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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 892


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

I finished the Endymion today. I do not admire it as a fine poem; but I do admire many passages of it, as being very fine poetry. As a whole, it is cumbrous & unwieldy. You don?t know where to put it. Your imagination is confused by it: & your feelings uninterested. And yet a poet wrote it. When I had done with Keats, I took up Theophrastus. Theophrastus has a great deal of vivacity, & power of portraiture about him; & uplifts that veil of distance ? veiling the old Greeks with such sublime mistiness; & shows you how they used to spit & take physic & wear nailed shoes tout comme un autre?Theophrastus does me no good just now: & as I can?t laugh with him, I shall be glad when I have done hearing him laugh.

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

19 Aug 1831

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Ledbury
specific address: Hope End

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:

Elizabeth Barrett

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

6 Mar 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

Poet

Religion:

Evangelical Anglican

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Theophrastus

Title:

n/a

Genre:

Classics

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned


Source Information:

Record ID:

892

Source:

Print

Author:

Elizabeth Barrett

Editor:

Elizabeth Berridge

Title:

The Barretts at Hope End: The Early Diary of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1974

Vol:

n/a

Page:

142

Additional Comments:

Diary entry for 19 August 1831

Citation:

Elizabeth Barrett, Elizabeth Berridge (ed.), The Barretts at Hope End: The Early Diary of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, (London, 1974), p. 142, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=892, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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