Ekphrasis and the Other Point of View: Reinterpreting Grimké, Loy, and Rukeyser Through a Queer Lens

Abstract

This paper reinterprets ekphrastic modernist poetry through a queer lens, examining works by Angelina Weld Grimké, Mina Loy, and Muriel Rukeyser to challenge the patriarchal and heteronormative assumptions embedded in traditional ekphrastic analysis. The research asks: how does applying queer theory to modernist ekphrasis illuminate suppressed meanings and desires within these poems? Using a comparative literary methodology grounded in queer and feminist theory, the research is based on three poems that, when "queered," reveal subversive expressions of female and androgynous desire that dismantle the male gaze and disrupt the subject-object binary that underlies canonical interpretations of ekphrasis. The results demonstrate that Grimké rewrites the blazon form to express lesbian desire, Loy constructs androgynous poetics to subvert gender binaries, and Rukeyser uses poetic fragmentation and female-centered motifs to reject patriarchal artistic legacies. This paper concludes that queer ekphrasis offers a powerful interpretive tool, reshaping understandings of visual-verbal relationships in modernist poetry and expanding literary canon formation. The implications suggest that integrating queer analysis into ekphrastic studies can recover marginalized voices and transform how we engage with the intersections of gender, identity, and art.