![]() Although an amazed ScroogeĪttempts to smile at all he observes, his gesture is a closed one, as if he is trying to Up with rust" (78) which Dickens describes on the facing page. Is not immediately apparent in black-and-white reprints of this engraving, but theĬolouration of the original makes it clearer that this is the "ancient sheath. The object leaning against his left knee is an empty scabbard (signifying universal peace) Welcome, he gestures to another kind of welcoming spirit in a steaming, golden bowl. His right hand, the genial Spirit holds the concord-producing torch which suggests inĮmblematic fashion Christ as The Light of the World with his left, his hand open in Loving detail is not evident in Leech's delicately engraved and subtly coloured plate. Sitting, although the "throne" of poultry, meats, and fruits which Dickens enumerates in Theīare-footed, bare-chested, exuberant, bearded epitome of December 25th appears to be Virile Spirit and the night-capped head of the diminutive Scrooge, wearing an almostįeminine night-gown that reaches to his ankles and tiny, slipper-clad feet. Surges across the room, connecting the enormous, holly-wreathed head of the gigantic and Traditionally associated with the Green Man) spills out from above the mantelpiece and Pronounced "humbug." The yuletide greenery (cedar or fir rather than the acanthus ![]() Life) recalls Scrooge to the joys of a season and a festival that he has roundly Possibility of a social and spiritual rather than just a physical renewal of quality of Green-clad Spirit (a Green Man for the nineteenth century, here perhaps representing the The oft-reproduced and copied Spirit of Christmas PresentĬelebrates the evergreen nature of a holiday redolent with childhood memories as the Had had the opportunity to read Dickens's six-week wonder. Informed and sensitive interpretation of Dickens's text read in draft, before anyone else Provided him, but also added thoughtful touches that make this illustration a highly Penguin and Oxford Illustrated Dickens, so that it may be instructive to investigate theĮxtent to which Leech realised in the most minute particulars the text that Dickens Original have been lost in the blurry black-and-white reproductions such as those in the Throughout the Leech composition one finds ample evidence of what the reviewer for The Illustrated London News for 23 December 1843 described as "theĭelicacy of fine etchings" (411) indeed, many of the subtle effects of the hand-coloured Implies an overflowing of the spirit of generosity and the joys of the domestic hearth,Īspects of social relationships entirely lacking in Scrooge's life for so many years. "transcendental but secular spirit" (143) of the entire series is evident in the vividĪccumulation of realistic details (the puddings, oysters, and punch bowls) and theĮxpressions of the genial Spirit and the amazed Scrooge. Jacob Marley's Ghost - but how changed are both the room, formerly dark, cold, andįorbidding, and its equally forbidding occupant, Ebenezer Scrooge.Īs Jane Rabb Cohen has remarked of all eight original Leech illustrations, thisįull-page, hand-coloured steel engraving for Dickens's A ChristmasĬarol, Scrooge's third Visitor, elegantly and uniquelyĬombines "the ideal, real, and supernatural" (142) with pathos, whimsy, and humour. Room in which (in Scrooge's dream vision) on the previous night Scrooge encountered With its wainscoting, fireplace, and fireside chair, this is the same Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard but no sword was in it, and the ancient Its dark brown curls were long and free free as its genial face, its sparklingĮye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air. Head it wore no other covering than a holly wreath, set here and there with shining Its feet, observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare and on its This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that itsĬapacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. It was clothed in one simple green robe, or ![]() "I am the Ghost of Christmas Present," said the Spirit. Passage Illustrated (facing the engraving)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |