Ekphrastic Fanthrope

“A poem is nothing but a picture painted black and white.” This anonymous quote perfectly explains ekphrastic poetry. Like a caption following a picture, a poem about a painting contains additional information relating to the contents of the painting. The information portrayed in the poem may not be the painters intended objective in painting what and how they painted. It is simply an opinionative description of what the poet sees. Paulo Uccello’ Saint George and the Dragon inspired poet U. A. Fanthrope to respond to the painting by writing the poem “Not my Best Side.” This poem isn’t just an objective, verbal description of Saint George and the Dragon; Fanthrope is taking it as an opportunity to challenge old, stereotypical positions on mythical times, by showing the stereotypes expressing their opinions. We are reading Fanthrope’s poem about how she reads the painting.

Fanthrope takes the liberty of explaining the poem through the eyes and mind of the three characters: the dragon, the maiden, and the knight. These dramatic monologues are an effective poetic device for Fanthrope to express ideas that she doesn’t necessarily want to be associated as her own. By speaking through persona, the expression of her feelings is not accepted as hers, but as the character’s feelings. In “Not my best Side,” Fanthrope proceeds to write about challenging old stereotypes by creating new ones. This is expressed through the monologues of her characters.

The poem begins with the challenging of the stereotypical dragon. In order to properly describe how the dragon was feeling, Fanthrope needed to personify the dragon. This was done to allow it to express emotions, feeling, and pass judgment; otherwise, a mythical dragon would not be seen as having feelings, having emotions, or being capable of passing judgment. This personification is obvious throughout the entire first stanza as the dragon proceeds to explain his feelings about the painting. Keeping in mind a personified dragon, the poem starts out with, “Not my best side, I’m afraid./ The artist didn’t give me a chance to/ Pose properly” (1-3). We are immediately informed of the dragon’s vain personality. Although dragons do not exist, a stereotypical dragon has no reason to be vain. He continues to complain of the artist that stuck him with these atrocious qualities, “he left off two of my feet” (5). Why would such an ugly killing machine care what anyone thought about him? Fanthrope suggests that the dragon in the picture has reason to be vain.

The dragon complains of his conqueror being “beardless, and ride/ a horse with a deformed neck and square hoofs” (11-12). The dragon even knows that if a knight is to conquer a dragon like himself, it should be one of perfect quality. Unsatisfied with the present knight, the dragon proceeds to complain about the victim Uccello stuck him with as well. The dragon complains of her looks as, “Unattractive as to be inedible” (14). Needing not to say anything more about his maiden, the stanza ends with “I will always rise again,/ But I should have liked a little more blood/ To show they were taking me seriously” (17-20). This leaves the reader to ponder what Fanthrope was saying about stereotypes on dragons. She concludes that the common resurrection is still in tact, but, surprisingly catching us off guard, she makes the somewhat intelligent dragon wish for a more grotesque image of itself.

As the monologues switch, the opinions switch as well. In the second stanza, monologues switch from the dragon’s to the maiden’s. It’s typical of a maiden in distress to want to be rescued, however, Fanthrope tells us differently. Fanthrope makes the maiden express disinterest in being rescued, “It’s hard for a girl to be sure if/ She wants to be rescued. I mean, I quite/ took to the dragon.” (20-23). This makes the reader say to themselves, “What?” What kind of a maiden would not want to be rescued from a dragon but instead, want to stay with the very thing that would likely eat her? This is Fanthrope’s way of saying that the maiden is not acting stereotypical; in fact, the maiden is acting almost inappropriate towards a beast of the dragon’s nature.

It’s almost as if she is sexually attracted to the dragon. This is shown in three different sentences containing sexually suggestive statements. The first she is describing how the dragon makes her feel, “He made me feel like he was all ready to/ Eat me. And any girl enjoys that” (27-28). Secondly, she’s describing his physical features as, “So nicely physical, with his claws/ And lovely green skin,