Link: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/bruegel_ext.html [Read the extract from E. Gombrich on "Picture of a Country Wedding".] Link: http://sunsite.sut.ac.jp/cgfa/bruegel1/index.html Link: http://www.wga.hu/html/b/bruegel/pieter_e/painting/index.html
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4 Ekphrasis: Pictures from Brueghel |
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On poems by
Williams that refer to paintings: Link: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR04.6/costello.html Link: The Poet Speaks of Art (Harry Rusche, Emory Univ.): http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/titlepage.html Sample Exercises {ideal for class presentations} Exercise 1: Compare Auden's ekphrastic references to the Brueghel painting "Landscape with Fall of Icarus" with those in the Williams poem. Link to Image & Auden text: http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/auden.html Exercise 2: Compare John Berryman's ekphrastic references to the Brueghel painting "Hunters in the Snow" with those in the Williams poem Link to Image & Berryman text: http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/paintings&poems/berryman.html
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4 Brueghel/Williams: Self-Portrait |
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Jean Fouquet, "The Court Jester Gonella" (c.1442, once wrongly attributed to Brueghel)
Source: http://www.abcgallery.com/F/fouquet/fouquet14.html Brueghel: Self-Portrait
Source: http://www.atelier-rc.com/Atelier.RC/ArtistBase-B/Bruegel.Pieter.html William Carlos Williams, Self-Portrait (1914)
Source: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jconte/Williams.html
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Last Updated 6 February 2012 |