Precis for "Virgilian Narrative: Ecphrasis"

          Alessandro Barchiesi in his essay, "Virgilian Narrative: Ecphrasis" (9/29/12) asserts that ecphrasis is used in the Aeneid to enhance the story, and also examines the ways that it is used and interpreted. The author uses specific examples from the story, especially Aeneas's shield to portray how ecphrasis is used within the epic, and also to compare it to the works of other poets. He also gives the reader information about how ecphrasis is interpreted differently today than it was in ancient Rome, which helps explain how the viewer might interpret it, but also how and why Virgil put it in the Aeneid. The author tries to explain to the reader the importance of ecphrasis in the epic, and also the pros and cons of including it, in order to allow the reader to be aware of it and understand its relevance. The author intends to present this information to all readers of ancient Roman and Greek text, but for us, it is relevant to our project on the Aeneid.
          I think that this essay was really convincing. The author presented a good argument that captured my attention, and explained something that I didn't know much about. Now, I have a reason to pay attention to the description of artistic details within the epic, and I understand more about why Virgil has included them. I thought that the concept of ecphrasis was interesting, especially because it is something that I see in a lot of books that I read still today, but never knew had an actual name.