Lidia Chiarelli [Italy]
Ekphrastic Poetry Then and Now
One of the most interesting aspects of today’s poetry is Ekphrastic Poetry.
The term “ekphrastic” originates from a Greek expression for description. According to the Oxford Classic Dictionary ekphrasis is an extended and detailed literary description of any object, real or imaginary.
In antiquity one of the earliest forms of ekphrasis can be found in “The Iliad,” when Homer provides a long account of the detailed scenes engraved on the shield of Achilles. In Greek literature, the relationship between art and poetry was examined by Simonides of Keos (c. 556 – 468 BC) who stated: “Η ζωγραφική είναι ποίηση που σιωπά” “Painting is a silent poetry.” In Latin literature, Horace (65 - 8 BC), in his “Ars Poetica” said: “Ut pictura poesis” meaning “As is painting, so is poetry.” And Leonardo da Vinci in “A Treatise on Painting” states, “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
Ekphrastic poetry flourished particularly in the Romantic era; a notable example is “Ode on a Greek Urn” by John Keats. This poem is the description of a piece of pottery that the poet considers very evocative. He formulates a hypothesis about the identity of the lovers who appear to play music and dance, frozen in perpetual motion. Other examples of the genre were common in the nineteenth century and twentieth century. Let's remember two particularly significant: Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem “Before the Mirror” which ekphrasises James Abbott McNeill Whistler's “Symphony in White, No. 2” and Claude Esteban’s prize-winning volume “Soleil dans une pièce vide,” inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper.
But it was only in 2007 that a true literary art movement called Immagine & Poesia was founded by the poetess Aeronwy Thomas, (daughter of poet Dylan Thomas) with four other Charter Members (Gianpiero Actis, Lidia Chiarelli, Silvana Gatti e Sandrina Piras) who believed that the power of the written word and the power of visual image, when joined, would create a new work not only greater than the parts, but altered, enhanced, changed and magnified by the union. On the stage of Alfa Theatre in Torino, Italy, the Manifesto of Immagine & Poesia was read in front of the audience on November 9th 2007, at the conclusion of the celebrations of the Dylan Thomas Festival of that year.
Within a few years Immagine & Poesia rapidly spread via the web where collaborations between artists and poets are published, as well as through international exhibitions. Today, the Immagine & Poesia's Manifesto is translated in thirty languages and the movement includes hundreds of artists and poets from all over the world.
Since 2014, the annual e-book of Immagine & Poesia has been published by the Canadian publisher Huguette Bertrand and the President of the Movement Lidia Chiarelli. Every year the e-book includes many ekphrastic contributions from different countries. The works of Beat Generation poet-editor, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the American artist Agneta Falk Hirschman are part of the latest five editions. An on-line journal devoted entirely to writing inspired by visual art is The Ekphrastic Review, founded by Canadian artist and writer Lorette C. Luzajic.
The Movement Immagine & Poesia has particularly evolved in recent years by carrying out a message of peace, brotherhood, mutual respect and cooperation between writers and artists belonging to different countries and cultures.
On the other hand - on a purely aesthetic level – ekphrastic poetry has conveyed an incentive to the development of “beauty”: beautiful poems combined with beautiful images, almost adopting as a motto the words that Fyodor Dostoevsky attributes to Prince Myškin : Beauty will save the world.
莉迪亚·基亚雷利[意大利]
艺格敷词诗歌的过去与现在
当今诗歌最有趣的一种就是艺格敷词诗。
“艺格敷词”这个术语源自希腊语，指的是描述。根据《牛津古典文学词典》的解释，“艺格敷词”是对真实或想象的任何物体的详尽的文学描述。
在古代，最早的艺格敷词形式可以追溯到《伊利亚特》，当时荷马对阿喀琉斯的盾牌进行了详尽的描述。在希腊文学中，凯奥斯的西蒙尼戴斯（公元前556-468年）考察了艺术与诗歌之间的关系，他说：“Η ζωγραφική είναι ποίηση που σιωπά ”“绘画是一种无声的诗歌。”在拉丁文学中，贺拉斯（公元前65 -公元前8年）在他的《论诗代简》中写道：“Ut pictura poesis”意思是“诗如其画”。达·芬奇在《绘画论》中说：“绘画是看得见却摸不着的诗，而诗是摸得着却看不见的画。”
艺格敷词诗在浪漫主义时期尤为兴盛， 经典的例子是约翰·济慈的《希腊骨灰盒颂》。这首诗是对一件陶器的描述，诗人认为这件陶器能唤起人们极大的共鸣。他提出了这样的猜测：一对恋人似乎在演奏音乐和跳舞，定格在永恒的运动中。这种例子在19世纪和20世纪都很常见。我们可以记住两个特别重要的：其一是阿尔杰农·查尔斯·斯温伯恩的诗《在镜子前》，这首诗描述了詹姆斯·阿尔伯特·麦克尼尔·惠斯勒的《第二白色交响曲》，其二是克劳德·埃斯特班的获奖诗集《空房间的阳光》，其灵感来自于爱德华·霍普的画作。
但是直到2007年，一场真正的文学艺术运动“图像与诗歌”才由女诗人艾龙威·托马斯（诗人迪伦·托马斯的女儿）和其他四位成员（詹皮耶罗·阿克蒂斯,莉迪亚·基亚雷利，西尔瓦娜·加蒂和桑德里娜·皮拉斯）发起。他们相信，当把文字和视觉图像的力量结合起来时，将创造出一部新的作品，这个组合不仅比部分更伟大，而且会得到改变、增强、升华和放大。2007年11月9日，在意大利都灵阿尔法剧院的舞台上，在迪伦·托马斯音乐节的庆祝活动即将结束时，他们在观众面前宣读了《图像与诗歌宣言》。
短短几年内，“图像与诗歌”通过网络迅速传播，艺术家和诗人之间的合作作品在网络出版，也通过国际展览传播开来。今天，《图像与诗歌宣言》已经被翻译成30种语言，来自世界各地的数百名艺术家和诗人参与了该运动。
自2014年以来，《图像与诗歌》的年度电子书由加拿大出版商于盖特·贝特朗和该运动的会长莉迪亚·基亚雷利出版。每年的电子书都收录了许多来自不同国家的艺格敷词诗歌。最新的五部作品收录了“垮掉的一代”诗人兼编辑劳伦斯·费林盖蒂和美国艺术家阿格内塔·福尔克·赫希曼的作品。由加拿大艺术家兼作家洛雷特·鲁扎吉克创立的《艺格敷词评述》则是一本完全致力于从视觉艺术中获得灵感的在线杂志。
近年来，“图像与诗歌运动”通过在不同国家和文化的作家和艺术家之间传递和平、友谊、相互尊重和合作而发展迅猛。
另一方面，在纯粹的审美层面，艺格敷词诗歌推动了“美”的发展：美丽的诗歌与美丽的图像相结合，印证了费奥多·陀思妥耶夫斯基赋予米什金王子的那句格言：美将拯救世界。
(董秀静教授 译；Tr. Prof. Dong Xiujing)
