Poems to Inspire Paintings

During the Saturday workshop (see previous post), members of our group made quick sketches inspired by poetry. The poems I read were from "Talking to the Sun" (see the picture link on the right for more information, or to purchase), but the internet is a wonderful source for poetry, too.

Try it! Read the following poem. Without referring to the text, do a sketch based on any impressions that "catch" in your mind. Develop the drawing into a painting. It will not be an illustration of the poem. It will be like the perfume of an orchard in bloom--not at all the same as the flowering trees.

For hundreds of additional poems online, click the title of this post.

Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern American Poetry. 1919

Pear Tree

SILVER dust
lifted from the earth,
higher than my arms reach,
you have mounted.
O silver,
higher than my arms reach
you front us with great mass;
no flower ever opened
so staunch a white leaf,
no flower ever parted silver
from such rare silver;
O white pear,
your flower-tufts,
thick on the branch,
bring summer and ripe fruits
in their purple hearts.

by H. D.