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Ellen McDaniel
Professor Hart
Contemporary Poetry
11 April 2016
A Comparison of Song and Atwoods Ekphrastic Poetry
For thousands of years, artists have been drawing, painting and sculpting beautiful
women. It is a common theme that can been found throughout human history. Through the
creation of ekphrastic poetry, writers became able to take these classic works of art from the
canvas to the page. Today, contemporary poets can integrate current ideas and movements into
their ekphrastic poetry, shedding new light on older pieces and still-relevant issues. One example
of such an issue is gender roles and expectations. Poets like Cathy Song and Margaret Atwood
tackle feminism in their poems, and use different approaches to ekphrasis in order to get their
messages across. In Songs poem Beauty and Sadness, she analyzes the collective works of
Kitagawa Utamaro, creating some insight about the subjects of his woodblock prints. Atwood, on
the other hand, focuses on describing the central subject of Edouard Manets famous painting
Olympia in her poem Manets Olympia. Though Song and Atwood both successfully view
their selected works of art through feminist lenses, Songs approach is more effective because
she is not limited by a single work of art or the perspective of her chosen speaker.
Both of these female poets have strong themes relating to gender roles in their mentioned
poetry. However, Atwood focuses mostly on the empowerment of women, while Songs poem
describes the oppressive treatment and expectations of women and lacks the same blunt hope and
fire as Atwoods poem. Instead, Song uses heavy description and metaphor to make her point.

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Atwood is a known feminist, and has written perceptive, surprising, and witty poems that
explore the dynamics of gender relations (O'Clair, Ellmann, and Ramazani 765). Her works
have this prevalent theme, as suffering is common for the female characters in [her] poems,
although they are never passive victims (Margaret Atwood).This is undoubtedly carried over
into her ekphrastic work. In Manets Olympia, Atwood describes the appearance and attitude
of a nude woman who refuses subordination to the male gaze, her body unfragile, defiant
(O'Clair, Ellmann, and Ramazani 766). Her word choice and style, including her blunt and
precise statements, echo her message of the power of women. In her poem, she says, The bodys
on offer,/ but the necks as far as it goes (Song 21-22). This gives way to her message that
womens real value and identity is within their minds, not their bodiesas many man have
believed.
While not as straight forward, Songs poem describes the beautiful women of Utamaros
works using elegant imagery, but slips in lines and phrases that capture the sadness of these
women, as mentioned in the poems title. Despite how beautiful and gauzy the texture of her
poetry, Song does not miss the harsh reality of the traps that family and society set for women
(O'Clair, Ellmann, and Ramazani 1018). The women in these prints had to arrange themselves/
before this quick, nimble man (Song 6-7). The artist absorbed these women of Edo/ in their
moments of melancholy, yet watched them with an inconsolable eye (Song). Furthermore,
Songs continuous comparison of these women to objects and animals seems to draw a parallel
with how objectified these women were. They are described as crouching like cats, poised
like vases, and [resembling] iridescent insects. Lastly, Song integrates a sudden and almost
gruesome simile that leaves the reader somewhat uncomfortable after reading it. She writes how
Utamaro transported/ the trembling plum lips like a drop of blood/ soaking up the white

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expanse of paper (28-40). To weave in a sudden and beautifully troubling line such as this
effectively impacts the reader, as it forces the reader to understand the pain in striving to be
beautiful.
Next, Songs decision to approach a collection of art instead of a single piece helps her
more effectively make her feminist point. Many paintings means the possibility of many
subjects, opposed to one painting with one or few subjects. Addressing Utamaros entire body of
work allows her to identify more of the women he captured in his prints, including teahouse
waitresses, actresses,/ geishas, courtesans, and maids (Song 4-5). When one is trying to argue a
point, they do not use one source to support their entire argument; that would be generalizing.
Similarly, Song pulls from multiple paintings to make her statement. By encompassing so many
different women, she can better draw a conclusion about the expectations of the gender,
particularly in Chinese, Japanese and Korean society. Atwood, on the other hand, writes about a
single portrait. While there are only two persons present in Olympia, Atwood breaks away
somewhat from the limitations of two characters by adding an unseen third character. A man is
introduced in the second to last stanza of the poem: Theres someone else in this room./ You,
Monsieur Voyeur. (Atwood 26-27). This approach is in no way unsuccessful; however, it is less
effective in terms of spreading a feminist and gender conscious message, as many voices are
simply louder than a few.
Another approach to these two poems that Song utilizes more effectively is perspective.
In Beauty and Sadness, the speaker is not part of the paintings. Rather, the speaker is
omniscient, able to view and discuss many of Utamaros pieces. The speaker also takes it farther
by exploring what happened behind the scenes, describing what may have taken place for the
painting to be created. Additionally, the speaker recognizes that there is an artist. Not only is the

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poem dedicated to Kitagawa Utamaro, but there is a mentioned He throughout the poem, who
is responsible for [drawing] hundreds of women, until he is finally identified as Utamaro
(Song). Lastly, and maybe most importantly, the speaker of the poem could very likely be Cathy
Song herself, as she has deep personal connections to her material. Her family history in rich
with the cultural issues she presents in the majority of her work, Beauty and Sadness included.
Songs father Andrew was a second-generation Korean American. Her mother Ella came to
Hawaii from China as a picture bride, her marriage to Song's father having been arranged
through an exchange of photographs (Cathy Song). This family connection to the societal
expectation on woman to be beautiful ties in very heavily with the theme of Beauty and
Sadness. This personal connection adds depth to what she writes, while also grounding it in
reality, as it is based off of actual experiences of her close family members.
Manets Olympia differs in perspective because the women in the painting are literally
given a voice. Though the speaker is initially describing the naked woman who is the focus of
the picture, the perspective goes back and forth. The maids thoughts are heard as she internally
calls the naked woman a slut. In the final stanza, the central woman speaks to the man who is
outside the painting. She says, I, the head, am the only subject/ of this picture./ You, Sir, are
furniture./ Get stuffed (Atwood 30-33). While this is certainly a creative and interesting
approach, it lacks the range, personal emphasis, and reality that Songs Beauty and Sadness
thrives from.
In conclusion, Songs approach to her ekphrastic poetry is more effective than Atwoods
due to her decisions to address a collection of work and to have a speaker who can discuss more
about her chosen topic. Atwood was successful at giving Manets painting a clear and defiant
voice, as is her style. However, she lacked the metaphors, the wider perspective, and the personal

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connection that Song had within her poem. These tactics allowed to Song more effectively make
her statement. She makes a clear comment about her heritage, as well as shines light on an issue
that was and still is raging in our society.

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Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. "Manet's Olympia." 1995. The Norton Anthology of Modern and
Contemporary Poetry: Contemporary Poetry. Ed. Robert O'Clair, Richard Ellmann, and
Jahan Ramazani. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. 772-73. Print.
Cathy Song. LitFinder Contemporary Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2007. LitFinder. Web. 11 Apr.
2016.
"Margaret Atwood." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
O'Clair, Robert, Richard Ellmann, and Jahan Ramazani, eds. The Norton Anthology of Modern
and Contemporary Poetry: Contemporary Poetry. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton,
2003. Print.
Song, Cathy. "Beauty and Sadness." 1983. The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary
Poetry: Contemporary Poetry. Ed. Robert O'Clair, Richard Ellmann, and Jahan
Ramazani. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. 1019-020. Print.