Writing Reflections: Neuschwanstein Castle

Happy Saturday, folks! I’m back with another Writing Reflection. Today, I want to talk about a unique kind of poem. I suppose that you could call it an ekphrasis because it talks about art, though I never really have seemed to have mastered this type of poem—which might be exactly why I should talk about it a Writing Reflection.

For those of you who don’t know, an ekphrasis is a kind of poem that talks about art. However, it usually goes beyond just talking about a piece of art to make a statement, often about art itself or even humanity. A famous example of ekphrasis poetry is John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. For more about ekphrasis poetry and for more examples, please check out this article by The Poetry Foundation.

Now, I have tried my hand this kind of poem a couple of times, including when I was involved in Raymond G. Taylor’s One Work Challenge with my “One Work: Starry Night” and “One Work: The Sun” poems. The poem that I wish to focus on today, however, is about a different kind of artwork altogether: a castle. Yes, I would like to discuss my poem “Neuschwanstein Castle”.

Like with my other Writing Reflections about poems, I am going to include both a link to the original work as well as the text itself for you to read:

Turrets soaring to the sky

A gleaming white limestone facade

Romanesque, Gothic, Byzantine

All swirl together in a monument

To romantic architecture

Fairy tale in its aesthetics

Who couldn’t fall in love with its beauty?

***

 

Inside its grandeur grows

With colorful mosaics and cupolas

Shining stained glass and enormous chandeliers

A stalactite cave hanging above

A sparkling indoor lake and splashing waterfall

And swans—swans!—hiding throughout

In every piece of decor

It is a living dream

 

***

 

Such a marvel of its day

Could not be without

The technology of its time—

Hot and cold running water

Central hot-air heating

Telephones, electric elevators, a hidden steel structure

A wonder both in art and advancement

 

***

 

But alas! This castle is not yet complete—

Where is its patron?

The king whom many declared mad

For building this palace of wonders?

He is dead in the ground

Put there by his own hand

Suicide—

Or was it murder?

--Stephanie Hoogstad, "Neuschwanstein Castle"

As this was before the current version of the Vocal Editor, I used the asterisks just to break the stanzas, so they have no real purpose here. However, I have chosen to keep them here because they are part of the original poem and I would like to keep it as intact as possible.

Now, as a poem, I would say that it is generally decent. The imagery is beautiful and detailed, especially considering I have only ever seen pictures and read descriptions of the castle and have never been there myself. It captures the elegance and wonder of the castle in a way that makes it seem almost mythic, something very fitting for what everyone calls a fairy tale castle. The twist at the end in which I discuss the madness of King Ludwig—the castle’s patron—and the question of whether he killed himself or was murdered also adds a bit of mystery to the palace and perfectly splatters blood on the otherwise picturesque image.

However, there is the question of whether I spent too much time on describing the beauty of the castle. This is a problem that I have when it comes to ekphrasis poetry. I spend too many words on the literal description of the artwork, rather than diving into the emotion behind it. I spend some time on this at the end by adding in the stanza about King Ludwig, but it almost feels like a footnote, an afterthought. I could have spent more time building up to the mystery in the main body of the poem, hinting at the mystery behind the beauty, and have it end in this climactic note rather than having it be a big surprise. That, perhaps, would have been a more satisfying pay-off than to just spring it upon my readers at the last minute.

Ekphrasis poetry is not easy to write. For me, it might be even more difficult to write than form poetry like sonnets and—shiver—villanelles. Like they say, though, practice makes perfect, and I’m going to keep on practicing until I get something that I am at least satisfied with.

What about you? Have you had any success—or particular failures—with ekphrasis poetry? Or is there a kind of poem that you keep trying to write that still eludes your grasp? Talk about it in the comments below!

If there are any old works of mine that you would like to see me analyze, please mention those in the comments below as well!