This "appleness of apples" discussion reminds me of Wallace Stevens'
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird", a poem which brings us all OH so much closer to understanding the blackbirdness of blackbirds.
But back to ekphrasis. Does a poem about an apple automatically have more immediacy than a does poem about a
painting or
photograph of an apple? I think not.
A painter or photographer does not just depict the image of an apple. He or she also makes certain compositional decisions that, in effect, create a self-contained universe for the representation of the apple. A poem based on that work of art is really responding to and commenting on that universe, not just the "subject". So it doesn't really matter that the poem is two degrees removed from the apple, because it is still only one degree removed from that unique universe.
Julie Stoner
[This message has been edited by Julie Stoner (edited August 15, 2003).]