Actually, Janice, 'ekphrasis' is a noun meaning "description" which comes from the verb ekphrazein, to show thoroughly, describe. Had you actually gotten around to reading the thread which I bumped up and you locked, you might have noted my old posts there, to the effect that in ancient practice the genre of ekphrasis involved not the description of some pre-existing work but the invention of an entirely new one, like, for example, the shield of Achilles in the Iliad. Most Latin & Greek examples of the genre happen to fit your definition pretty precisely of what an ekphrasis is not, in that they use "a supposed [artwork] as a vehicle in order to cleverly paint with words." Personally, I see no reason to be dogmatic about the definition of the term.
By the way, for anyone who might not know, American classicists pronounce this word EKphrasis, because the Greek accent falls on the first syllable. The British tend to pronounce it ekPHRAsis, to rhyme with molasses. I advocate the first way, but then, I'm an American classicist.
Chris
|