Ekphrastic Poem and Analysis

-Ecstatic Christ-

Laying on his side

Looking up, almost

Behind him

After Christ slept

Through the night

Shock and relief

It was not

meant to be

There was another way

Laying on his side

Looking back, perhaps

In surprise to a

Fellow apostle, Christ was

Man himself, would he

Be fooled with such

Kindhearted jubilee

Perhaps

Laying on his side

Looking out with

His hand in his

Loincloth? My God,

What is the

Meaning of this?

Is this what they

Meant as the

Last temptation of Christ?

This image caught my attention because of the way it depicts Christ laying down with his facial expression and the title itself just has a mysterious meaning to it. Ecstatic Christ. The image makes me think of multiple things. It could be Christ sleeping through the night he was meant to be betrayed and arrested. However I noticed later that he had already been crucified since he has the wounds on his hands and feet, so that idea was scratched. But I hinted that theory in the poem regardless for the unique prospect. It could also be him after he resurrected and awaits his entrance into heaven. He even looks older than many of his other portrayals that display him as a youthful figure. That however could merely be the artists style. It could even be something as (potentially) vulgar as perhaps self-pleasure. 

My last stanza is actually a reference to Nikos Kazantzakis novel, "The Last Temptation of Christ" and the film of the same name where Christ is played by a younger Willem Dafoe. I think the reference was more than appropriate as the film contended a great deal with Christs humanity. It also  delved into the matter of his sexuality as a man. The poem leaves the eyes of the beholder just enough information to take a guess as to what it might be about, and yet the lack of context draws me to a deeper meaning. The lack of context being, He's just laying there on the ground, against a tree, looking up behind himself. 

HOWEVER! I think the greatest element to this piece of art is the absence of the pupils in his eyes. See (<--get it?) our eyes play a major role in how we communicate as a social species. Where we look and how we look at something can say a lot about what a person is after or thinking. That's exactly why his lack of pupils or irises is so intriguing, because we cant tell where or what He's looking at! Overall I suspect the artist, Hans Baldung created the image this way to symbolize the mystery of faith behind Christ and the present day christian religion and its many denominations. But it's a stretch.