Record Number: 17670

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I tried to read Tennyson?s Ode on the Dook of Wellington (which is the finest lyrical poem in the language in case you don?t know) aloud this morning, and I had a hand at my throat tightening steadily as I read, until I could articulate no more and had to throw the book away. That is one of the experiences in life worth having; so were the Elgin Marbles.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

20 Oct 1874

Country:

Scotland

Time

morning

Place:

city: Edinburgh
specific address: 17 Heriot Row

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

13 Nov 1850

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Aspiring writer and intermittent law student

Religion:

Church of Scotland (wavering)

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Title:

Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington.

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Unknown

Publication Details

The Ode was first published in 1852, the year of the Duke's death.

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

17670

Source:

Print

Author:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Editor:

Bradford A. Booth

Title:

The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, April 1874-July 1879

Place of Publication:

New Haven and London

Date of Publication:

1994

Vol:

2

Page:

65

Additional Comments:

Letter 324, To Bob Stevenson, [20 October 1874]. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. The date in square brackets has been added by the editors

Citation:

Robert Louis Stevenson, Bradford A. Booth (ed.), The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, April 1874-July 1879, (New Haven and London, 1994), 2, p. 65, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=17670, accessed: 09 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

The Duke of Wellington died 14 Sept 1852. Tennyson not yet not yet Lord T. at the time of Letter 325; he finally accepted a peerage in 1883 and took his seat in the House of Lords on 11 March 1884.