Abstract
This study aims to demonstrate how Ashbery’s ekphrastic poem Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975) manages to verbally represent Parmigianino’s painting of the same name, in a manner that in effect bridges our understanding of the gap between verbal and visual representation. The purpose of this is to shift the academic discourse surrounding ekphrasis (the verbal representation of visual representation) from the presumed intrinsic differences between verbal and visual representation to the more general value and implications of their combined presence in a work of art. To achieve this goal, this thesis draws upon the reader-response theory of Wolfgang Iser to identify how Ashbery’s viewer-response can be found within the poem, and to prove how this viewer-response functions as a model for the reader’s reader-response of the poem. To further illustrate the interrelation between visual and verbal representation, this thesis uses Jacques Lacan’s theories of psychoanalysis to discover the ways in which Ashbery manages to mimic the visual elements of Parmigianino’s painting in his poem. To conclude, this thesis compares the ekphrasis found in Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror with influential theories surrounding ekphrasis and to other poets’ use of ekphrasis; and argue that Ashbery manages to unite the seemingly different art forms of verbal and visual art through his poem, since both forms ultimately consists of language.