U4 Ekphrastic Poetry
Headington’s U4 have been studying ekphrastic poetry this term – poems inspired by works of art – and have written some ekphrastic poems of their own, responding to a range of different paintings.
Megan offers a description of Edward Hopper’s haunting ‘Railroad Sunset’, inspired partly by Edward Hirsch’s poem, ‘Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad’. Meanwhile, Juliet and Sophie both give previously silent figures within the paintings they have chosen the chance to tell their side of the story.
Juliet’s poem is based on Edgar Degas’s ‘Woman in a Bath, Sponging Her Leg,’ following on from study of some of UA Fanthorpe’s ekphrastic poems in which female subjects challenge the male gaze of the painter.
Sophie has chosen a painting by an unknown 18th Century British artist of Charles Goring of Wiston out shooting with his servant and describes the scene from the perspective of the unnamed servant.
Mr Stephen Dilley, Head of English at Headington said: “All of the U4 girls have been working hard their poems lately and we are delighted to share three of them with you.”
