Record Number: 28469
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
[From Charlotte Bronte's introduction to the 1850 edition of her sisters' novels:] 'One day in the autumn of 1845 I accidentally lighted on a MS. volume in verse in my sister Emily's handwriting. Of course I was not surprised, knowing that she could and did write verse. I looked it over, and something more than surprise seized me -- a deep conviction that these were not common effusions, nor at all like the poetry women generally write. I thought them condensed and terse, vigorous and genuine. To my ear they had also a peculiar music, wild, melancholy, and elevating. My sister Emily was not a person of demonstrative character, nor one on the recesses of whose mind and feelings even those nearest and dearest to her could, with impunity, intrude unlicenced: it took hours to reconcile her to the discovery I had made, and days to persuade her that such poems merited publication.... Meantime my younger sister quietly produced some of her own compositions, intimating that since Emily's had given me pleasure I might like to look at hers. I could not but be a partial judge, yet I thought that these verses too had a sweet, sincere pathos of their own.'
Century:1800-1849
Date:Between 1 Sep 1845 and 31 Dec 1845
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: Haworth
county: Yorkshire
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:21 Apr 1816
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:n/a
Religion:n/a
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: Title:poems
Genre:Poetry
Form of Text:Manuscript: Unknown
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:28469
Source:n/a
Editor:Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington
Title:The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence
Place of Publication:Oxford
Date of Publication:1980
Vol:I-II
Page:II:79
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), I-II, p. II:79, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28469, accessed: 10 October 2024
Additional Comments:
None