It is refreshing to analyze illustrations in lieu of exclusively the written component of a text. I find that often the choices of publishers are overlooked in literary analysis and appreciation. The text is a composite whole of written word, illustration, embellishment, and material. Although through a modern lens, such choices seem of little consequence, they are all interrelated. In illustrated books, the illustration and the written text are involved in an interplay of creation, embellishment, and illumination. The origin of the term illustration as a form of illumination or elucidation holds true.

Today's in-class group exercise was a great way to explore approaches to an illustrated text. A text can never be severed from its context within the world. With each respective text that was presented, context played a role in interpretation. An understanding of the method of illustration, the time period, the publisher, the author, and other cultural events ends up being vital to interpreting the text. Illustrations elucidate the written word, often through the addition of or melding with allegory or allusion. Visual cues, such as the rays of the sun or the deerstalking cap shown in the slideshow, create a culture of illustration wherein readers constantly engage with and influence the meaning of an image.

Even with casting a preliminary glance at the illustration which I will later present, I can see the significance of the artist's choices. The tableau reveals layers of meaning through the use of shadow and light, the postures of the characters, the eye contact between characters, the gaze of the audience, the mise en scene, the symbols used, and the metaphorical elements of the scene. The multitude of possible interpretations is striking. The old adage holds true: A picture is worth a thousand words.