Figure descriptions
A woman faces away from the viewer and kneels on a dark object that rises from water.
The object contains a portion of the
poem title, “THE NEW YEAR”, positioned above a carved sun. The woman holds a baby
above her head and a flying angel leans down to
grab it. Babies and children stand around the angel; one holds onto the angel’s clothing
and another holds a jump rope. There are
leafy branches in the background. The sun is large enough to fill most of the background;
it rises behind the figures and its beams
extend to the top of the illustration. A single cloud is centered above the sun. This
portion of the illustration is contained
within a rectangular single-ruled border than features an intricate curved pattern
along the top edge. The remaining illustrated
components form a figurative border around the aforementioned scene. Above the top
edge, the first part of the title, “1893,” is
separated with “18” in the top-left corner and “93” in the top-right corner. A ribbon
connects the numbers. On the left and right
sides of the illustration, dark ribbons wrap around a stylized vegetal pattern of
leaves and stems. The months of the year are
written on the ribbon, with January through June on the left and July through December
on the right. The hand-drawn poem text
appears on a scroll at the bottom of the illustration. Full page.
