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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