cover image Talking to the Sun: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems for Young People

Talking to the Sun: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems for Young People

Kenneth Koch. Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, $18.95 (112pp) ISBN 978-0-03-005849-3

The fortunate explorer of this magnificent volume will be enriched by new perspectives on the everlasting foundations on which artists build, in words and pictures. With exquisite care, Koch and Farrell chose paintings and creations in other media from the Metropolitan Museum's extensive exhibits to illustrate poems about love in its many forms; about nature, animals, magic; songs celebrating nonsense and surprisesthe small and big things in life. Reproduced in full color, the pictures evoke the cultures of ancient Egypt, Asia, Africa and Europe. There are great creations by Manet, Monet, Matisse, Fragonard, Picasso, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and many more modern geniuses. Among the immortal poets represented are Yeats, Shelley, Roethke, William Blake, Rilke, Pablo Neruda, Edward Lear, Millay, Li Po, Marlowe, Shakespeare . . . the book is a veritable Who's Who of contributors to civilization. (912)