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taylorcate / NuttingVariorum

This is the public repository for The Digital Variorum of Wordsworth's "Nutting," created by Taylor Brown—Textual Studies and Digital Humanities Master's student at Loyola University Chicago.
https://taylorcate.github.io/NuttingVariorum/
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Close Reading the Poem and Brainstorming Illustrations #23

Open taylorcate opened 5 years ago

taylorcate commented 5 years ago

Following a successful presentation and opportune encounter, I linked up with Jenny Dickinson, @spinninjenny—illustrator of children's books and historical narratives currently living in the Lake District—who will be contributing her talents to the "Nutting" Variorum Project! I've opened this issue so we can throw around our ideas for the illustrations as well as discuss the poem together in a public close reading.

taylorcate commented 5 years ago

@spinninjenny,

So glad to have you here and to be working on this project with you! I thought we could start talking here about the poem and about some of the key scenes and interactions we'd like to include in the variorum illustrations. I added you as a collaborator so once you accept that invite you should have access and permission to edit and add things to the repo. I also made a Project Board for you here which you should feel free to customize and populate as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best, Tay

spinninjenny commented 5 years ago

Hello Taylor!

Thank you for allowing me to collaborate with you on such a wonderful project. I was over the moon with your presentation and I am really looking forward to hearing all about your vision for the illustrations. I have many questions about the poem - firstly, I am going to work on developing William as a character. I would love to hear your ideas on his age, dress style, and personality regarding the time the poem is set. From my current understanding - I would be aiming to capture a youthful and adventurous spirit. If I do remember correctly, the idea of him stepping out in 'camouflage' was mentioned in your presentation. Do you have any ideas on how this might have looked?

I am heading out into the wild of Grasmere this afternoon. I am taking my camera and hope to capture some scenes for illustration inspiration. I would love to be able to organize myself with this kind of research and initial sketches using the Project Board you have set up.

Thank you again,

Jenny

taylorcate commented 5 years ago

I apologize for my delay in responding. I'm playing a major game of catch up this week!

I remember spending a great deal of time in class talking about what exactly the young Wordsworth is wearing in "Nutting." According to the 1800 Printed Version, the speaker dons "Beggar's weeds" for his excursion in the woods. Later, Wordsworth changes this to "cast-off weeds," signalling to the reader that the clothes could either be clothes worn by those cast off by society or, simply, clothes they had laying about that they didn't mind getting dirty. I think the clothing he wears is very compelling and has the potential to convey a number of possible realities to the reader. I like the idea of the young Wordsworth wearing rugged clothing, probably brown to green to grey in color, that sort of hangs off of him in a slightly awkward way. I love the word "weeds" especially because it renders a truly organic image in the mind—perhaps even more blendable with nature than our modern day camouflage!

We talked about his age a bit in our mobile chat and I said I always pictured him to be about 12-14 years old in the poem. Perhaps he could have been younger but I feel as though the poem declares a certain brand of youthful-independence, such that is only really found after the age of 10 and before the age of 15. I absolutely love the direction your drawing of William has already taken and I absolutely can't wait to see his character developed further.

I hope you had a wonderful woodland excursion yourself! Please please please upload any pictures you took to either this Issue board or your projects board at your earliest convenience :heartpulse: Our public audience needs to see just how beautiful our poet's vale really is :sunrise_over_mountains:

Best, Tay

spinninjenny commented 5 years ago

Hello Tay!

Thank you so much for your reply and I apologise for my very late response. Life has taken me on a bit of a journey this past week and I only just feel like I am touching back down to earth!

That is very useful information about William and his "cast-off weeds" - it draws very curious imagery in my mind. I am really looking forward to developing him as a character. Thank you for that information and I'm sure that was a wonderful class discussion.

I have checked out the Variorum Wireframe and I can see how you have used the rough sketch of William on the front cover. I'm going to solely focus on that specific illustration and provide you with a finished version in this coming week.

Thank you again for setting up the board for me,

I will be uploading to it very soon,

Hope you are well,

Jenny

taylorcate commented 5 years ago

@spinninjenny

Hi Jenny!

I hope things are going well! I love that sketch of William so much and wanted to include a version of it in the wireframe just to give a little sneak preview of what's to come :blush: and I wanted people to see your name associated with your work! Take your time and I look forward to seeing anything you have!

Best, Tay

spinninjenny commented 5 years ago

Hey Taylor - how are you doing? I hope you are well,

Just a check in to say that I am following your progress on the boards - I am currently working on how to present myself through github for the illustration project and a way to present myself personally online - which is a process I have wanted to embark on for a long while now. I am very happy with the deadline date of April 2020.

I have a busy Easter period to enjoy working in Grasmere and then my time here will be over! For the time I have left I am concentrating on research and taking in the beautiful area. I have pictures and notes to share. At the end of April - I am taking 6 weeks back at home in Manchester before my next job starts in June. I have chosen to take that time to concentrate on the illustrations.

I'm excited to have made this decision and can't wait to share everything with you.

Sending all my love,

Jenny

taylorcate commented 5 years ago

Hi Jenny!

I'm doing very well thank you for asking! I hope you're enjoying your last few weeks in Grasmere. I'm sure it's beginning to look greener there already! I'm so glad you're cultivating your digital identity and that some of that process is happening on GitHub. I am also glad for the extra time to make this project as good as it could be. For now I am frantically preparing enough "proof of concept" design material to present for my capstone defense on April 23rd. I have a great deal of material to point to already so it's mostly just a matter of arranging it in a logical way.

I am currently working on streamlining a process for the time-lapse transcriptions and once that's done I hope to transcribe most if not all of the manuscripts before my defense. I feel these will be key in describing to my audience the type of dynamism we will be able to expect from this digital edition.

Your timeline works well for me and I would very much like to see anything you've drafted (notes, pictures, sketches, etc.) even if you do not think any of it is finished. Also, please let me know if you run into any problems uploading things to the Projects board or to the repo in general. Looking forward to sharing my progress as I go too! I hope you have a lovely Easter! :hatching_chick: :tulip: :sunny:

Sending love and Spring tidings,

Tay