Definition of "ekphrasis" [ekphrasis]

• A clear, intense, self-contained argument or pictorial description of an object, especially of an artwork. (noun)

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• "At work in this ekphrasis is a subconscious interest in decorum and restraint, and a corresponding leeriness about aesthetic identification."
• "While these examples suggest that in practice ekphrasis is not limited to one specific use, contemporary attitudes toward the term have grown out of a definition of it that emphasizes literary (poetic) representation — with all the ambiguities, tensions, and contradictions the notion entails."
• "I want to suggest, however, that in a certain sense all ekphrasis is notional, and seeks to create a specific image that is to be found only in the text as its "resident alien," and is to be found nowhere else."