Record Number: 33905

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

‘I have employ’d the last term chiefly in making myself master of Pindar...I have not found the former very difficult, any further than as deep thinking and conceal’d connection in a writer always demand deep thinking and close attention in the reader: his numerous historical and mythological allusions certainly require considerable collateral knowledge, but I think he is rarely liable to the charge of obscurity. I am obliged to you for more correct notions of his style and peculiar excellence than I could have gathered from the ordinary cant; certainly at least I could discover very little of that fire and precipitation so much talk'd of in him; nor does it seem a very reasonable supposition that frequent digressions are a sign of hurry and ardour. Pindar many not unaptly be compared to a boy going to school, who picks every flower by the road side, merely because his journey's end is unpleasant. ...'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1817 and 18 Mar 1817

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Oxford
county: Oxfordshire
specific address: Merton College

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:

Hartley Coleridge

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

19 Sep 1796

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Oxford undergraduate student

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Pindar

Title:

[unknown]

Genre:

Classics, Poetry, Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book, university set text

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33905

Source:

Print

Author:

Hartley Coleridge

Editor:

Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs

Title:

Letters of Hartley Coleridge

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1936

Vol:

n/a

Page:

14-15

Additional Comments:

Letter from Hartley Coleridge to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 18 March 1817, Merton College.

Citation:

Hartley Coleridge, Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs (ed.), Letters of Hartley Coleridge, (London, 1936), n/a, p. 14-15, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33905, accessed: 26 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

This letter also mentions Aristotle (see separate record) and 'Nemesius', which Hartley was asked to translate by his father but which he has been unable to find: 'I cannot tell you that I have proceeded on the work you proposed to me, being unable to procure a copy of Nemesius in Oxford, although it was published there in 8vo., 1671.' Hartley also says of his university studies: 'There are many things I stand in need of your instruction in, both in classics and other matters, particularly Logic, in which a Parrot might pass an examination at Oxford'.