Self Portrait With Seven Fingers

Lewis, J. Patrick and Yolen, Jane.  2011. Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers: The Life of Marc Chagall in Verse.  Ill. by Marc Chagall. Mankato: The Creative Company.  ISBN 978-1-56846-211-0 (Image obtained from amazon.com)

Summary

Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers: The Life of Marc Chagall in Verse is an anthology picture book which showcases the paintings of Marc Chagall, a Russian Jewish artist.  The poetry is written to describe specific works and titled the same. 

Quality and Appeal

Through research, Lewis and Yolen craft poetry which they feel captures the sentiments expressed in Chagall’s art.  Each poem is coupled with a brief synopsis of the painting, a handful of accepted facts surrounding the content within the painting or the time in which it was painted or direct quotations from Chagall himself. The poetry serves as an acceptable introduction to Chagall and his work.  The poetry selected does an impressive job at providing context to concepts like the Russian Revolution and World War II while tying it into how this history influenced Chagall’s work.  

Mostly free verse and while not entirely difficult to understand, the content is somewhat heavy for the targeted audience. Perhaps those children who already have an interest in art history would be best suited for this book. 

Spotlight Poem

An excerpt from The Fall of Icarus

But Chagall’s Icarus is no seafaring lad,

He falls on the land of rabble gone mad.

Some are happy he’s failed, some unspeakably sad.

Poor Icarus knows that he’s dying.

This poem could be used to introduce fictionalized accounts of otherwise factual historical information.  Students in the target audience can learn to research and separate the facts from the interpretation. 

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