A Study of Ecfrastic Procedures

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study some devices which can be used in the rhetoric and poetics to produce verbal images. Therefore, we research a common subject in Antiquity: the relation between the verbal and visual arts. This paper focuses on ékphrasis and enárgeia; however, there are other mechanisms which produce the same effect. There is profusion of names to the ecfrastic process, creating confusion when we try to establish the limits and differences of each procedure. Beyond the theory, we analyze the application of the concepts from some ancient examples to underlie our conclusions.