Record Number: 33956

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

‘...Other tales, in which beasts and birds compose the Dramatis Personae, are to be considered as burlesque satires, intended to make human actions and passions ridiculous, by ascribing them to the brute creation. Such are [Edmund] Spenser’s Mother Hubbard’s Tale [1591] (none of his best productions) - the old popular Tale of Reynard the Fox, (What has become of my Father’s copy of it?) and the once admired children’s books, The Peacock at Home, The Lion’s Masquerade, The Cat’s Gala, The Lobster’s Voyage to the Brazils etc. which, though sufficiently humorous and entertaining, are not, I suspect, very wholesome aliment for children, whose sense of the ridiculous is generally, quite strong enough of itself. ...'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 19 Sep 1796 and 16 May 1835

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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:

Poet, essayist, teacher, biographer

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:

Catherine Ann Turner Dorset

Title:

The Peacock ‘at Home’: A sequel to the Butterfly's Ball

Genre:

Classics, Poetry, Children's Lit, Conduct books

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33956

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:

173

Additional Comments:

Letter addressed to Hartley's mother, Sarah Coleridge, at No. 1 Downshire Place, Hampstead, London, from Grasmere, dated May 16, 1835.

Citation:

Hartley Coleridge, Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs (ed.), Letters of Hartley Coleridge, (London, 1936), n/a, p. 173, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33956, accessed: 24 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Hartley critiques children's literature and reading at length in this letter.