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OBVIOUS STATE BOOKS

Illustrated Classics

Obvious State Illustrated Classics is an evolving series of visually reimagined beloved works. The pocket-sized editions feature the selected works of celebrated authors such as T. S. Eliot, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Sara Teasdale, Henry David Thoreau, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, John Keats and Pablo Neruda. Each edition is illustrated by Obvious State Co-founder, Evan Robertson. The minimalist books are a great gift for current classics lovers and those who want a beautiful introduction to foundational, enduring works. 

"How can artwork live on the page with poetic text in a way that enhances it without upstaging it or undermining its ability to communicate? That was my main priority, and it informed everything about the visual approach. The stark palette, the repetition of visual elements, and the balance of art and text all serve to drive the narrative forward. While there’s no “correct” way to visualize these works, I’ve chosen to focus on the broader themes rather than the literal narration of action. I wanted to create a seamless marriage of provocative visuals and punctuated language, both exploring the same idea in slightly different ways. The result, I hope, creates a uniquely illuminating and immersive experience for the reader, where the wisdom that the author and artist explore together are brought into sharper focus." - Evan Robertson

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T. S. ELIOT

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

This fully illustrated edition explores Eliot’s themes of indecision and isolation, as well the overwhelming desire for connection, which is as an often overlooked element of the poem.

Fun Fact
It was Eliot's first published piece, and he was only 22.

What Makes it Awesome
A stream of consciousness monologue inside the head of a tortured, self-loathing cosmopolitan that manages to be sublimely beautiful.

Why Read It
It’s a cautionary tale against inaction and a warning about the ways in which modern life isolates us and leads us to disillusionment. Bonus: You'll impress your friends with your Dante references. 

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EDGAR ALLAN POE

The Raven

This fully illustrated book brings Poe’s exquisite words to life, exploring the subconscious presence of Lenore and the dual nature of the Raven as both a physical and metaphysical creature.

Fun Fact
Poe originally sold this poem for $9 to The American Review. Quite the bargain! 

What Makes it Awesome
The brilliant linguistic acrobatics required by the relentless meter and rhyme scheme.

Why Read It
Is the raven a demon, a prophet, or just a talking bird? We see it as a kind of Rorschach test for the narrator, and the poem as a psychological thriller with only one character!

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EMILY DICKINSON

Hope Is the Thing

A illustrated collection of poems by Emily Dickinson in a unified narrative

Fun Fact
Dickinson had a very green thumb. She tended to flowers, vegetables and trees on the property and in her private greenhouse.

What Makes it Awesome
Emily Dickinson is often referred to as the Mother of American poetry, and she deserves the title. Like Frost, it's easy to miss some of the wonderful subtleties in her work when the meter carries you away.

Why Read It
You can't read Emily Dickinson’s poetry without becoming preoccupied with the circumstances under which she wrote, and the place her work held in her solitary life. She worked on her poems meticulously yet never shared them, with few exceptions. Over the course of her life - a life woefully undersized for the scope of her genius - she eventually rejected all forms of meaning-making: religion, community, love, marriage and family. There was one exception: Poetry. Her language, addressed to some future anonymous person who might take the time to truly understand her intent, was her way to reach out to others with hope of communication and connection.

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WALT WHITMAN

Song of Myself

Fun Fact
Leaves of Grass was a play on words: Leaves were the pages of a book in printer parlance, and grass was something of little value. Hence, Pages of Crap. Strongly disagree, Walt!

What makes it awesome
Song of Myself is about one person and about everything. It begins with the poet, then reaches outward, expanding to every living thing and beyond, in line after line of seemingly spontaneous and endless inspiration. It’s like watching a religion with no church, book, or dogma materialize, spun out of nothing but sublime language. Yeah, it’s that good

Why Read it
It’s like taking a walk with Walt at your side, his “left hand hooking you round the waist,” as he shows you revelation after revelation. Also there’s nudity. 

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HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

To Live Deliberately is our visual reimagining of Thoreau's most well known essay, Where I Lived and What I Lived For. Accompanied by 30 illustrations, the essay challenges the trappings of modern living and embraces an ascetic rejection of the material and the trivial in exchange for a reconnection with nature as a path toward self discovery.  We judiciously edited his essay to avoid any unnecessarily confusing news references, and were amazed to discover that not only does this manifesto otherwise hold up, but feels surprisingly modern and more relevant than ever.

Fun Fact
Thoreau was minimalist before minimalism was cool. Take that, Marie Kondo!

What makes it awesome
Thoreau expertly wrestles with the big questions through the lens of small, quotidian moments. 

Why Read it
This is an essay about radical unplugging. In the face of our modern technological existence, his experiment in essentialism feels more timely than ever.

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ROBERT FROST

Miles to Go

An illustrated collection of poems by Robert Frost in a unified narrative.

Which poems? 
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Mowing
The Road Not Taken
The Oven Bird
The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
After Apple-Picking
Birches
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
A Boundless Moment

Fun Fact
Frost dropped out of college...twice! Dartmouth and Harvard.

What Makes It Awesome
Frost is a wonderfully subtle writer. His language is intentionally as stripped down and simple as possible, and it's easy to underestimate him. He's complex, ironic, and that makes his work well suited to expanding on visually. 

Why Read It
Viewing the natural world through Frost, you find profound spiritual truths hiding under every upturned rock. He is America’s Wordsworth but with a devilish streak for making trouble. Like nature, many of his poems hide a darker truth beneath a beautiful facade

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Sara Teasdale

A November Night

Sara Teasdales’s dreamy, amorous walk, visually reimagined. This fully illustrated book brings Teasdale's exquisite words to life, following the unbroken "line of lights" that lead the narrator through an evening where everything is made magical by her romantic mood.

Fun Fact
Teasdale won the very first Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Not the first woman writer to win it, the first writer to win it. Go girl! 

What Makes it Awesome
Most writers will tell you that the central element of all good story telling is conflict. But rules were meant to be broken. A gorgeous, uncomplicated celebration of the act of falling in love, this poem effortlessly pulls off the impossible.

Why Read It
It’s filled with magic and rich details that ring true and save if from sentimentality. 

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JOHN KEATS

Beauty is Truth

Three of Keats' most beloved poems, visually reimagined. This fully illustrated book creates a single visual narrative from three poems: Bright Star, Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn. Through these three masterpieces, Beauty is Truth explores the poet's longing for the eternal, the ideals that transcend the frailty of the human condition, and affirms the greatest human gift: the capacity for connection to each other. 

Fun Fact
Critics of his time said that Keats belonged to the “Cockney School” of poetry, and considered his work to be unrefined and low class. So if Keats makes you think of stiff-lipped snobbery, think again. He was the Amy Winehouse of his time.

What Makes it Awesome
When you think of a starving poet, Keats is the bloke in your head. He was such a rock star, maligned by the establishment and defiantly dedicated to his craft at the expense of his own well-being. He burned bright and died young, and left us with some of the most extraordinary poetry of all time in six brief years of writing.

Why Read It
If you’ve ever tried to write a poem, you know how hard it is to put an emotions into words. Keats has an instinctive mastery of language, and that alone is worth the read.

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PABLO NERUDA

Twenty Love Poems & A Song of Despair

Neruda's beloved collection of love poetry, visually reimagined. This fully illustrated book compliments the tense, fraught and sensual imagery of Pablo Neruda's most popular book with visuals inspired in part by the local flora, fauna, and stunning landscapes of Neruda's home country of Chile. 

Fun Fact

What Makes it Awesome

Why Read It

There's a Spanish Version!
By popular demand, we have published "Even This Twilight" in the original Spanish as a separate title.

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MARCUS AURELIUS

The Meditations

“Strive to be the person philosophy has tried to make you." The Meditations has long been revered as a cornerstone of Stoic philosophy. However, its dense and unorganized prose can be daunting for contemporary readers. This modern, abridged edition brings Aurelius' wisdom into sharp focus by carefully selecting and reorganizing the passages into twelve chapters, each focusing on a central Stoic principle. The resulting narrative feels more considered and personal, and the thoughtful illustrations enhance the experience, bringing aesthetic beauty to abstract ideas.


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COLLECTED WORKS

Women Writers

An elegant, illustrated book of poetry, excerpts, and musings from pioneering women writers. From Sappho's early call-to-action, "become a voice," to Emily Dickinson's universally edifying "hope is the thing with feathers," this exquisite collection celebrates foundational women writers who had a remarkable impact on future generations. 

The bold illustrations are a visual ode to visionary women including: Jane Austen, Ida B Wells, Virginia Woolf, Edna St Vincent Millay, Charlotte Bronte, Zora Neale Hurston, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Kate Chopin, Harriet Jacobs, Willa Cather, Mary Shelley, Murasaki Shikibu, Frances Harper, Zitkala-Sa and more. 

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COLLECTED WORKS

On Nature

 From Emerson's essays on its wisdom, to the Romantic poets' reveries on its power and awe, this illustrated collection brings together enduring insights on that which connects us to the earth and to each other.  

The bold illustrations are a visual ode to nature and inspired by excerpts from Emerson, Thoreau, Wordsworth, Frost, Shelley, Rossetti, Cather, Yeats, Machado, Keats, Verlaine, Whitman, Teasdale, Hughes and more.

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COLLECTED WORKS

On Love

An elegant, illustrated book of poetry, excerpts, and musings on the noblest human emotion: love. From Viktor Frankl's insight that "love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire" to Rilke's humble desire "with only this one dream: you come too," this exquisite collection speaks to all of us at a time when loving one another seems more important than ever. 

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