Ekphrasis: A Creative Process for Improving Your Poetry
Andre Levi -- April 4, 2010
Stuck for an inspiration? Andre Levi mixes her professional interests in psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience with her literary talent to make some suggestions that are sure to get that pen (or keyboard) working at a satisfying pace. [– Editors]
Thick brush lines blobs of oil paint like cotton blue clouds red horse. No, it's not a new poem by Gertrude Stein. It's an example of ekphrasis, or using your experiencing of one art form to inspire another, – in this article, viewing a painting as an inspiration to write poetry about it. Not just a good excuse to go to the art gallery; but also a way to increase bilateral brain hemispheric interaction. And that means good news for your poetry, and your creative process.
Bilateral brain hemispherization is the process of engaging in activities that stimulate both halves of your brain (left and right hemispheres) at once. While writing poetry can potentially energize the "artistic" right hemisphere (which is metaphorical, symbolic, holistic, full of imagery, and nonlinear), especially if you keep writing a flow of words with a pen, without stopping to edit, the writing of words themselves is primarily a left-brained (logical, verbal, sequential, methodical) activity. Different ways to do this synchronous hemispherization include activities using both hands (knitting, playing piano or guitar, hand-painting using both hands), especially those activities that involve expressing emotion. Some studies show that bilateral brain hemisphere stimulation, carried out over time, optimizes your ability to take in both verbal and visual/imagistic information simultaneously and thus increases brain function and your future capacity to be broadly creative.
One way to do this stimulation is via ekphrasis, the translation of an encounter with one art form into another. This could be music into painting, sculpture into painting, etc. In this article we mean the interpretation into words of an encounter with a visual artistic stimulus such as seeing a statue, a painting, etc. Keats' famous "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is an example of ekphrasis. When the artist's subjective experience is included in the poem, it is also part of ut pictura poesis, or the meditation on art as an aesthetic.
Jotting down impressions of a work of art immediately, as you look at it, or even writing whole poetic phrases or lines of poetry as you look at the art, will activate both sides of the brain simultaneously. Both sides spark off each other and create a synergistic creative impulse. Even if you go home and sit quietly, remembering the art pieces you saw and then write poetry from the memory of the exhibit, brain lateralization will still occur, though not as powerfully as occurs when you compose in front of the visual art, since the memory recall function is not the same as the right brain's immediate experiencing of art. Your later memory recall of the art will be stronger if you can associate some other sensory stimuli with the initial experiencing of the art.
For example, you can associate the visual impression of the art with a specific auditory stimulus. If you are in a public place that allows it, switch on a piece of music (with your I-pod or Walkman, and use your ear-buds) while you write down your impressions of the art, and then shut it off till you get home. Replay the same piece of music at home while you are composing your poetry about the work of art you saw. The same can be done with olfactory senses: swab some essential fragrant oil, such as sandalwood oil, onto your hand just before observing the initial work of art, then re-apply the same unguent at home as you are about to write your ekphrastic poem. Don't wear this oil all the time, or its association with the memory of your experiencing the artwork will evanesce. Your sense of smell is actually the strongest of the five senses to be associated with memory recall. If you do want to experiment with scent as an adjunct to memory recall, remember that some people are allergic to strong chemical perfumes and colognes, so leave the Chanel No. 5 at home and go for essential oil instead. The same memory by association works for tactile, kinesthetic and taste senses, so you could tap your feet, smooth a knuckle or chew a peppermint while you observe the art and then later repeat the same things to facilitate recall.
Next time you plan to be in a museum or art gallery, bring a notebook and write down words, phrases, or lines as they come to you, without stopping to censor. (Editing is the analytical left brain taking over). Edit later; organize into linear stanzas later. You are enhancing your creativity every time you do ekphrasis. And if you want to hear local Santa Barbara poets read their works based on ekphrasis, come to the SB Museum of Art, 1130 State Street, for "Dramatic Century: Poets Respond to Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum," on Sunday April 25, 1 – 3 p.m. Local poets will give their impressions based on their experiencing the paintings in the famous "Delacroix to Monet: Masterpieces of 19th Century Painting from the Walters Art Museum" exhibit. Santa Barbara poet laureate David Starkey hosts the event. It should be a real treat for all.