Nancy Willard's Newberry Medal winning and Caldecott Honor poetry collection, A Visit to William Blake's Inn, is full of rhythm and rhyme, clever lines and intricate illustrations. Willard was only seven years old when she fell in love with William Blake (1757-1827), an English poet, painter, and printmaker of the Romanic Age. Willard's babysitter quoted "The Tyger" by Blake as a bedtime story for Willard:Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame they fearful symmetry?
Blake's poetry inspired Willard as a young poet and she pays tribute to him by writing fifteen poems about William Blake himself running an inn. The fifteen poems present an inn full of fantasy complete with a staff of mighty dragons and patient angels. Throughout the collection, various visitors arrive including the King of Cats and the Wise Cow. A little boy who arrives find his pillow to be nothing but a shaggy old bear. In my favorite poem of the collection, "Blake's Wonderful Car Delivers Us so Wonderfully Well," a guest's luggage shrinks "small and pale as envelopes" because "All luggage must be carried flat and worn discreetly on your hat" to fit on the Wonderful Car. The rhythm of the poems lends to easy and expressive reading while the different rhyme forms present children with a variety of ways to rhyme.
A two-page illustration spread accompanies each poem. The illustrators, Alice and Martin Provensen, use a gouache technique in their paintings. Gouache is similar to watercolor but varies in that the pigment is suspended in water rather than mixed. The illustrations depict William Blake's London of the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century. Children can have an inside look into another time while listening to the beautiful language of Willard. The illustrations also provide children with a concrete base to interpret the poem, as Willard's language is often complicated and abstract.
I would recommend this collection of poetry for reading aloud at home or in the classroom. Children ages nine or older would most love this collection as they can begin to interpret the hidden meanings of poetry. Children at these ages as well can begin to form poetry of their own using the various rhyming forms of Willard's poetry.
This collection of fifteen poems includes:
William Blake's Inn for Innocent and Experienced Travelers
Blake's Wonderful Car Delivers Us Wonderfully Well
A Rabbit Reveals My Room
The Sun and Moon Circus Soothes the Wakeful Guests
The Man in the Marmalade Hat Arrives
The Kind of Cats Orders an Early Breakfast
The Wise Cow Enjoys a Clous
Two Sunflowers Move into the Yellow Room
The Wise Cow Makes Way, Room, and Believe
Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way
When We Come Home, Blake Calls for Fire
The Marmalade Man Makes a dance to Mend Us
The Kind of Cats Sends a Postcard to His Wife
The Tiger Asks Blake for a Bedtime Story
Blake Tells the Tiger the Tale of the Tailor
This sounds very interesting. I think I've heard of it before, but I have never actually read any of the poems. The infomation you included about the illustrator's technique was very helpful and interesting! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this book but now I am intrigued. The arework sounds amazing too. I want to read those fifteen poems inspired by love....How long is each poem?? What age group do you think this would be appropriate for?? Great choice....thanks for bringing it to us!!
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