Ekphrasis in the Poem «Snakecharmer» by S. Plath
Abstract
The article studies singularity of the ekphrasis in the poem «Snakecharmer» by the American poetess Sylvia Plath inspired by the same-name picture by the French painter Henri Rousseau. Plath gives new meanings to the painting and creates her own version of cosmogonic and eschatological myth entering into a dialogue and a contest with the previous cultural tradition. Verbally transformed Rousseau’s images manifest their multi-layered ambivalent character. The main character in the picture by H. Rousseau is depicted with masculine features in the poem. The gender metamorphosis happening to the Snakecharmer is analysed in the context of the whole writer’s biography of S. Plath. It is concluded that the central figure, symbolically embodying the idea of creativity as it is, has androgynal nature. The narrative structure of the poem is defined by the root principle of the ekphrastic conception of «Snakecharmer» – the principle of dialectical unity of polar beginnings: orderliness and chaos, the Apollonian statics and the Dionysian dynamics, scenic formalization and musical fluidity.
Key words: ekphrasis, painting, music, image, myth, power, creativity, gender, the Dionysian, the Apollonian.
DOI 10.18522/1995-0640-2020-4-128-136
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
