Figure descriptions
Illustrated poem page. The boundaries among illustrated scenes are blurred. The illustrated
poem title appears on a banner at
the top of the page. It is written in hand-drawn lettering. The initial letters “C”
and “F” are contained within rectangular borders
and set against dotted backgrounds. Below the banner, an angel flies with outstretched
wings. She holds a lyre in front of her upper
body. To the angel’s right, three winged heads fly in a starry sky. Below the angel,
a fleet of three ships sails on rough waters.
The ship in the foreground features a sail decorated with a Christmas pudding. An
old bearded man guides the ship, dipping an oar
into the water. His cape flies in the wind. There are multiple bottles and other objects
on his ship’s deck. There is a lit torch on
the bow. Behind the first ship, a second ship features a sail decorated with a pattern
of hearts. A woman in classical dress sits in
the stern and steers the boat. She rests her elbow on her knee and her hand on her
chin. The third ship features a sail decorated
with a small Christmas tree. There is a second small flag at the back of the ship,
decorated with a six-point star. A nude cherub
guides this boat; he stands at the bow and raises a torch in the air above his head.
The sun shines on the horizon. Rays of light
extend upwards and horizontally from the center of the sun; they reach the top-left
corner of the page as well as the right edge,
but they fade before reaching the top-right corner of the page where the winged heads
fly. Two small birds fly among the waves at
the bottom of the page. The aforementioned illustrated scenes are contained within
a decorative rectangular border with irregular
edges. The top edge features patterns of dots and stars. The bottom edge and the lower
portion of the left edge both feature
patterns of dots and intertwined foliates. The poem text is let into an irregularly
shaped blank space in the top-left corner of the
page. The shape is vaguely rectangular with eight curled outgrowths at the four corners
and along each of the four edges. A dark
ribbon is tied in a bow at the top-left corner of this shape. The ribbon descends
halfway down the left edge of the page and ascends
to the top-left corner, forming a portion of the decorative page border. From the
top-left corner, the ribbon drapes down behind the
poem text, toward the center of the page, and wraps around the angel’s lower body.
3/4-page illustration composed of multiple parts, which are divided roughly into four
quadrants. The main illustrated scene
appears in the top left corner. An adolescent boy and girl frolic with a young girl.
The adolescent girl uses her left hand to hold
hands with the young girl; she holds up puppets in her right hand. The young girl
holds a doll in her left hand. The three ships
from the poem’s first illustration sail on distant waters in front of the shining
sun. There is a settlement with a flag and a
lighthouse on the adjacent shoreline. The poem text is let into three irregularly
shaped blank spaces in the top-right,
bottom-left, and bottom-right quadrants of the illustration. The three sections of
poem text are tied together haphazardly with long
ribbons. The first section of poem text, in the top-right corner, is vaguely rectangular
with eight curled outgrowths at the four
corners and along each of the four edges. There is a small bouquet of flowers outside
of the right edge. A winged head flies in the
bottom-right corner. There is a little star above the flying head. The second section
of poem text, in the bottom-left corner, has a
similar shape. There is a small foliate decoration outside of the left edge, and a
winged head flies in the bottom left corner. Two
winged heads fly together outside the right edge. They are surrounded by three small
stars. One word from the second section of poem
text breaks its right-side border and appears below the flying heads. The third section
of poem text appears in the bottom-right
corner of the page. There is a small foliate decoration outside of the right edge
and a toy horse below the bottom edge. A winged
head flies at the left edge. There are two stars above the flying head. The flying
head looks past a ribbon and toward the two
flying heads at the left side of the page’s center line. There is a cluster of tassels
at the center of the dividing ribbon. The
illustrated scenes are partially contained within a single-ruled border that runs
along the left and top edges; the ribbon which
ties together the sections of poem text forms the right edge of the illustrative border.
