The Poetics of Ekphrasis

“Poetics of Ekphrasis is a deeply satisfying read and a remarkable achievement in cognitive poetics, multimodal studies, and literary scholarship at large. By developing and applying a holistic, eclectic, and rigorous framework to a wealth of canonical and less known poems, Panagiotidou’s work invites the reader to embark on a discovery journey that unearths the rich ramifications of the alliance between the verbal and the visual.” — Dr. Davide Castiglione, Associate Professor of Stylistics at Vilnius University, Lithuania This book provides a stylistic and cognitive poetic account of ekphrastic poetry (poetry whose subject matter is predominantly artworks and images), examining the linguistic processes through which works of art can become literary objects. The author sheds light on the workings of ekphrasis at a textual level, while also considering the cognitive and psychological effects of reading ekphrastic poems, developing cognitiveand stylistic analytical frameworks grounded on the four principles that govern ekphrasis: representation, narrativization, transposition, and collaboration. This book will be of interest to academics and practitioners in various fields, including literary critics, art critics, rhetoricians, poets, visual artists, and stylisticians. Maria-Eirini Panagiotidou is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, USA. Her research interests and publications lie in the areas of literary linguistics, cognitive poetics, and iconicity. Her current research focuses on cognitive approaches to ekphrastic poetry.