Wild bird, whose warble, liquid sweet

‘Wild bird, whose warble, liquid sweet’

Alfred Garth Jones

1901

Wood engraving

5¼ x 3¼ inches

Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam, facing p. 90.

This illustration represents the narrator, here symbolized by the begowned figure, as he moves towards a sort of emotional resolution by considering the beauty of nature – a sentiment typical of Tennyson’s philosophy. Jones’s style in this design is in the manner of Art Nouveau as it was practised by the ‘Glasgow School,’ with some emphasis on curvilinearity, registered in the treatment of the trees, but more on verticality and attenuation. The composition’s dynamism encapsulates the hopefulness of a vibrant world.

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

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