Record Number: 16583

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Till lately I have never read Spenser, and therefore was not personally acquainted with his beauties. Neither do I mean to say now that I have read his "Fairie Queen"; but having accidentally met with an extract from his "Hymn of Heavenly Love", a long poem, I went to Papa's study and read the whole poem, which is most exquisitely beautiful, and is perhaps equal to anything Milton ever wrote. [...] I was so much delighted with it that I read another, his "Hymne of Heavenly Beautie", Which in point of poetic excellence perhaps exceeds the other. [...] Papa's copy of his poems is a very old edition, prinnted in the time of Queen Elizabeth, to whom it is dedicated. The illuminations are very curious, and the engravings most laughable; the print is small, and the old words make it rather difficult to read.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

16 Feb 1832

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Potton, or Woodbury
county: Bedfordshire
location in dwelling: 'Papa's study'

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:

Emily Shore

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

25 Dec 1819

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Child of schoolteacher father and author mother

Occupation:

child

Religion:

unknown

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:

Edmund Spenser

Title:

'Hymn of Heavenly Beautie'

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Reader suggests an Elizabethan edition

Provenance

read in situ

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Source Information:

Record ID:

16583

Source:

Print

Author:

Shore Emily

Editor:

Barbara Timm-Gates

Title:

Journal of Emily Shore

Place of Publication:

Chrlottesville and London

Date of Publication:

1991

Vol:

n/a

Page:

12

Additional Comments:

Reprint (with some additional material) of 1891 edition of Shore's journal.

Citation:

Shore Emily, Barbara Timm-Gates (ed.), Journal of Emily Shore, (Chrlottesville and London, 1991), p. 12, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=16583, accessed: 24 April 2025

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Additional Comments:

From edited diary.