Record Number: 32926

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

‘Your book—my book [Davies, "Child Lovers"] has just arrived, and it is finished. Only to increasing certainty that Davies was once an exquisite poet—of which time he has now but occasional memories, and that he knows himself to be failing in power and is bitter at the knowledge. I happen to know it is true, from private information, but anyone who knows his earlier work must feel sad … Thank you very much for such a charming present … Thank you also for sending me the "Times Literary Supplement", but I have one sent already. However both are passed on, and read with enthusiasm by one and another … I might be a good soldier if I could forget music and books. Indeed I try to full my still-sick mind with thoughts of these. Which makes a strange combination, as you may imagine.’

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

12 Jun 1916

Country:

France

Time

daytime

Place:

city: Laventie
county: Pas-de-Calais
other location: billets

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:

Ivor Bertie Gurney

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

28 Aug 1890

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Private, Gloucestershire Regiment

Religion:

Christian (Anglican)

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

France

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

William Henry Davies

Title:

Child Lovers

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32926

Source:

Print

Author:

Ivor Gurney

Editor:

R. K. R. Thornton

Title:

Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

Manchester

Date of Publication:

1991

Vol:

n/a

Page:

102

Additional Comments:

Letter to Marion Scott, 21 June 1916, from billets at Laventie.

Citation:

Ivor Gurney, R. K. R. Thornton (ed.), Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters, (Manchester, 1991), p. 102, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32926, accessed: 19 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None