Ekphrastic Medieval Visions: A New Discussion in Interarts Theory (The New Middle Ages)

Ekphrasis, a genre of poetry describing a work of art, has traditionally existed on the ideological battleground between the verbal and visual arts. Medieval ekphrases, however, reveal ekphrasis as a process rather than a genre and show how it works with cultural memory to transform, shift, and revise composition. Claire Barbetti explores the high and late medieval dream visions and mystical visions, ending with considerations of contemporary poetry to illustrate how medieval ekphrasis can illuminate current studies in poetics. Cover 1 Title 8 Copyright 9 Dedication 10 CONTENTS 12 Acknowledgments 14 An Introduction to the Field of Ekphrasis, or Ekphrasis Is a Verb, Not a Noun 16 Part I 30 1 The Ekphrastic Medieval Dream Vision 32 2 Poethics and the Ekphrastic Body in Pearl 54 3 Ekphrasis and the Polytemporal in Piers Plowman 76 Part II 96 4 The Ekphrastic Mystical Vision Text and the Rhetoric of Memoria 98 5 Secret Designs/Public Shapes: The Space of Memory in the Ekphrasis of Hildegard’s Scivias 120 6 Inhuman Ekphrasis: The 40(plus)- Year Ekphrasis of Julian of Norwich 138 Conclusion: The Gift of Medieval Ekphrasis: Contemporary Ekphrastic Poethics and the Question of Art 156 Notes 178 Bibliography 208 Index 216 "Ekphrastic Medieval Visions explores the transformative power of ekphrasis in high and late medieval dream visions and mystical visions, ending with considerations of contemporary poetry to illustrate how medieval ekphrasis can illuminate current studies in poetics. Barbetti demonstrates that medieval ekphrases reveal ekphrasis as a process rather than a genre and shows how it works with cultural memory to transform, shift, and revise composition"--Provided by publisher.