Record Number: 29117

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The tent flaps were laced over, the rain had ceased, the guns were silent and Jimmy Harding lay motionless. I ate slowly and dully, staring at my candle. I took my Palgrave from the valise head; it opened at "Barbara" and I read quite coldly and critically until I came to the lines

In vain, in vain, in vain
You will never come again.
There droops upon the dreary hills a mournful fringe
of rain

then with a great gulp I knocked my candle out and buried my face in the valise.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

19 Aug 1917

Country:

Belgium

Time

evening

Place:

city: Ypres

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

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Edwin Stephen Campion Vaughan

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

n/a

Date of Birth:

30 Nov 1897

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Army, later RAF, officer

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Belgium

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Alexander Smith

Title:

"Barbara"

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

In Francis Turner Palgrave, ed., "The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language."

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

29117

Source:

Print

Author:

Edward Campion Vaughan

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Some Desperate Glory: The Diary of a Young Officer

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1994

Vol:

n/a

Page:

213

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Edward Campion Vaughan, Some Desperate Glory: The Diary of a Young Officer, (London, 1994), p. 213, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=29117, accessed: 23 May 2025

---

Additional Comments:

None