Ekphrastic Poetry as Creative and Critical Research

I always find it useful to present my research in one of our regular cluster meetings. For our December meeting, I decided to present some of my poems. Even though my thesis incorporates methodologies from several different disciplines—such as the social sciences and museum studies—it will be presented as a creative writing thesis, with two distinct parts: critical and creative. The creative component will take the form of a collection of poems, either in a separate section, or alongside the critical text.

My research investigates the use of creative writing as a tool for visitor engagement in art museums. I’m focusing on a particular form of poetry called ekphrasis, commonly defined as a poetic response to a work of art. This research brings together my creative practice as a published poet with my experience of working in museums over a number of years. It involves running creative writing workshops with a group of participants, encouraging them to write poems in response to works of art, and then displaying those poems in a museum for other visitors to read, and I’ve been working with National Museum Wales to put my theories into practice.

For this particular presentation, I decided to read three of my own poems, all written within the last few months. Each poem responds creatively to different aspects of my critical research. I find that the process of writing these poems enables me to see my critical theories from a fresh perspective. Certain concepts become clearer, as my subconscious transforms them into poetic imagery. One key concept centres on the potential meanings that may be ‘submerged’ beneath the surface of a painting, inspired partly by reading poems that respond to J.M.W. Turner’s seascapes. Another key concept is that of entering into a painting, projecting one’s self metaphorically into the scene depicted by the artist. I cannot share the poems that I read for this particular presentation, as they remain in draft form, and have not yet been published. However, you can see an example of a similar poem that was written in the early stages of my PhD, which has been published; ‘I am trying not to write a poem about you’ plays with the concept of metaphorically entering into the scene of a painting.

There were lots of interesting questions from other members of the cluster. As a result, I am now considering some new approaches to my writing. For example, I’m thinking about how I might incorporate dialogue into my poems, as that is another key concept in my research.