"As an errand-boy I had, of course, many hardships to undergo, and to bear with much tyranny; and that led me into reasoning upon men and things, the causes of misery, the anomalies of our societary state, politics &tc., and the circle of my being rapidly out-surged. New power came to me with all that I saw and thought and read. I studied political works, - such as Paine, Volney, Howitt, Louis Blanc, &tc, which gave me another element to mould into my verse, though I am convinced that a poet must sacrifice much if he write party-political poetry."
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Gerald Massey Print: Book
'Mary Howitt?s last translation from Frederika Bremer?s Swedish "The Home" charms me even more than "The Neighbours" did. The Athenaeum compares these books to Miss Austen?s, but I shd be afraid to tell you exactly how I wd modify the comparison. [The Athenaeum of 13 May 1843 said of the Bremer books: 'We have had nothing so simply life-like since Galt?s "Annals of the Parish" ? no pictures of female nature so finely touched, since Miss Austen.']
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Print: Book
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 7 December 1842:
'I like Mary Howitt's lyrical poetry -- ballad poetry, I shd say distinctively, -- and once thought,
-- before I had read the "Seven Temptations", that I wd prefer having her genius to work with,
than either Mrs Hemans's & [sic] Miss Landon's. The Seven Temptations changed my view, &
checked my admiration. She cannot sustain a high song'.
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Print: Book
Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 29 July 1843:
'I am reading William Howitt's Germany with a good deal of interest.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Print: Book
'[She thanks them for the great pleasure two of their works had given her 'by their charming descriptions of natural scenery and the thoughts and feelings arising from the happy circumstances of rural life'.]
[Editors' gloss on contents of part of this letter to William and Mary Howitt]
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell Print: Book
