At the Louvre: Poems by 100 contemporary world poets
New York Review Books, US$22 pb, 214 pp
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‘The tom-tom of the spirit’
‘Poetry is a speaking picture,’ said Simonides of Keos, and ‘painting a silent poetry’. From ancient Greece until now, these ‘sister arts’ have been frequently conjoined, though it is most often poetry that speaks to or for painting rather than the reverse. We have come to call this interaction ekphrasis (literally, a ‘speaking out’), usually defined as ‘a verbal description of a work of art’. In Classical times it was a school exercise for developing rhetorical skills, but ever since Homer’s elaborate depiction of the shield of Achilles in the Iliad, it has been co-opted by poets, especially during the last century.
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At the Louvre: Poems by 100 contemporary world poets
edited by Antoine Caro, Edwin Frank and Donatien Grau
New York Review Books, US$22 pb, 214 pp
ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.
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