INTRODUCTION
This text, from around 1847, is a collection of poems centered around the theme of Christianity and praise for God. What marks this anthology as visually compelling are the designs and decorative choices made for each individual poem by the engraver and illustrator. Poems by two stalwarts of American Romanticism, Longfellow and Emerson, demonstrate how something as simple as a poem's border can effect how we approach, or understand, a poem.
This text, from around 1847, is a collection of poems centered around the theme of Christianity and praise for God. What marks this anthology as visually compelling are the designs and decorative choices made for each individual poem by the engraver and illustrator. Poems by two stalwarts of American Romanticism, Longfellow and Emerson, demonstrate how something as simple as a poem's border can effect how we approach, or understand, a poem.
RESOURCES
→ Model text and picture: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - "Psalm of Life"
→ Model text and picture: Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Goodbye Proud World"
- Have students make a collection or anthology. It can be a collection of certain poems or texts studied in class, or a collection of their personal favorite poems or books, from school or otherwise. Or, it can be a collection of their writing done for the class, the pieces that they chose to re-visit and edit for inclusion in the anthology. Importantly, students are to center their collection around a theme / big idea--it could be a big idea of their choice, such as 'Growing Up' or 'The Joys and Pains of Being a Brother' or 'My Improved Organization of My Essays this Year,' or anything that concerns them, personally or academically. The theme could be something studied in class, such as a central concern or essential question of an entire unit. The point is for students to select items for their collection, decorate them (just like Illuminated Gems of Sacred Poetry and Indian Summer), and then explain in a well-developed paragraph how the decorations, or illustrations, fit the content of the items and the central theme of the anthology as a whole. Students need not be good artists, or even 'artists' at all, to get something out of this assignment. Their decorations can be simple and geometric, or sparse, or silly, or grandiose. As long as they make an attempt to illustrate and decorate at least one or two of their pieces visually, and explain their choices in writing, they've succeeded. Using magazine cutouts / collage for this activity would work well.
→ Model text and picture: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - "Psalm of Life"
→ Model text and picture: Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Goodbye Proud World"
REFERENCES
Illuminated Gems of Sacred Poetry. Philadelphia : Lindsay and Blakiston, [1847?]. Print.
→ Link to item in Crystal Bridges Library database: http://library.uark.edu/record=b2894931~S2
→ Crystal Bridges Library Call Number: PR1191 .I458 1847
Illuminated Gems of Sacred Poetry. Philadelphia : Lindsay and Blakiston, [1847?]. Print.
→ Link to item in Crystal Bridges Library database: http://library.uark.edu/record=b2894931~S2
→ Crystal Bridges Library Call Number: PR1191 .I458 1847
