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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 26373


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'On March 15 [1812] [...] [Anne Isabella Milbanke] dined at Lady Melbourne's [...] [William Lamb] may have been genuinely tired of the principal topic as recorded in Annabella's journal — Childe Harold, poem and poet, about both of whom his wife [Lady Caroline Lamb] had lost her head [...]

Annabella could not join in that discussion, for she had not read Childe Harold. And she let another week go by before she did read it [...] on the following Sunday she surrendered to the spirit of the season, and began. Two days later she had finished the two cantos of which it then consisted; in her diary for March 24, she set down her opinion:

'"It contains many stanzas in the best style of poetry. He is rather too much of a mannerist, that is, he wants variety in the turns of his expression. He excels most in the delineations of deep feeling, and in reflections relative to human nature." [...]

Annabella met him the day after that entry in her diary.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 21 Mar 1812 and 24 Mar 1812

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Anne Isabella Milbanke

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

17 May 1792

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

n/a

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

George Gordon Lord Byron

Title:

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (cantos I and II)

Genre:

Fiction, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1812

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

26373

Source:

Print

Author:

Ethel Colburn Mayne

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Life and Letters of Anne Isabella, Lady Noel Byron

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1929

Vol:

n/a

Page:

35

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Ethel Colburn Mayne, The Life and Letters of Anne Isabella, Lady Noel Byron, (London, 1929), p. 35, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=26373, accessed: 03 October 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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