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Illustrated Poetry
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From: Linnea Hendrickson <lhendr>
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 23:00:57 -0600
I am probably a minority in this group, but I have always liked Susan Jeffers' interpretation of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." I suppose it could be argued (and probably has been) that her depiction of the Santa Claus-like old man and the almost cuddly animals trivializes words that have much deeper meanings, but I have had students tell me that only after seeing Jeffers' pictures did they really see the images of snow. I think often we try to get students beyond visualizing
(concretizing) the imagery of a poem and to delve into the underlying significance too fast. One of my students told me that although she had had that poem presented to her many times over the years, she had never really liked it, never understood why people thought it was such a great poem, and never really had an understanding of what snowy woods might be like. However, she had recently been in the mountains in a snow storm, and it looked exactly like the last two pages in Jeffers' book. For the first time she was able to relate the poem to her own experience. If it takes illustrations to help readers make that connection, that's fine with me.
I also like Ed Young's interpretation of "Birches," which also received quite a few negative reviews, as I recall.
Arnold Adoff has many books of poetry with wonderful illustrations. I thought "Touch the Poem" illustrated by Lisa Desimini was a perfect marriage of words and art. I can't put my hands on my copy of the book right now, but I especially remember the image of the sandy beach, with lips in the sand, and a drop of water (ice melting in the mouth).
And Love Letters, also illustrated by Desimini, especially the one "Dear Fill-In-Your-Own Name:" with a copy machine, and sheets of paper flying across the page: "my dad has this excellent copying machine/ in his office./ Your Special love: Mr. One-And-Only." Adoff's words are always spread out in interesting fashion that reflect the phrasing and/or meaning of the lines -- so in a way they are also illustration.
As for collections of poems: I love (as I've written at length on this list in the past) Javaka Steptoe's "In Daddy's Arms I am Tall" where every poem seems to be given added significance by the illustrations. Then there is Wade Zahares's Big, Bad, and a Little Bit Scary: Poems that Bite Back! The bold perspectives and colors make this an immediate hit at read-aloud time. I don't think I've ever read from this book without having lots of kids begging to borrow it.
I've used Jan Greenberg's Heart to Heart, too, showing the children the pictures, and asking them to think about what kind of poem they might write, or what they might say in response to some of the pictures.
Finally, Robert Louis Stevenson. For about two months in 1979, when my first child was three and four months old, I lived in a house in the
"new town" of Edinburgh, just around the corner from Robert Louis Stevenson's childhood home. I would walk past the house regularly (baby in his pram), looking at Leerie's street lamp in front, and wondering
(imagining) what could be seen of the private garden across the street from the upper windows. I think there was a pond, on which I thought the young Stevenson must have sailed his toy boat. And I suspected that that was the garden where the gardener had made him stay on the gravel walk. As a new mother quite isolated in a foreign country, I felt close to that lonely child. I searched for an edition of the poems that I would like to have as a keepsake, and ended up with Brian Wildsmith's colorful, semi?stract, imaginative, and quite timeless interpretations. I've never been sorry for that choice. I still have that book, right here with me now. And when I open it, it brings back memories.
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 23:00:57 -0600
I am probably a minority in this group, but I have always liked Susan Jeffers' interpretation of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." I suppose it could be argued (and probably has been) that her depiction of the Santa Claus-like old man and the almost cuddly animals trivializes words that have much deeper meanings, but I have had students tell me that only after seeing Jeffers' pictures did they really see the images of snow. I think often we try to get students beyond visualizing
(concretizing) the imagery of a poem and to delve into the underlying significance too fast. One of my students told me that although she had had that poem presented to her many times over the years, she had never really liked it, never understood why people thought it was such a great poem, and never really had an understanding of what snowy woods might be like. However, she had recently been in the mountains in a snow storm, and it looked exactly like the last two pages in Jeffers' book. For the first time she was able to relate the poem to her own experience. If it takes illustrations to help readers make that connection, that's fine with me.
I also like Ed Young's interpretation of "Birches," which also received quite a few negative reviews, as I recall.
Arnold Adoff has many books of poetry with wonderful illustrations. I thought "Touch the Poem" illustrated by Lisa Desimini was a perfect marriage of words and art. I can't put my hands on my copy of the book right now, but I especially remember the image of the sandy beach, with lips in the sand, and a drop of water (ice melting in the mouth).
And Love Letters, also illustrated by Desimini, especially the one "Dear Fill-In-Your-Own Name:" with a copy machine, and sheets of paper flying across the page: "my dad has this excellent copying machine/ in his office./ Your Special love: Mr. One-And-Only." Adoff's words are always spread out in interesting fashion that reflect the phrasing and/or meaning of the lines -- so in a way they are also illustration.
As for collections of poems: I love (as I've written at length on this list in the past) Javaka Steptoe's "In Daddy's Arms I am Tall" where every poem seems to be given added significance by the illustrations. Then there is Wade Zahares's Big, Bad, and a Little Bit Scary: Poems that Bite Back! The bold perspectives and colors make this an immediate hit at read-aloud time. I don't think I've ever read from this book without having lots of kids begging to borrow it.
I've used Jan Greenberg's Heart to Heart, too, showing the children the pictures, and asking them to think about what kind of poem they might write, or what they might say in response to some of the pictures.
Finally, Robert Louis Stevenson. For about two months in 1979, when my first child was three and four months old, I lived in a house in the
"new town" of Edinburgh, just around the corner from Robert Louis Stevenson's childhood home. I would walk past the house regularly (baby in his pram), looking at Leerie's street lamp in front, and wondering
(imagining) what could be seen of the private garden across the street from the upper windows. I think there was a pond, on which I thought the young Stevenson must have sailed his toy boat. And I suspected that that was the garden where the gardener had made him stay on the gravel walk. As a new mother quite isolated in a foreign country, I felt close to that lonely child. I searched for an edition of the poems that I would like to have as a keepsake, and ended up with Brian Wildsmith's colorful, semi?stract, imaginative, and quite timeless interpretations. I've never been sorry for that choice. I still have that book, right here with me now. And when I open it, it brings back memories.
-- Linnea Linnea Hendrickson Albuquerque, NM Lhendr at unm.edu http://www.unm.edu/~lhendrReceived on Sun 20 Apr 2003 12:00:57 AM CDT
