Great Literature Illustrated

[Janine]

Janine, I enjoyed them very much. I love Doré’s and Nielsen’s work. Harry Clarke is new for me. I found his art strikingly beautiful. Thank you, Dark Muse.

And I'm already seeing the other two threads -- thanks, Janine.

Gustovo L, Glad you purused the thread and liked all those. I like the Doré’s and Nielsen's too. I own a few Nielsen books and the plates are extraordinary. I didn't know about Harry Clarke, until Dark Muse introduced me to his work and I find it extremely interesting.

Enjoy the other two threads!


Quote by aBIGsheep

Fo sho mo. Nice to meet you Janine. Despite being a few months old and almost 300 posts in, it's pleasure, fo sure.

aBIGsheep

I think we did meet once in your profile page - wasn't that you with the shark? hey, what do sheep have to do with sharks?
..so what exactly does 'Fo sho mo' mean in English?
wowy, you say you have 300 post already? They do add up, don't they?

And if you're curious the cover art is by James Jean but he's leaving and Joao Ruas took his place issues 81+.

And it's not Marvel, my bad. It's actually Vertigo which is a subsidary of DC.

Thanks for the info. You must really be into comic book collecting, am I right? My son used to collect them years back. I thought it did say Marvel on one of them; no?

I am not sure if Alice in the wonderland is regarded as great literature, but it is one that springs in my mind when dealing with illustrated literature. I remember emulating cross sketching of these works back when I was at primary school, I think I still have them

skasian, I found the place where I posted some of the Arthur Rackham "Alice and Wonderland" illustrations - it was in the Children's thread. They are post #5. Here is the link to the page.

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=39013

Enjoy! I love this illustrators work; I have several of his books.

[Dark Muse]

I thought this was quite cool and was excited when I came acorss it. It is from Tennyson's Mariana by Aruthur Hughes

[Janine]

Ok, you are back reviving this thread, great! I have had guilt about it for sometime now. I know I neglected all three threads on illustrations I had started, but will try and post some good stuff soon. Thanks, Dark Muse. I like the painting of the girl with the veil. It would be interesting to post the poem, if it is not too long. I am not really familar with that particular poem.

[Dark Muse]

I have not had much time to go hunting through images but I happend upon this one, and thought I could post it up here. I am something of a fan of Tennyson. I can post the poem. Though I have to say I am not sure I completely agree with Hughes interpitation, I would not picture Mariana in this way.


Mariana
WITH blackest moss the flower-plots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the pear to the gable-wall.
The broken sheds look'd sad and strange:
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated grange.
She only said, 'My life is dreary,
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!'
Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
Either at morn or eventide.
After the flitting of the bats,
When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
She only said, 'The night is dreary,
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!'

Upon the middle of the night,
Waking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The **** sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxen's low
Came to her: without hope of change,
In sleep she seem'd to walk forlorn,
Till cold winds woke the gray-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, 'The day is dreary,
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!'

About a stone-cast from the wall
A sluice with blacken'd waters slept,
And o'er it many, round and small,
The cluster'd marish-mosses crept.
Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver-green with gnarled bark:
For leagues no other tree did mark
The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, 'My life is dreary,
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!'

And ever when the moon was low,
And the shrill winds were up and away,
In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low,
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
Upon her bed, across her brow.
She only said, 'The night is dreary,
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!'

All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creak'd;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd,
Or from the crevice peer'd about.
Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors,
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices call'd her from without.
She only said, 'My life is dreary,
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,'
I would that I were dead!'

The sparrow's chirrup on the roof,
The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moted sunbeam lay
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping toward his western bower.
Then, said she, 'I am very dreary,
He will not come,' she said;
She wept, 'I am aweary, aweary,
O God, that I were dead!'

[Wilde woman]

This is a truly amazing. I've really enjoyed scrolling through all these illustrations; some of them are hauntingly beautiful. I've never really scene art that depicts literature, other than Blake's bizarre artwork and Tiepolo's paintings of the Aeneid. I may post some later.

Thanks for the pictures!

[Janine]

I love Tennyson's poems. That is great. It is so altogether sad, isn't it? The singer/song writer Loreena McKennitt put a number of Tennyson's poems to music. I love "The Lady of Shalott".

[Wilde woman]

I love Tennyson's poems. That is great. It is so altogether sad, isn't it. The singer/song writer Lorena McKennitt put a number of Tennyson's poems to music. I love "The Lady of Shalott".

Yes, I noticed that Loreena McKennitt likes to do songs about literature. She also has one called "Dante's Prayer" about the Divine Comedy. It's quite beautiful.

[Janine]

Yes, I noticed that Loreena McKennitt likes to do songs about literature. She also has one called "Dante's Prayer" about the Divine Comedy. It's quite beautiful.

That is my favorite song of hers and actually what drew me to her music to begin with. I want that one played at my funeral. I just love that song so much. I first heard it when I was viewing ice-skating on TV. I think it was Michelle Kwan or Kristie Yamaguki (eekkk SP?) who skated to it. It as so lovely and I loved the lyrics, so much I tracked down the singer and the album.

[JBI]

The problem is though, that Mariana isn't even Tennyson's creation, she is Shakespeare's - so I think an illustrator would technically have to approach Tennyson through Shakespeare, or just Shakespeare.

[Wilde woman]

That is my favorite song of hers and actually what drew me to her music to begin with. I want that one played at my funeral. I just love that song so much. I first heard it when I was viewing ice-skating on TV. I think it was Michelle Kwan or Kristie Yamaguki (eekkk SP?) who skated to it. It as so lovely and I loved the lyrics, so much I tracked down the singer and the album.

Me too! I love songs that cover famous works of literature. Have you heard Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights"? It's quite virtuosic, almost operatically so, and I can just imagine Catherine singing it...she's such a prima donna. I'm particularly fond of Hayley Westenra's version of it.

[mono]

I loved that Gustave Doré received so much attention early in the thread. One of my personal favorites by him, from Dante's The Divine Comedy, when Dante and Virgil find Arachne:



"O mad Arachne! so I thee beheld / E'en then half spider" (Purgatorio XII, 43, 44).

-----

I recently came across Melville's Moby Dick illustrated by Rockwell Kent. Slightly more simple in terms of detail work, but quite beautiful in its own way:

[Dark Muse]

Those are cool

One of the reaons why I just can never bring myself to read Moby Dick, is even though I know it is suppose to be symbolic, I just cannot bring myself to read a story all about someone who is trying to kill a whale.

[Gustavo L.]

Bump!

Well, some days ago I found some comic books by Japanese artist Natsuki Sumeragi. She adapted several short stories from classical Chinese literature, and I think she did a great job.

I’m reading an Italian translation of some of her works and I rank it among the finest comic book adaptations I ever seen. Here’s a glimpse:

[Janine]

The problem is though, that Mariana isn't even Tennyson's creation, she is Shakespeare's - so I think an illustrator would technically have to approach Tennyson through Shakespeare, or just Shakespeare.

In that case, it may be that no one knows the color of her hair or exactly what she looked like. Shakespeare was never specific on his character's physical characteristics.

Sorry it took me so long to get back here and answer this, JBI. I will answer others as well. Glad to see some people posting in here and reviving the thread again. When I saw it come up in the listing I said was quite glad. I need to post some new stuff myself.

Me too! I love songs that cover famous works of literature. Have you heard Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights"? It's quite virtuosic, almost operatically so, and I can just imagine Catherine singing it...she's such a prima donna. I'm particularly fond of Hayley Westenra's version of it.

Strange you should ask, Wilde woman. I have heard Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" and just recently since someone used it on a video on Youtube as their soundtrack for excerpts from the film version with Timothy Dalton; I own and love that film.

Mono, Good to see you posting here. I love Gustave Doré's work, too. His detail is amazing. Glad you enjoyed the ones already posted in this thread. I like the one you posted. The spider-woman if incredibly interesting. The Rockwell Kent of Moby Dick is interesting too. I love the star background!

Gustavo L., welcome back again and I love that first one the best. They both have nice linear qualities to the images. We have not had any Chinese representation until now. It is good to see. Variety/diversity is a good thing.

[mono]

One of the reaons why I just can never bring myself to read Moby Dick, is even though I know it is suppose to be symbolic, I just cannot bring myself to read a story all about someone who is trying to kill a whale.

Oh, Dark Muse, I would love to hear your interpretations of Moby Dick if you ever read it. I have read it twice, but only once at an age that I fully understood it, and consider it a true beauty in pages. The second time I read it, I think I flipped through the 600-pager in less than two weeks, solely because I could not set it down - stunning imagery, mind-boggling symbolism, and incredible characters (I still dream of Ahab from time to time).
Hmmm, maybe I will start a thread of it sometime soon . . .