Frontispiece: Songs of Innocence (1927)
- Title
- Frontispiece: Songs of Innocence (1927)
- Student Commentary:
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A male figure takes up the foreground in this image from Songs of Innocence (1927 facsimile). He is holding a wooden musical instrument that looks to be some type of flute. He stares at a cherubic figure that is flying above him. Two tall, lush trees frame the illustration on this plate. Behind the male figure are acres of crops or pasture land with grazing sheep. The whole effect is one of sweet, pastoral inspiration.
The coloring and impact of this frontispiece should be compared to that of other reproductions in the library’s collections, made by different hands or from different original copies. The image here is much darker than the 1954 reproduction of this frontispiece, for example. This image has a dark blue sky and dark green grass and trees that lead into black shadows, casting an overall nighttime feel to the image. The main figure is also colored entirely differently.