“NOW MORE THAN EVER SEEMS IT RICH TO DIE, / TO CEASE UPON THE MIDNIGHT WITH NO PAIN.” AFTER A PEN-AND-INK SKETCH

BY WILLIAM T. HORTON

The line-block reproduction of Horton’s pen-and-ink drawing is a rectangle in portrait orientation, the majority of which is inked black. In the top half of the image there are sporadically spaced stars created from uninked white space on the page. A figure is created in the same way on the centre bottom half of the page. He is reclining on a hillock or tuft of grass and is facing the left side of the page so that only the left half of his face is fully visible; both eyes are closed. His left hand is resting on his left shoulder. The hand itself is not visible, though, as it rests behind an inked in hill. The ridge of the hill and individual blades of grass are distinguishable from the rest of the background since they stand in contrast to the white of the figure. In the bottom right corner of the page is a strip of white within which is inked the artists signature: “William T. Horton”. The quotation attached to the illustration, “Now more than ever seems it rich to die,/To cease upon the midnight with no pain,” is taken from John Keats, “Ode to a NIghtingale.” The figure in the illustration likely represents the nineteenth-century poet, John Keats.

MLA citation:

Horton, W.T. ““Now more than ever seems it rich to die, / To cease upon the midnight with no pain.” After a Pen-and-Ink Sketch.” The Savoy, vol. 7, November 1896, p. 39. The Savoy Digital Edition, edited by Christopher Keep and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra 2018-2019. Yellow Nineties 2.0, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019, https://1890s.ca/savoyv7_horton_sketch/

magazine_images The Savoy 7 “Now more than ever seems it rich to die, / To cease upon the midnight with no pain.” Pen and ink Paul Naumann

“William T. Horton”

Stars Male Figure/ Man, Poet, and John Keats Night, Outdoor setting, Mountain/hill, and Grass