99. EMILY DICKINSON: A bird came down the walk
January 15th, 2013
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet. Although cheerful and outgoing as a youngster, she became more melancholy and withdrawn as she grew older. By the time she was in her 20s, Dickinson had become a recluse, seldom leaving her family home and talking to visitors behind a closed door. She made little effort to publish her work, preferring to share her poems through correspondence with family and friends. It was only after her death, when her younger sister discovered over 1800 of Dickinson’s poems, would the full breadth of her talent be appreciated.
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Zen Pencils adapts inspirational quotes into cartoons. It's illustrated by Gavin Aung Than and there's a new toon every Tuesday. More info
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Gav you tricked me! I thought this was going to be an extension of the poetic justice saga!Beautiful as always, but still unhappy.
Well it is an extension, the story of the boy continues
Me too, I thought it would once again be about the young fellow learning a lesson on life, the more or less tough way.
)
But maybe he’s has learned them now and is more at peace with himself now. Learning to enjoy beauty. (And here comes the sudden self-reflection….
I like this one, I like anything happening outdoors in nature… thanks.
Hahah as soon as I saw the first frame, I’m like,’I know that boy!!’
<3 Poetic Justice is your best work, gavv 
Nice to see a follow up on Poetic Justice boy.
That’s beautiful, you really captured the essence of the poem with your art.
Nicely done, it takes your mind on a walk through a wood and green fields. It’s bright, it’s somewhat happy, but still subtly catches the melancholy that sometimes swing along with Emily Dickinson. (At least from the little that I’ve read.
One of my favourite poems when I was a child -and that was a long time ago.
thank you for reminding me.
Lovely! A bit different to your usual style but I like it. The imagery brings to mind the cinematography of Life Of Pi. Also a good book btw- read it when you get a chance!
Well I watched Life of Pi recently so maybe it influenced me subconsciously.
Love this one so very much! Gorgeous bird, and you’ve really captured that moment of flight.
I like the use of perspectives on this one—the fish looking up at the silhouette of the boat…nice!
I had to hide during my job to savor the saga. Honestly, I was hoping a thogh, hardcore life lesson. But one must rest and take a break, this is the first time where the kid is relaxed and cool.
Loved your colors! And I suggest that you read “Success is counted sweetest”
The boy is growing and looks in peace.
Nice job, Gav
I’m having problems viewing the post, you seem to be using some new plugin, maybe that’s the problem. Also, would be nice to have emails ‘clickable’, for some reason I can’t find the link and have to go to the site directly. Other than that, great work!
Rainer Maria Rilke had a beuatiful quote that I think paraphrases this poem quite well – “Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final”
Rainer Maria Rilke had a beautiful quote that I think paraphrases this poem quite well – “Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final”
“Splashless” or “plashless”?
“plashless” it is. Dickinson was a bit wild. Poem 328.
I am a fan of your illustrations and visualization.
I just loved the bird here and kept staring at my screen for a few minutes.
Hey Gav, have always loved the colors that you use in your comics. However, in this particular comics it does justice to the poem!
Cheers!
Im excited to see what you’ll do for your 100th comic. I hope its Bukowski, but his imagery is hard to capture visually. i always felt that his writing was a lot to be interpretted by the reader.
Hey, I’m a follower of your site since last year. I use it via RSS and Google Reader on my phone. You recently removed the comics from the RSS stream, which I understand makes sense for you to get more ad views. What really annoys me is full screen porn popup ads that can’t be closed that appear while reading the comics. This makes your site basically unusable for me. I’m writing this from my desktop, where I use an adblocker.
Thanks for the info Dodo, I was unaware of this. Is anyone else having problems with inappropriate pop-ups????
I have no such issues. What I did notice, however, was some flickering in the header when I tried your site in IE (the comic picker combo looks odd in Firefox – so I tried other browsers).
Probably on his own computer.
Anyway: next up: #100! Can’t wait
Thanks, I’m working on fixing the archive dropdown menu.
Unfortunately, if you have a site that runs ads, you will more than likely have ads that do popups. Gone are the days of simple animated GIF banner ads. Now they all use Javascript and Flash to annoy the user to the point that they find addons that block ALL ads and deny the web page host of any revenue.
F*#@ing Javascript… :/
You may want to check your computer for spyware/malware.
Thx for the warning, but it happens on my smartphone, where I’m sure there is no spyware. I think the issue of being not closable has to do with browser campatibility. Ppl using internet explorer should check their pc for spyware
Beautifully illustrated! Nice to see this guy again.
Next Tuesday is the big day! Excited.
Gav! This touched my heart, and I am so glad you picked a poem like this one
One of my favorites from Emily Dickinson is the one titled “success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed”.
I would love to see more poems!! Daffodils maybe?
Have a happy adventurous new year
Great work! Can’t wait for next one!
Great work! Can’t wait for next one!
Wow Gav! I love this one. Nice colors and lines. I like how the illustrations feel quiet and a bit melancholy, just like the poem. And great pacing, too. Thanks as always for sharing.
Wow Gav, I think your drawing of the bird is just wonderful. You have it in so many poses. And it looks very natural. I’m curious, did you sit outside and just stare at birds for a long time to accomplish that?
No, Google images!
Your tree artwork is beautiful. The bold black lines and color choices are reminiscent of Watterson’s work on my all-time fave Calvin & Hobbes. Very well done!
C & H is my all-time favourite too
Hey GAV!
This was different..Made me think that sometimes the life is simple and I have to take it that way as well! Emily Dickinson…
PS. I’ve faced the same problem as DODO said, the pop-ups.
Another great piece, Gavin!
Dickinson was a true American mystic – like Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson. That is, she seems to have had a transformative experience/change of consciousness/direct sensation wherein, to quote Alan Watts:
“You feel…that the whole energy, which expresses itself in the galaxies, is intimate. It is not something to which you are a stranger, but it is that with which you, whatever that is, are intimately bound up. That in your seeing your hearing your talking your thinking your moving, you express that which it is that moves the sun and other stars.”
She saw the unity of all life through that lens, and was able to express it beautifully. This site highlights some of her work where she references it directly:
http://www.sol.com.au/kor/13_01.htm
On a related note, I recently found a site that featured accounts of such experiences – with it having the interesting bent of being dedicated to those “transcendent experiences” had by scientists:
The Archives of Scientists’ Transcendent Experiences (TASTE)
http://www.issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=arc&ss=1
Most interesting (to me, at least) are those instances of “Cosmic Consciousness” (or samadhi/nirvana/etc…) and the effect it had on the experiencer. Here’s my favorite (and the most poetic, IMO):
My Experience of Cosmic Consciousness
http://www.issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=expom&id=00004&ss=1
A few others worth mentioning:
Humans, the Earth, the Sun and Stars
http://www.issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=expom&id=00003&ss=1
Cosmic Consciousness Experience at Age 16
http://www.issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=expom&id=00067&ss=1
A Taste of Kensho: London, 1982
http://www.issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=expom&id=00050&ss=1
Turn-Around at Delphi
http://www.issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=expom&id=00013&ss=1
See also – Falling Awake; Suddenly, the Pervasiveness of Love; and THE DARKNESS OF GOD: A Personal Report on Consciousness Transformation Through an Encounter with Death.
Very nice. Do I see some of Bill Watterson’s influence in your trees? Great color in this one, and well-paced.
outstanding
Hi Gav!
I just wanted to let you know that I cited your illustrated version of this poem in a lesson plan (not with a real class) to help support English Language Learners in learning this poem. Your illustrations provide the perfect amount of support! Love site and your work- keep it up!