Program: Visual Inverse, Pairing of Poetry and Art

Homer, the poet, conjured up with his verbal art an impossible description of Achilles’ Shield, as created by Vulcan, the visual artist, in Book 18 of The Iliad.  Here is a description of characters on a panel of the shield from the translation of Alexander Pope,

Along the Street the new-made Brides are led,

With Torches flaming, to the nuptial Bed;

The Youthful Dancers in a Circle bound

To the soft Flute, and Cittern’s silver Sound:

Thro the fair Streets, the Matrons in a Row,

Stand in their Porches, and enjoy the Show.

This unbroken tradition of ekphrasis continues to this day yielding astonishing insights of one art form by the creation of another. Recently a show entitled Visual Inverse, a Pairing of Poetry and Art was held at the Plymouth Center for the Arts in Plymouth Massachusetts. A large number of lucky attendees viewed the live performances. I and others (not so lucky, or in my case, not so smart) had to wait for this magnificent program to circulate.

For more of my Review of Visual Inverse go here: http://dougholder.blogspot.com/2012/04/program-visual-inverse-board-of.html