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A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures
A collaboration between a contemporary painter and an award-winning poet, this 21st-century bestiary is a spellbinding artistic meditation on the mysteries and diversity of the animal kingdom. Originating in the Middle Ages, bestiaries were illustrated volumes that described various animals--some real, some mystical. The natural history and illustration of each beast were usually accompanied by a moral lesson. In this beautifully illustrated book, respected painter Darren Waterston and distinguished poet Mark Doty come together to breathe new life into the medieval genre. Waterston's precise and haunting silhouettes depict species from insect to bird to mammal, captured in motion as they hunt their prey, build their nests, or protect their young. Accompanying these illustrations are Doty's poetic observations on the wonders of the animal world--its panoply of sounds and shapes, its dignity and its cruelty. Lovers of art, animals, and poetry will delight in this elegant volume that captures nature's exquisite and terrible beauty.
108 pages, Hardcover
First published March 25, 2013
79 people want to read
About the author
Mark Doty
89 books337 followersMark Doty is a poet, essayist, and memoirist. He is the author of ten books of poetry, including Deep Lane and Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, which won the National Book Award. He lives in New York, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 20, 2017
A real pleasure to read and see.
February 7, 2014
Beautiful poetry, beautiful illustrations! The layout is spectacular and this is a great pair of creative people!
December 16, 2013
Less than I was expecting, more than a snoozefest; here, it's the artwork that saves us as the word's quirky little font-frizzles totally and abysmal fail to establish any sense of poetic cohesion, as if Doty wanted to arrive at the epigrammatic clarity of the fragment but ended up instead with the sordid jumbo of a swami: just to be clear, this is what I'm talking about [image error]. "Screech owls tumble down the night's / stairway," the first two pages go, and from there we have little respite: "The woodpecker wears on his forehead / a bit of the original flame", for example. Without page numbering it's difficult to get a sense of time passing in this book which, to me, felt timelessly dull – with the odd frisson of interest at the illustrations. There's little of the old bestiary here, none of T.H. White's capacious and encyclopaedic wisdom, Jorge Luis Borges's brilliant fancy, Pablo Neruda's charm and humanity, or even the humour of Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues or the enveloping thoroughness of The Book Of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary. "Ok, you're ok" I told the book and put it down. I'll probably never pick it up again.
April 19, 2013
What an awe-inspiring collaboration between Mark Doty's wondrous words and Darren Waterston's exquisite animal silhouettes! While reading the poetry out loud, I found myself immersed within the pages of beautiful animal images--evoking a feeling in me as though all of the animals were kindred spirits.
The eloquence of Mark Doty's words gives an uncommon beauty and significance to each animal mentioned in the book. Some of my favorite lines are when he talks of birds: "Our best words are for the birds--because their music charms us, something more like our own? Maybe they taught us to sing, and therefore--we say trill and chorus out of kinship, as they embroider the dawn with arias and eruptions."
The images and words complement each other well, and viewers will delight in the simplicity, yet profoundness of the placement of some of them. For example, in one 2-page spread, there is an image of a snail (slime trail in tow), with the words: "Snail exhales a silver avenue."
At times, I also found myself relating to some of the animal encounters in the book, which helped foster an empathetic connection with what I was reading. For instance, a story is told to the reader about how a person, while driving in his car, sees a box turtle in the road, and stops to rescue it. I, too, had a similar encounter with a turtle.
I highly recommend that everyone experience this magnificent book!
The eloquence of Mark Doty's words gives an uncommon beauty and significance to each animal mentioned in the book. Some of my favorite lines are when he talks of birds: "Our best words are for the birds--because their music charms us, something more like our own? Maybe they taught us to sing, and therefore--we say trill and chorus out of kinship, as they embroider the dawn with arias and eruptions."
The images and words complement each other well, and viewers will delight in the simplicity, yet profoundness of the placement of some of them. For example, in one 2-page spread, there is an image of a snail (slime trail in tow), with the words: "Snail exhales a silver avenue."
At times, I also found myself relating to some of the animal encounters in the book, which helped foster an empathetic connection with what I was reading. For instance, a story is told to the reader about how a person, while driving in his car, sees a box turtle in the road, and stops to rescue it. I, too, had a similar encounter with a turtle.
I highly recommend that everyone experience this magnificent book!
June 12, 2013
Sometimes art can be too artsy. // A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures// is a throwback to the bestiaries of old. In between some of the collages of silhouettes are poems that emphasize man’s connection to nature. The poetry is beautiful, sometimes even haunting, making for a rather nice complement to the art, which has an odd chimerical feel to it as animals spring out of other animals and the silhouettes merge together. This is a great-looking book and a thought provoking read.
This is obviously not a book for everyone. The artwork is evocative, but can sometimes be a little grotesque, especially for those used to more traditional art. It would fit nicely theme-wise with medieval art the necessary but the necessary lack of detail may throw some off. The poetry is also pretty good, but the typography may throw some off; letters are apparently randomly italicized, forcing the poetry into a strange rhythm when read emphasizing those letters. Because of that the poetry pools and spurts like a mountain stream, making for a more organic poem. This is definitely something to be read, and may teach poets a few more tricks.
As originally written by Jamais Jochim for http://www.portlandbookreview.com/.
This is obviously not a book for everyone. The artwork is evocative, but can sometimes be a little grotesque, especially for those used to more traditional art. It would fit nicely theme-wise with medieval art the necessary but the necessary lack of detail may throw some off. The poetry is also pretty good, but the typography may throw some off; letters are apparently randomly italicized, forcing the poetry into a strange rhythm when read emphasizing those letters. Because of that the poetry pools and spurts like a mountain stream, making for a more organic poem. This is definitely something to be read, and may teach poets a few more tricks.
As originally written by Jamais Jochim for http://www.portlandbookreview.com/.
May 6, 2017
Beautiful collaboration between poet and artist, inspired by medieval bestiaries. Some of the poems are better crafted than others, but there are quite a few gems.
February 2, 2014
Beautiful book. And wonderful concept -- "creaturely." The notion that some of us recognize beasts as reflections of different aspects of the soul.
October 1, 2019
A really gorgeous book in all ways.
September 23, 2016
Exquisite illustrations with brief and illuminating lines of poetry.
June 16, 2013
I got this as a gift. Wonderful!! It's so lovely.
February 3, 2014
Blue ribbon !
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews