https://www.clarkart.edu/Collection/6145
 

This assignment asks you to consider "Smoke of Ambergris" from
Reconnaissance.
Use the methods outlined in both chapter 1 and 2 as well as the method of comparison to help you. 

The poem can be considered
ekphrastic
--a poem (or other types of literature) that takes its inspiration from a painting (or other types of visual art like a still image (photo) or sculpture). So one way to answer the question--what life event inspired the poem--is to say that the poet saw the painting and wrote the poem about it. 

See the

painting
. (right-click to open in a new window). 

The painting and the poem are different modes of expression and communicate their ideas using different forms and media (i.e, paint vs. words). They are not meant to say the same thing; each uses arrangement as well as other elements to accomplish its goal. 

In a written response, compare the way the poem expresses the idea (though both internal and external arrangement) to how the painting expresses the idea (through paint and design).