I have explained Ekphrastic Poetry in my previous entry with the example of my English classroom.
Here are the steps to follow when practicing ekphrastic poetry:
- Choose a work of art, usually a painting, that inspires you.
- Analyze the painting and take notes on the colors, shapes, and overall mood.
- Free-write about your initial impressions and reactions to the painting.
- Identify key words or phrases that capture the essence of the painting.
- Use these key words to craft a response poem that captures the emotions and themes of the artwork.
Following similar steps, I will now share how I use paintings to stimulate writing in my Turkish classroom.
They were students learning Turkish as a foreign language in B1 level.
Step 1: LOOKING AT THE PAINTING
I led students through the painting on the screen.
Step 2: FREE WRITING
I guided them through the questions (in Turkish) below:
- What shapes do you see? Do they remind you of anything?
- What colors do you see? How do these colors make you feel?
- If you were living in the picture, what would you see around? What would you smell? What would you hear?
Then, I asked them to circle 5 words.
Example:
STEP 3: COMPOSE A POEM
Students were ask to write a poem as a response to the painting by using the words circled.
Example:
STEP 4: SHARE YOUR POEM
They shared their poems with the class.
Upon completion of the activity, I introduced “Abidin Dino“, who is a well-known Turkish painter. Then, I shared some information about his painting “Long March” along with the ekphrastic poem written by one of the greatest Turkish poets, Nazım Hikmet.
“Bu adamlar Dino,
Ellerinde ışık parçaları,
Bu karanlıkta, Dino,
Bu adamlar nereye gider?
Sen de, ben de Dino
Biz de, biz de Dino
Gördük açık maviyi.?
Nazım Hikmet, 1958
Overall, students found the lesson very engaging and gained confidence in their language skills when they saw they could even write a poem in Turkish. It was also very interesting to see how close one student’s poem was with the actual ekphrastic poem. Additionally, the lesson was effective in terms of sharing culture of the target language.