A lovely fusion of poetry and art

Back when The Chancellor and I got married, one of our professors bought us a book of poetry for our coffee table. I’m just now reading it, as is my wont with gift books, but it was a highly enjoyable read. I like seeing connections between art and text, and Marilyn Chandler McEntyre marries the two well in her collection, The Color of Light, which are inspired by late paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. And since I was already a fan of Van Gogh’s work, I was curious to see how McEntyre’s words would bring his paintings to a new dimension.

McEntyre’s deft use of language comes into play as she writes poetry specific to certain of Van Gogh paintings. Starry Night is one such painting that inspires a poem, and many, many others do, as well. Her lines are clean and organized, without being either too messy and sprawling or too confined, as a lot of “rhymey” poems. I found the words inspiring and interesting, just as I enjoyed gazing on the paintings that were included in the book.

This book would not nearly be as enjoyable or effective without the paintings accompanying them, so I am glad that McEntyre and her publishers chose to include them. Like I said, merging of two art forms is of especial interest to me, so I was glad to see that this collection exists in the exact form that it does. I would be curious to see what other work McEntyre has completed, and if it has the same artistic quality as The Color of Light does.

Cross-posted to my blog.