“DO YOU NOT SEE THEM?”

BY PAMELA COLMAN SMITH

The hand-coloured illustration is framed with a thick black rectangular border, in portrait orientation. The frame doubles as a doorway with a brown wood-grained lintel, in which two figures stand in an embrace. On the left is a woman (Deirdre), pale-skinned with long golden hair, wearing a white robe over an orange dress. She faces right, her face tipped back and arms raised. She embraces a pale-skinned man (Naisi) with black hair, a green tunic, a brown, animal-fur robe, and criss-crossed, laced sandals. He faces left, gazing down at the woman. Above and behind them in the sky fly 7 white birds or doves. Beside the doorway on the right, a long spear rests against the wall. Behind the figures through the doorway one can see a blue sea, green hills, and yellow sky. The artist’s monogram is on the bottom right corner of the doorway. Below the image the following text is printed: “Do you not see them? The bright birds which sang at our flight! Look how they wheel about us as they sing!” Deirdre, Act II.

MLA citation:

Smith, Pamela Colman. “Do you not see them?” Illustration for Deirdre, by A. E. Supplement (np) to The Green Sheaf, No. 7, 1903. Green Sheaf Digital Edition, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Yellow Nineties 2.0, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2022. https://1890s.ca/gsv7-supplement3

magazine_images The Green Sheaf 7 Do you not see them? Pamela Colman Smith 1903 Hand-coloured image Supplement illustration

“Do you not see them? The bright birds which sang at our flight! Look how they wheel about us as they sing!” Deirdre, Act II.

Scotland Spear and Doorway Female Figure/ Woman, Male Figure/ Man, Deirdre, and Naisi Outdoor setting, Sea, Indoor setting, Hill, Birds, and Doves