Faculty at Home Lecture Series: Antonia Losano

Ekphrastic poetry—poetry that describes a work of art, real or imagined—has been around since Homer described the complex decorations on the shield of Achilles in the Iliad, and countless poets since then have tried to translate visual artworks into words. How are we to understand this cross-media genre? Professor Antonia Losano will talk about a few notable examples of ekphrastic poets, including Keats, Browning, Auden, Sexton, Komunyakaa, and Trethewey. You’ll also look at the artworks they describe and explore the complex relationship of word and image.

Antonia Losano (Ph.D., Cornell University) has been a member of the English and American Literatures Department since 1999. She specializes in Romantic and Victorian literature, literary theory, and women’s writing. She also teaches courses on literature and the visual arts, animals in literature, and bibliotherapy. She has written on Victorian literature and the visual arts as well as contemporary romance novels, animal studies, and Jane Austen. 

Hosted by Caitlin Myers, John G. McCullough Professor of Economics.

Please visit the Faculty at Home website for more information (including a list of poems that Professor Losano will reference) and to register for this free event.