April 2016 workshop at the Longfellow National Historic Site, on 'ekphrastic' poetry (inspired by art of another medium), using the Longfellow family art collection as inspiration.

1. Grace Unto Every Art
Poetry from Visual Art at the Longfellow House NHS
Led by Meg Winikates
@mwinikates, http://mwinikates.com

2. “The Building of the Ship” [excerpt] by HWL
"Build me straight, O worthy Master!
Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel,
That shall laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!"
The merchant's word
Delighted the Master heard;
For his heart was in his work, and the heart
Giveth grace unto every Art.
A quiet smile played round his lips,
As the eddies and dimples of the tide
Play round the bows of ships,
That steadily at anchor ride.
And with a voice that was full of glee,
He answered, "Erelong we will launch
A vessel as goodly, and strong, and stanch,
as ever weathered a wintry sea!" ….

3. What is Ekphrasis?
Art created in reaction to or
inspired by another piece of art,
frequently in a different form
(AKA fanfiction, fanart & the
Renaissance)
Visual
Arts
Poetry
Music
Dance &
Theater
Literature

4. About suffering they were never wrong,
The old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position: how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
Musee des Beaux Arts W. H. Auden
The Fall of Icarus Pieter Brueghel

5. Longfellow’s Ekphrastic Poems (a few!)
• “A Dutch Picture” (painting)
• “The Four Princesses at Wilna” (photograph)
• “From my Arm-Chair” (furniture)
• “The Iron Pen” (commemorative historical
object)
• “Sonnet on Mrs. Kemble's Reading from
Shakespeare” (theater)

6. Published summer 2015, Window Cat Press http://windowcatpress.weebly.com/summer-15.html

8. Your Task: Find Your Art
• Find 1-2 art works in the House that draw you in.
• Any medium! Sculpture, furniture, and other decorative arts are
as valid as paintings.
• Brainstorm a list of words and phrases provoked by each
work.
• Take photos for future reference if you need/want.
Remember, no flash photos!
• Bring your notes back to here to write your poem draft(s).

9. How do we get there?
• Visual Thinking Strategies
• What do you see?
• What makes you say that?
• What else?
• Be aware of your reactions, artists’
choices

10. Possible connections
• Theme
• Visual qualities
• Tone
• Texture
• Composition
• Color
• Movement
• Emotional reaction
• Resonances (or dissonances!)
• Personal memories
• References to artistic/literary tradition
• Using one as metaphor/frame for the other
• Timelines (cause & effect, before & after)

11. Results &
Reactions?

12. Thank you!
@mwinikates
http://mwinikates.com
megwinikates
linkedin.com/in/mwinikates
www.pinterest.com/winikat/
Next workshop:
Massachusetts Poetry Festival 2016
April 29-May 1, Salem MA
“The World in a Grain of Sand:
Incorporating Scale
in Poetry and Art”