Examining a wide range of ekphrastic poems, Kennedy argues that contemporary British poets writing out of both mainstream and avant-garde traditions challenge established critical models of ekphrasis with work that is more complex than representational or counter-representational responses to paintings in museums and galleries.

Introduction: 'The Shape of Time': Ekphrasis and the Contemporary Moment; Part 1 The Ekphrastic Encounter; Chapter 1 The Ekphrastic Encounter: Representation, Enquiry and Critique; Chapter 2 Reframing the Ekphrastic Canon from Keats to Ashbery; Part 2 The Contemporary British Ekphrastic Poem; Chapter 3 Possible Scenes: Ekphrasis and Trends in Post-war British Poetry; Chapter 4 Varieties of Ekphrasis: Framing Histories, Framed Narratives; Part 3 Ekphrasis and the Female; Chapter 5 Shifting Mirrors: Re-Theorizing the Female Gaze and Voice; Chapter 6 Recuperable Traditions, Contemporary Voices; Part 4 Beyond Painting; Chapter 7 Meta-Pictures and Meta-Languages: Philosophy and Ekphrasis; Chapter 8 Inside the Image: Ekphrasis in Film and TV; Chapter 9 Ideal Points, Virtual Truths: Poems about Photographs; Part 5 Ekphrasis and Creative Writing; Chapter 10 From Creative Writing to Poetic Inquiry;