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- Title
De werken van de keizer en de woorden van de dichter.
- Authors
VAN OPSTALL, EMILIE
- Abstract
The Ekphrasis of the Hagia Sophia by Paul the Silentiary gives a sixth century impression of a building that still exists today. The poem has been eagerly studied by archaeologists and art historians with a focus on its central part (verses 355-920): the ekphrasis proper. But Paul's introductory verses are essential for the appreciation of the description of the church, since they carefully prepare his audience for his virtual guided tour through the building. The present literary analysis shows how during the recitation of his poem the poet compellingly leads hisaudience towards the ekphrasis proper, aiming at a maximum effect of á¼νάργεια(vividness) and φαντασία (looking with the mind's eye) to make us feel as if we were actually approaching the church. He creates a dramatic framework full of suspense: slowing down and speeding up his narrative, using flashbacks (analepseis) and flashforwards (prolepseis), mixing reality and rhetoric, until we finally, as participants in a procession, stand before the closed doors of the Hagia Sophia, on the threshold of his rhetorical building. The impact on the audience of the ekphrasis proper cannot be grasped fully without this preparatory framework.
- Publication
Lampas, 2016, Vol 49, Issue 3, p280
- ISSN
0165-8204
- Publication type
Article