The Poetry Of Childhood

London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1981. Some of the best poems about childhood, Samuel Carr believes, have been by writers who were themselves childless, and he cites the verses of William Blake, Charles and Mary Lamb, William Cowper, Thomas Gray, R.L. Stevenson and Christina Rossetti as cases in point. These poets are all here represented, but so too are many others by writers who knew children from a parent's point of view, not least Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth. Twentieth century poets, American and British, are also represented, among them John Betjeman, Frances Cornford, Phyllis Grinley, Anthony Thwaite, Randall Jarrell, John Wain and R.S. Thomas. As a complement to the poems there is a selection of paintings, drawings and prints by, for example, Rembrandt, Berthe Morisot, Gainsborough, Hogarth, Constable, Thomas Bewick, Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, etc, etc. The collection is thus a double anthology in which poems and pictures mutually illuminate one another. Four colour plates....30 b/w illustrations. The frontispiece is a wonderful silhouette by August Edouart (1789-1828) titled "The Artist's Children." The endpapers make up two-page spreads from reproduced paintings by Thomas Webster (1800-1866) titled 'The Smile' (front endpapers), 'The Frown' (rear endpapers) The beautiful jacket illustration is a reproduction of the 'Artist's Daughters' by Gainsborough. A clean, bright book in a price-clipped bright dust jacket.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine.