Wild Things

Making Mischief, a collection of Maurice Sendak illustrations and influences by Gregory Maguire shows this illustration from Sendak's Lullabies and Night Songs. The poem reads:

SLEEP, SLEEP, BEAUTY BRIGHT

DREAMING IN THE JOYS OF NIGHT

SLEEP, SLEEP, IN THY SLEEP,

LITTLE SORROWS SIT AND WEEP

SWEET BABE, IN THY FACE SOFT DESIRES I CAN TRACE

The meter and image reflect and respond to Willaim Blake's, 'The Tyger' from Songs of Experience, which begins and ends with:

TYGER TYGER, BURNING BRIGHT

IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT

WHAT IMMORTAL HAND OR EYE

COULD FRAME THY FEARFUL SYMMETRY?

For nearly each poem in Blake's Songs of Experience is a contrasting poem in his Songs of Innocence. Even though Sendak's illustration centers on the tiger in the foreground, he attributes to the Tyger's Innocent counterpart, "The Lamb": in the image are children climbing, yet sleeping, and either tiger and lamb can become the focus.

 If you've only seen his art from Where the Wild Things Are, check out his other works and hear Maurice Sendak talk about his life of illustrating here.