Hey, Joan Walsh Anglund: We're The Government And We'll Take Your Writing And Call It Maya Angelou's
Poet and children's book author Joan Walsh Anglund wrote a line in her 1967 poetry book, "A Cup of Sun":
A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
But never mind that. A bunch of Internet quote sites say the line was Maya Angelou's (probably because it's reminiscent of the title and a line from her 1969 autobiography, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings"), so the government stuck the line on a stamp about her. Jonathan Turley gets it right on this:
I view the use of another author's quote for this commemorative stamp to be terribly insulting and embarrassing but it did not seem to bother the U.S. Postal Service. Spokesman Mark Saunders admitted that he was unaware of the Anglund quote, but told the Washington Post that many people mistakenly attribute the quote to Angelou. This includes President Obama who used the quote, pointing out that "numerous references" attributed the quote to Angelou.Indeed, President Obama attributed the same quote to Angelou during the presentation of the 2013 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal. Again a bizarre and embarrassing use of another author's work. Saunders however dug deeper into the hole and insisted "The sentence held great meaning for her and she is publicly identified with its popularity." Perhaps but it is not her work. It is like a stamp honoring the great architect Mies van der Rohe with the image of a Le Corbusier building.
What is truly bizarre is that between the Postal Service and President Obama, Anglund appears to be losing credit for her own writing. It is now becoming "associated" with Angelou and that appears to be enough for the government.
The government's standard is truly amazing -- on many things. I ordered some black T-shirts off eBay in early March. I never got them. I checked the tracking. It reads -- from March 5 -- that the shirts are still on the truck, waiting to be delivered.
Best comment from the article:
The Cadged Bard???
A Short Poem by Squeeky Fromm
I know why
The plagiarized Author curses—
‘Cause somebody done stole
One of her verses!
I don’t know why
Nobody knew it???
The designer should. . .
Before he drew it!!!
And I know why
The taxpayers wince. . .
But what did you expect
For 49 cents???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Conan the Grammarian at April 8, 2015 8:29 AM
I suspect one problem is that Anglund is FAR better known for her illustrations than for the 20-something short books that she wrote, IMO. (She specializes in cutesy small kids with inkspot eyes and no mouths or instantly visible noses.)
She was born in 1926 and first became well-known in the late 1950s, especially with the publication of "The Golden Treasury of Poetry," ed. Louis Untermeyer. You can see pictures from that book here (none of the poems are hers, BTW):
https://www.google.com/search?q=anglund+golden+treasury+poetry&biw=946&bih=610&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NEklVd-eOtSHsQSVrIC4DA&ved=0CCQQsAQ&dpr=1#imgrc=_
Many of the illustrations in the book, thankfully, are of adults and/or scenery and are not cutesy. You can see the ones from "The Lorelei," "How Doth the Little Crocodile," and Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish."
Ironically, however, one illustration (for a Scott poem) from that book bears a striking resemblance to an illustration from a Grimm fairy tale printed in the 1920 edition of "My Bookhouse"!
lenona at April 8, 2015 8:39 AM
And here's Anglund's booklist, if you like (it does not make clear which books she only illustrated, but at least two are obvious):
http://www.loganberrybooks.com/books/authors/joan-walsh-anglund.htm
That website is also a great place to CORRECTLY identify a children's title, author or illustrator you can't remember - but you have to pay to post a question. (Not the answers, though!) It was featured in the New York Times Book Review, recently.
lenona at April 8, 2015 8:43 AM
Remember, people like this will soon be in charge of your health care. Unless you're a veteran in the VA system, in which case they already are.
Also: a government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take your stuff and give it to someone else.
I R A Darth Aggie at April 8, 2015 10:53 AM
In the World of Infinite Copyright, it would seem to me that Anglund has a plagiarism case.
("plagiarism"... I had to look that up to make sure I knew how to spell it.)
Cousin Dave at April 9, 2015 12:09 PM
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