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

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Gregory Nazianzen : In laudem virginitatis

Elizabeth Barrett to Hugh Stuart Boyd, 16 May 1829: 'I have actually & absolutely finished the seven hundred & thirty one lines of Gregory Nazianzen's poem In laudem virginitatis. It will be impossible for me to forget the exact number, as long as I live! I began the poem with the very best intentions of being pleased & interested. At the end of two hundred lines, my Patience became restless & uncomfortable, but took courage & toiled on; & then grew feverish & spasmodically affected, -- & finally sank under accumulations of dulness & dryness & heaviness & tediousness & lengthiness, between the 400th & 500th lines [goes on to discuss piece critically and in detail].]

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett      Print: Book

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