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Woodcuts #5
Song Without Words
Limited to 1250 numbered copies signed by Ward. Contains 23 woodcuts by Ward. Covers rubbed; spine age darkened. Name in ink along top edge of front free endpaper. iv , 22 pages printed French-fold. parchment-backed gold foil covered boards.. 8vo..
21 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1936
38 people want to read
About the author
Lynd Ward
200 books65 followersLYND WARD (1905-1985) illustrated more than two hundred books for children and adults throughout his prolific career. Winner of the Caldecott Medal for his watercolors in The Biggest Bear, Mr. Ward was also famous for his wood engravings, which are featured in museum collections throughout the United States and abroad.
Married to May Yonge McNeer, several of whose works he illustrated. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Married to May Yonge McNeer, several of whose works he illustrated. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 11, 2019
Umm no. The first of the Lynd Ward I actively didn't like. There was no clear story which is relatively typical. But the art was ugly. And leaning on the horror side. Just not a pleasant book. At least it was short.
October 26, 2025
This is a short story for even his other work. But dang their is a lot of symbolism that could be tackled. So if I took a Feminist lens on this story, you can have some really interesting interpretations. So I will.
So right from the start we see a woman naked. She is aware that she is naked and feels the urge to cover up. Probably because she is afraid of people knowing her true self. She descends into a city. She sees a bunch of naked flying babies holding stars representing hopes and dreams. Immediately afterwards she sees a skull symbolizing her potential death. She immediately runs away from a pack of vultures. Vultures symbolizing death is nearby. She sees a kid grabbing an apple, a symbol of the forbidden fruit. She is ashamed of being boned, or not taking care of this kid. She is immediately confronted by shadowing figures representing society. It cuts to the death of a baby, possibly can be interpreted on how society forces kids to lose innocence. It cuts to her walking toward death and her posing out of frustration. Ultimately she is depicted with her bowling growing and than it cuts to a baby being born. The last scene is her with a man and a baby looking onward to the city.
Okay so clearly, this is a story of womanhood. The author is probably showing us the process of birth through the perspective of a woman giving birth. She is worried about dying because childbirth has historically been dangerous. She is worried about her own image from society, and her nakedness itself. She is worried that her kid will tatted by the sin of societies influence and she is worried that her kid will die. The last the author's own view that once the successful birth is given placed than the woman can be happy onlooking away with her husband in the distance of society.
I honestly find that last scene pointless because it doesn't really add anything to the story. Without it would create an interesting narrative on womanhood itself. It kind of reinforces the ideal that a woman cannot become a woman without a man.
Other than that this is a solid 5 star book. It tells a really good complex story from how short it is.
So right from the start we see a woman naked. She is aware that she is naked and feels the urge to cover up. Probably because she is afraid of people knowing her true self. She descends into a city. She sees a bunch of naked flying babies holding stars representing hopes and dreams. Immediately afterwards she sees a skull symbolizing her potential death. She immediately runs away from a pack of vultures. Vultures symbolizing death is nearby. She sees a kid grabbing an apple, a symbol of the forbidden fruit. She is ashamed of being boned, or not taking care of this kid. She is immediately confronted by shadowing figures representing society. It cuts to the death of a baby, possibly can be interpreted on how society forces kids to lose innocence. It cuts to her walking toward death and her posing out of frustration. Ultimately she is depicted with her bowling growing and than it cuts to a baby being born. The last scene is her with a man and a baby looking onward to the city.
Okay so clearly, this is a story of womanhood. The author is probably showing us the process of birth through the perspective of a woman giving birth. She is worried about dying because childbirth has historically been dangerous. She is worried about her own image from society, and her nakedness itself. She is worried that her kid will tatted by the sin of societies influence and she is worried that her kid will die. The last the author's own view that once the successful birth is given placed than the woman can be happy onlooking away with her husband in the distance of society.
I honestly find that last scene pointless because it doesn't really add anything to the story. Without it would create an interesting narrative on womanhood itself. It kind of reinforces the ideal that a woman cannot become a woman without a man.
Other than that this is a solid 5 star book. It tells a really good complex story from how short it is.
December 5, 2024
Song Without Words: A Book of Engravings on Wood by Lynd Ward (Random House 1936) (~686) (4006).
Master illustrator, woodblock engraver, and author Lynd Ward has been called “one of America’s most distinguished and accomplished graphic novelists.” Song Without Words: A Book of Engravings on Wood is a wordless novel in which the story is told exclusively through starkly beautiful black-and-white prints. Published in the Depression era, it is said to represent a scream of outrage against fascism.
This is one disturbing piece of work. Ward’s woodcuts are beautiful, but they are not pretty.
My rating: 7/10, finished 12/5/24 (4006).
March 2, 2021
Powerful story about a very contemporary question : why do we keep giving life in desperate times ? When this book was published (1930s), the two main issues (in North America and Europe) were the aftermath of the Great Depression and the rise of fascism. Not that far from now, but we've got a pandemic as a bonus !
August 1, 2023
Should kids be brought into a world filled with evil? Lynd Ward ponders this with a series of harrowing woodcuts that are very evocative. Not my favorite sequential woodcut graphic novel by any stretch, but Ward achieves a fair amount with a brief number of pages.
September 21, 2018
The 5th of 6 woodcut 'novels without words', a dark yet hopeful vision of Depression-era America. The images are beautiful, some of Ward's best.
September 12, 2019
As with most of his work, the story can be hard to pick out. I found this one easier to follow, and the artwork is also on a whole other level.
February 19, 2024
Probably the least plot orientated of the Lynd Ward novels, as the title indicates this is more of a song than a story. A series of evocative illustrations, a woman walks around a world full of starvation and struggle but one with children. Skull imagery and birth.
March 27, 2024
This is more so just a scene, rather than a complete story. Nicely done, however, although very unsettling
December 10, 2025
Cool concept, not sure i love it
June 21, 2015
Some amazingly powerful and beautiful woodcuts in this book! Some of my favorite Lynd Ward woodcuts, for sure. The story element was somewhat lacking though. For a wordless story this is too abstract and disjoined--making it hard to understand the story that ties the images together. After looking up the meaning of the story, I looked back through the images and was able to appreciate it much more. Feels incomplete in and of itself.
The image of starving children behind a barbed wire fence under a swastika is eerily prophetic considering this book was published prior to WW2.
Art is a 5, story is a 2, overall I give it a 4.
The image of starving children behind a barbed wire fence under a swastika is eerily prophetic considering this book was published prior to WW2.
Art is a 5, story is a 2, overall I give it a 4.
March 25, 2023
Ward visually tackles one of the hardest questions to ask: why in the name of god would you ever bring a child into this world. There's no answer really, but Ward creates some stellar work around it. Includes maybe the most upsetting image he ever made, too.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews