Poets
- Maxine Callow
- Sep 15
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 7
Undertaking research for influential poets that inform my narratives isn't difficult. I only have to draw on works that have become intrinsic to me. For the most part, I adore the poetry of Tim Burton, Edward Gorey and Lewis Carroll. That does not mean I am incredibly knowledgeable about any of these people or their entire back catalogue. Far from it. My measure is purely the joy the poetry that I have encountered had brought to me, then made me look a tad further to find more, and finally to check out the accompanying illustrations, always a bonus.
Tim Burton is renowned for his films which are stylised, often animated and are unique. I love nearly all of them. He's also covered the Alice films of Lewis Carroll's, so a double whammy for me. However, he is a prolific drawer who adorns napkins, notebooks and basically anything to hand. His archive of illustrations has toured the globe as part of his exhibition, The World of Tim Burton, which I visited earlier this year at The Design Museum. He also writes poetry which consists of a few lines in rhyme about one of his characters. This is what I love about Burton. My favourite is The Pincushion Queen. This little poem means the world to me and has helped me get through some rather tricky medical procedures, something I doubt the author ever envisaged. Thanks Mr Burton!
I have previously researched Tim Burton as part of my Art Foundation and re-reading it has been informative. I've included the piece here:.
Edward Gorey is a surrealist artist noted for his nonsense verse, most famously The Gashlycrumb Tinies. This verse is held in one book and is an alphabet of the death of children. Illustrated by the man himself, it is pure joy in terms of illustrations and the rhyme itself. It’s my favourite work by the artist. Gorey was famed for his love of the New York City Ballet, and he would attend every evening he was at home in New York. I would love to visit The Edward Gorey House in Cape Cod.
Lewis Carroll is known by most people the world over. His famous Alice in Wonderland has been enjoyed by literally millions of people as a book, a film and many other ways, even as simply as a cupcake. The exhibition of the way this work influenced so many other creatives was held at the V&A in London a few years ago and I was lucky enough to go. Lewis Carroll is also a local figure to my hometown of Warrington, Cheshire. I can walk to his birthplace from where I live and have done so. There are many nods to Carroll across Warrington, and we are rightly proud of him. My favourite poem is the Walrus and the Carpenter.
Again, as part of my Art Foundation and work I was looking at, I researched Lewis Carroll. This involved a comparison of Carroll's health issues with my own, which is never fun to look at, but was relevant at the time. Having read it back today, it's amazing that all we had in common has incredibly increased since I went deaf in one ear, as Carroll had as a child. I've included the research here.
Comments