Comets, Stars, The Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian - Florian Poetry

Bibliography

Florian, Douglas. 2007. COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS: SPACE POEMS AND PAINTINGS. Orlando: Harcourt. ISBN 978-0152053727.

Review and Critical Analysis                             

COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS: SPACE POEMS AND PAINTINGS by Douglas Florian contains twenty poems with astronomy as the theme. The poems in this book are presented in an ordinal structure, starting with the idea of watching the sky, followed by the universe, the galaxy, the solar system and the planets in the solar system in the order they move away from the sun. In addition there are poems on extraneous elements within the universe such as constellations and comets. The book concludes with a poem on THE GREAT BEYOND, or deep space. Florian has included a Table of Contents, along with a Galactic Glossary and Selected Bibliography in the back of the book. This book also has an element of engineering incorporated in it. There are cutouts, the majority of which are circular in shape, on every other page that highlights areas of the illustrations in the upcoming poems.

The subject, astronomy, affords the injection of vivid images and descriptive language. VENUS is an accurate example of this imagery. Florian describes the planet as having a “scalding surface” with no life and poisonous clouds in its atmosphere. Images come to mind of a barren landscape, perhaps with heat waves rising from the ground, and unhealthy yellow looking clouds hanging in the air. He ends the poem by asking an intriguing question, why would you name such a dead, bleak world for a goddess of love? This question provides a nice contrast for the reader, and perhaps would spark a research assignment if this poem were used in a classroom setting.

Each of these poems is short and concise, and every poem in the collection is written in rhyme. They highlight special features or attributes of outer space. Several types of rhyme schemes are employed by Florian, most notably couplet, half measure and chain rhyme. Couplet features prominently in MERCURY and NEPTUNE, while half measure, where the second and fourth lines in a four line stanza rhyme and the first and third do not is used satisfactorily in THE SOLAR SYSTEM. The chain rhyme is used successfully in his poem THE MINOR PLANETS. The poem is written in two four line stanzas. The first three lines of the first stanza rhyme, as do the first three lines of the second. While the fourth and eighth lines rhyme. 

Both the rhyme schemes and the poetry itself have unique features. In THE UNIVERSE Florian writes, “Including all the empty space” and the letters in the word empty are themselves spaced out to emphasize the concept he is trying to convey. The very last word in the poem NEPTUNE is blue, and is colored blue within the text to reinforce the color of the planet. A GALAXY is a concrete poem shaped like a spiral galaxy. THE MOON, a poem in five couplets, has four words (in the first four couplets) written out in bold, new, crescent, half and full. These words correspond to the phases of the moon, and each couplet that has a bold word succinctly describes that phase.

Florian’s poems are informative and have the ability to increase not only the reader’s knowledge about astronomy, but also their vocabulary. Each poem is instructive, illuminating the object, or objects being discussed.  In THE CONSTELLATIONS Florian does this two ways. In the illustration for that poem Florian overlays a picture of the constellation represented with its Latin name. Also, within the poem itself he refers to the constellations with there Latin names. Through the illustration and the poem readers learn what animals the Latin names represent. Some of the constellations are easily recognizable, while others might be new to young readers. The poems each have a definite element of humor present as well. This will help keep the reader’s attention, and retain interest. One of the best examples of Florian’s use of humor to instruct is found in PLUTO. This book was written after Pluto was demoted from planetary status, and Florian in a very humorous fashion, says that Pluto was considered a planet, but now “it doesn’t pass” because it is “lacking mass.” He concluded the poem by saying “Pluto was a planet. Till one day it got fired.” This mix of information and humor is perfect for a young audience.

Florian’s illustrations are entertaining and sophisticated. A mix of collages, cutouts, stamps and paint these two page illustrations are extremely colorful and playful, but they are also instructive on several levels. They not only are descriptive of the poem, but they also present new terms or subjects than can be explored.  In THE SUN there is a large, two page painted image of the sun in brilliant shades of orange and yellow. Superimposed over that in collage fashion are smaller artistic depictions of the sun. On the outside edge of the painting of the sun is the word ‘sun’ in various languages including Estonian, Spanish, German and Lithuanian. This supplemental level introduces the study of languages in addition to the poetry. THE BLACK HOLE illustration depicts what happens to a supernova as it dies and gets sucked into a black hole. The illustration is almost in diagram fashion, displaying the supernova on the left page with a large trail of yellow gas leading away from it in a spiral pattern toward the black hole. This illustration presents a small science lesson because along that trail, and written on top of the yellow paint, is the word ‘gas’ along with arrows in red pointing the direction the gas follows to reach the black hole, which is shown as a small black dot in the center of the right page.   

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis and How That Poem Would Be Introduced

SKYWATCH

By Douglas Florian

On a clear night you might try

To gaze upon the starry sky.

A telescope or binoculars are

Great aids to observe a star.

To find your way it’s good to sight

Upon a star that’s very bright,

Like Sirius or Canopus,

Alpha Centauri or Arcturus.

You may see a planet or

A flash of light from a meteor.

Use a constellation chart

To help you tell the stars apart.

Start out when the day is done.

Most of all: Have lots of fun!

         In SKYWATCH Florian mentions almost every celestial object contained in the book, making use of couplet rhyme. This poem, like the others in the collection, is simultaneously instructive and entertaining. He instructs by providing the names of uncommon stars and entertains by encouraging the practice of looking up into the sky to discover what is there. He also adds that above all readers should have fun, not only sky watching but presumably with the poems to follow as well.

          Before my formal introduction to this poem I would begin by asking the students, “Have you ever gone out to look at the sky at night?” and “If you have, what did you see?” Other questions could be “Did you know the names of what you saw?” or “What was the favorite thing you saw when you looked into the night sky?” After this brief discussion I would introduce the poem by saying, “Today I am going to read you a poem called SKYWATCH by Douglas Florian. It discusses several celestial bodies that you might see when you gaze into the night sky. Listen closely and when we are finished we can talk about the objects mentioned in the poem, and if any of you have ever seen them.” I would then read the actual poem aloud, showing them the illustrations while I read. Being able to see Florian’s eclectic artwork will help the students experience the poem on a visual, as well as oral level.