Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry is a new release by Plough Publishing Press. The book is nearly 170 pages of gorgeous poetry helped along by even more gorgeous art by comic artist Julian Peters.
The book offers poems by writers such as Maya Angelou, W. H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, e. e. cummings, Emily Dickinson, Tess Gallagher, Thomas Hardy, William Ernest Henley, Edgar Allen Poe, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Stevie Smith, Dylan Thomas, William Wordsworth, W. B. Yeats, and more.
Above is a sample of the style of art that accompanies the poems, this one by Langston Hughes. The feel of the art is meant to match to each poem and Peters certainly gets it right more often than not. I think that each individual poetry lover will have no problems choosing their favorites, whether it’s based on the writer, the art or the poem itself. Personally, I easily fell in love with the cummings and the Poe, but they are my favorites to begin with.
Poems to See By was released in April in a nod to National Poetry Month. Poetry has recently been seeing a resurgence and this new take on some old favorites is a great starting off point for people who want to be in the know. The poems are made more accessible by being partnered with the art, and can help to bring to light some aspects of the words themselves. I’m not sure why Peters picked the poems he did, but he made great choices and his art style blends perfectly with the words.
I loved this book as a comic fan and as a poetry reader, and I think it would be great for either and both. The Venn diagram of the two is getting smaller every day.
