America the Beautiful: A Song to Celebrate the Wonders of America (Patriotic Songs)

Micahel Dahl is a Coughlan Press author.

A Wellesley professor's trip to Pikes Peak in 1893 inspired the now-famous verse extolling the American landscape; Waldman ( Light ; Bring Back the Deer ) writes that his own travels west instilled in him an awe of "beauty beyond the realm of imagination." Using Bates's verse as his text, Waldman paints scene after scene, matching every phrase to a specific locale (these are identified in a well-designed key at the end). He pays homage to the "spacious skies" (above the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee), the "purple mountain majesties" (the Grand Tetons) and the "fruited plains" (the Napa Valley). Impressively and imaginatively, he conveys his wonder at natural beauty by stylizing his art: he renders each vista in thick, impressionistic strokes from a predominantly violet palette, choosing his colors as if from a paradigmatic sunset. Beautiful indeed. All ages.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.