The thesis examines ancient ekphrasis, nowadays defined as a literary description of a work of art, which in antiquity gained its conceptualisation in the field of rhetoric, where it was placed as one of the so-called progymnasmata, or preparatory exercises, intended for school use. The Shield of Achilles, the first and most famous of the ekphrases, thus first established itself as an example of ekphrasis within rhetorical textbooks, which attempt to define ekphrasis and thus also show the complexity of the relationship between image and text. Their contact gives the ekphrasis a unique character, since the visuality to which it refers changes the use of language. I approach poetic ekphrasis through rhetorical definitions, because in their research the authors have attained a certain insight into the nature of ekphrasis.
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