Wreath for Emmett Till
Posted on Jul 17, 2010 under wreaths | 5 Comments
Product Description
A Coretta Scott King and Printz honor book now in paperback. A Wreath for Emmett Till is “A moving elegy,” says The Bulletin.
In 1955 people all over the United States knew that Emmett Louis Till was a fourteen-year-old African American boy lynched for supposedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. The brutality of his murder, the open-casket funeral held by his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, and the acquittal of the men tried for the crime drew wide medi… More >>
July 17th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
This ambitious poetry book is based on a little known poetic style known as a crown of sonnets, used historically to honor great kings. In this unique book, author Marilyn Nelson tries to apply it to an ordinary kid named Emmett Till whose name became household when he was brutally lynched, and outrage over his murder fueled the early flames of the black civil rights movement.
Nelson is admirable to tackle such a brutal and tough subject matter, however admiration is not enough to cover the fact that her poems are often hard to follow due to the ridged style, in addition to being tangential and lacking in any strong dramatic or emotional punch. She writes about Till’s murder as she would weave it into a floral wreath, and sometimes that leaves the reader bored and wondering why we should even care about Nelson’s pretty flowers. Her stated goal is to write about Till but he rarely makes an actual appearance in these poems, and her attempt to tie his murder into a larger history of lynching is poorly executed. At one point she ties Till’s murder to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, which comes out extremely contrived and tacked on, since the events, issues, emotions, and circumstances are completely different. She expands considerable ink wishing he had never been killed, which although very admirable, doesn’t give her much space to explore the national impact of his death or the good that grew out of his tragedy. In addition, her lengthy and complex notes at the end of the book are absolutely necessary to understand her many intellectual allusions and symbols. I could not imagine giving this book to anyone under 16 and having them get it at all – I’m finishing my undergrad in two weeks and I was overwhelmed. While the poems pick up pathos towards the end, it really is not enough to save the whole set.
The illustrations by Philippe Lardy are nice but unremarkable, and given the poignant and brutal subject matter they are severely disappointing. Many of them are simplistic and pretty paintings of flowers and birds that fit the wreath theme but entirely loose the tragedy and power of Till’s death. Like Nelson’s poems, you need the complex notes at the back of the book to understand the many symbols in the oft-abstract illustrations. Emmett Till himself is only shown once, and the artist attempts to make him look like an EveryChild (even to the point of giving him no real facial expressions) which makes him look generic and dull. The art shines best when it is the most simple, such as when it is a textured background for the text itself, with simple shapes instead of complex allegories. When the best thing you can say about the illustrations is that they make nice and non-imposing backgrounds, you know the art is in trouble.
A Wreath for Emmett Till asks the reader to “bear witness to the atrocity” and take responsibility for this murder in our collective memory, but otherwise is not a call to any action or awareness. Unfortunately what sticks in the memory is a book that falls short of its lofty goals.
Rating: 1 / 5
July 18th, 2010 at 12:55 am
A fellow teacher is doing a unit on African-American lit and the Civil Rights Movement as a lead-in to Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”. “A Wreath for Emmett Till” was one of the books she shared with the class. I have perused it myself, still unsure whether I should actually purchase it or not. Two things other reviewers have mentioned that I too find appealing about the book are: 1)The sheer complexity of constructing a heroic crown of sonnets and 2)the historical backdrop of the events described. Unfortunately, these aspects have very little to do with the content of the poems themselves. Most of the information about Till is contained in the preface and afterword, not in the poems themselves. Likewise, others reviewers, like I, praise Nelson for giving a tour-de-force in making a heroic crown of sonnets (and her commentaries about the sonnets were enlightening), but to be honest, the poems themselves were not particularly outstanding. I would buy the book more as an example of the structure and form of poetry rather than as an example of good poetry (If that makes sense).
Rating: 3 / 5
July 18th, 2010 at 2:28 am
Just not what I thought it was. My fault, I should have read the description more carefully.
Rating: 2 / 5
July 18th, 2010 at 3:37 am
Emmett Till, a fourteen year old African American, was a victim of the racial violence during the 1940s. Emmett was accused of whistled at a white woman. Four days later, he was brutally beaten, shot in the head, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River with a cotten gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire. Less than an hour of consulting, the murderers were found not guilty by an all white male jury. The inhumaan nature of this crime and the lack of a guilty verdict outraged both the black and white communities in the United States. The death of Emmett Till helped lead to the civil rights movement.
Marilyn Nelson tells the story of Emmett Till in the form of a heroic crown of sonnets. The detestable act of lynching is presented in this beautiful presentation, almost as if it were for Emmett Till himself. The short lines are filled with powerful emotion, and the interlinking sonnets keep the reader flipping the page to read on. For the young adult audience, sonnet notes are provided at the end of the book to add some clearity. Marilyn Nelson’s _A_Wreath_for_Emmett_Till_ received a Coretta Scott King Award Honor, as well as a Michael L. Printz Award Honor.
Rating: 5 / 5
July 18th, 2010 at 6:27 am
The tragic story of the death of Emmett Till, Jr. in 1955 is one that plays a large part in the Civil Rights movement. Till, then 14 a Chicagoan was visiting relatives in the South. He said “hi, baby” to a woman who was white. The hue and cry was fierce; how dare this child talk to someone who was not of the same race?
To make matters worse, a posse was formed and Till as well as his cousin were roused from their beds and taken from the house they were in. Emmett Till, Jr. was beaten to death.
What makes this child’s tragic death a turning point was that Till’s mother had his funeral televised with an open casket. The world at large would see just what bigotry, ignorance and hatred was capable of and of one young casualty it claimed. Till’s mother, who died in 2003 never stopped beating on the drum for her only child and for an end to cruelty and bigotry. Hers was a voice that was heard by people such as President Johnson (1963-68); Attorney General and later Senator Robert Kennedy; Martin Luther King and countless others. To this day I cannot watch that funeral dry eyed; the thought of the anguish this child’s mother endurned for the remainder of her life is just….painful.
Emmett Till Jr.’s death, which took place some 10 years before Bloody Sunday aka March 7, 1965 was a touchstone event. In looking at the Civil War Movement; the riots; the efforts of many to secure fair and equal treatment for ALL individuals can look toward Emmett Till, Jr. as an unlikely martyr. This child’s needless death, horrible as it was did call attention to similar racist-based atrocities being committed.
As heinous and atrocious the injustice to this child was, Marilyn Nelson offsets the horror with some beautiful poetry. The rhythm and flow of the words and the idyllic images contained in some of the sonnets stand in stark contrast to the ugly, leering head of Jim Crow and the Racist Regime that flourished.
Rating: 5 / 5