Verbalizzare l’immagine. L’ekphrasis e la poesia italiana dagli anni Cinquanta a oggi

This research explores how visual sources can be translated into language through ekphrasis, focusing on Italian poetry from the 1950s to today. The study’s main goals are to redefine ekphrastic technique in light of evolving media and literary trends and to analyze both the internal and external functions of ekphrasis. This involves examining the subjects and elements within the ekphrastic setup, the forms of textual organization it assumes, and the characteristics of the visual objects described. Additionally, this dissertation aims to organize recent theoretical work on contemporary ekphrastic studies, especially from the last three decades, while offering a concise historical overview of ekphrasis and its evolution across genres. Finally, it suggests new directions for future research, incorporating tools from narratology and transmedia studies into ekphrastic theory. To analyze Italian poetry, this study combines traditional rhetorical-stylistic methods with approaches from visual studies, particularly those emerging from contemporary ekphrastic research. Through close reading, ekphrastic texts in Italian poetry were analysed to determine key characteristics of ekphrastic forms. This process involved distinguishing between ekphrasis-as-dispositif and ekphrasis-as-text, aiming to clarify the boundaries of ekphrasis while including texts that might traditionally be excluded. By moving from external structures to internal content, the study isolates a continuum of ekphrastic recognizability and examines textual configurations in relation to macrotextual structure and the media characteristics of the visual objects described. The research unfolds in two main parts: historical-theoretical and analytical. The first chapter sketches a foundational history of ekphrasis from its Greco-Roman origins to contemporary Italian literature. Chapter two surveys modern ekphrastic studies, focusing on the word-image relationship, social and ideological functions, and recent definitions and taxonomies. Chapter three offers a new definition of ekphrasis, treating it as both a process and a verbalization. Chapter four introduces the concept of ekphrastic recognizability continuum, distinguishing categories such as discovered, allusive, traceable hidden, and hypothetical hidden ekphrasis. The fifth chapter examines textual structures that characterize ekphrastic expressions and explores the particularities of various ekphrastic objects. In conclusion, this research opens up possibilities for future study, such as applying cognitive narratology to ekphrastic techniques or systematically mapping ekphrastic forms in Italian literature.