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July 06, 2007
“Casey at the Bat” or Casey Got Way More Than Three Strikes, Part 1: Poetry Friday
“So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat…”
-“Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888” by Earnest L. Thayer
“Casey at the Bat” is a staple of textbooks from elementary school right up through high school. It’s cheap, of course, and it’s about baseball, so the kids will like it, right? I have parts of the poem memorized, but I’ve never particularly liked it. It’s kind of long and rhyming and obvious. Just ain’t my style. Nonetheless, I feel compelled to explore all the illustrated versions of this poem and, what’s more, foist my opinions off on all of you.
Let’s start with one I figured I’d like, the version illustrated by Christopher Bing in 2000. I love his work on “Paul Revere’s Ride,” so I figured I’d like this. I wasn’t wrong. Again, Bing’s genius is in details. His illustrations of the poem look like old-time newspaper pictures, all lines and smudges. Baseball players, fans, and the field are realistically depicted, like this was something truly being recorded. Backgrounds are newsprint with stories highlighted here and there – in one case, an ad: “Support your local, regional, and national libraries and the people who work in them.” (Oh, Mr. Bing, I love you, too.) In another clip, we find an editorial talking about how African-American baseball players were being barred from playing professional baseball. Bing provides additional historical context through depictions of the money of the time, game tickets, and baseball cards. I love his commitment to providing wonderfully detailed notes on how he conducted his research and created his art, even talking about such seemingly small matters as the choice of font. This gives curious children the opportunity to learn much about how books are made. The closing endpaper even includes an obit for our esteemed poet, Mr. Thayer. Overall, the historical exploration of the poem adds visual and contextual interest, leading children in any number of directions – to other poems, perhaps, but also to asking questions about baseball, the time period, and the creation of art. Sorry to say this at the outset of this ongoing series, but this is probably the only version of this poem you need.
[Today's roundup is over at Farm School. Thank you, Becky!]
Posted by adrienne at July 6, 2007 10:03 AM
Comments
I didn't know where to put this so I chose to put it here.
I used your series binder/wiki/thing today to order some books. So tell Greg..."hi-five" and thanks
Posted by: dot at July 6, 2007 10:25 AM
Ah, but you haven't really explored Casey until you've read the road game version by Garrison Keillor!
http://members.aol.com/jhatfi1006/casey2.htm
Posted by: shnootre at July 8, 2007 09:20 AM
I'd never seen that one -- how funny, though! You've gotta love Garrison Keillor.
Posted by: adrienne at July 8, 2007 08:12 PM