Easter Poems

by Myra Cohn Livingston (Editor), John Wallner (Illustrator), Hilda Conkling (Contributor)

Especially commissioned original poems by Felice Holman, William Jay Smith, X. J. Kennedy, Joan Aiken, John Ciardi, and other contemporary poets, as well as traditional favorites, comprise this stunning anthology. From “lop-eared and silky” rabbits to the “three crosses on cold Golgotha Hill,” Mrs. Livingston’s choices reflect the many moods of Easter. John Wallner’s fitting illustrations capture both the joy and solemnity of the holiday.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies

32 pages, Library Binding

First published March 1, 1985

About the author

Myra Cohn Livingston was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Her family moved to California when she was 12 years old. She studied the French horn from age 12 to age 20, becoming so good that the Los Angeles Philharmonic invited her to join them when she was 16 years old. She had other plans. She knew she wanted to write.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sixteen poems and one traditional song are gathered together in this Easter anthology for young readers by prolific children's poet and anthologist Myra Cohn Livingston. Selections from well-known children's authors such as Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Norma Farber, J. Patrick Lewis, and Joan Aiken are included, as are poems from primarily adult authors such as the Russian Alexander Blok and the German Eduard Mörike. Also included is the traditional The Cherry-Tree Carol, which I have always thought to be a Christmas song, but which is apparently also an Easter song, in some versions, concluding with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The poems here are accompanied by the artwork of John Wallner...

Published in 1985, Easter Poems is the third holiday poetry anthology I have read, following upon Thanksgiving Poems (1985) and Halloween Poems (1989), that was edited by Livingston. I found it somewhat uneven, being indifferent to some selections, but finding others quite compelling. This tracks, when it comes to my experience of these kind of poetry anthologies. I was tickled to see the Zilpha Keatley Snyder poem, as I am a great admirer of her work, and hadn't been aware of its previously. That said, while her Rabbits Are Nice Neighbors was cute, it didn't truly make an impression. Not so with Norma Farber's The Sun on Easter Day (see below), which I found truly lovely. I found the interior illustrations by John Wallner, done in black and white with the occasional green or purple color wash, quite beautiful, in a vintage fairy-tale kind of way. I wish the cover art, which I found distinctly unappealing, had revealed more of the beauty within, because I can see some being put off by it. In any case, this is one I did enjoy, despite not loving it, and is one parents and guardians might want to check out, if looking for Easter poetry collections for their children. I would also recommend Lee Bennett Hopkins & Tomie de Paola's Easter Buds Are Springing: Poems for Easter , which I think is a somewhat superior collection.

The Sun on Easter Day, by Norma Farber

The way the sun on Easter Day
is dancing in the streets of sky
has put to shame the sluggard stay-
abeds who dull and dozing lie.

Get up! Get up! With harp and flute
make music fit to raise your roofs!
Grasses are leaping at the root.
Lambs are bounding on all four hoofs.

The very stones shake off their weight
and skip as seeds released from cold.
The soil itself, before too late,
blows up a storm of pollen gold.

All creatures rise, like the light,
in joyous motion join as one
to wish the winter gloom goodnight
and hail the dancing Easter sun.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to read some poetry for Easter morning, and found this on Internet Archive (archive.org). Livingston's collection, nominally published for children, contained both secular and religious poems (appropriate for a religious holiday that has crept secularly into the broader world; see: Animal Crossing's Bunny Day). Included are some poems by authors who I thought of as novelists for children: Joan Aiken, Zilpha Keatley Snyder. "An Easter Present" by X. J. Kennedy was my favorite among them poems.

[Adriana Fernández-Guillén · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has many poems about Easter that do not rhyme but flow nicely enough to make sense. I enjoyed some but not all and the messages.

[JennLynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mediocre collection of Easter-related poems. Rather dated graphics. Not particularly impressed by the quality of the content - can see why it was in my library's book sale.