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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 

 
 
 

Record Number: 33993


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

�...I did not and do not, admire any of his [Robert Southey�s] laureate poetry - (except the epicedian on the Princess, which is beautiful) nor agree with all his Articles in the Quarterly. Entre nous, I think he has retained, even in his ultra-toryism, and high-churchmanship, the fundamental error which made him, in the heat of youth, somewhat of a revolutionist; he expects a great deal more from positive institutions than God ever intended they should produce. ...�

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 6 Nov 1817 and 8 May 1836

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:

Hartley Coleridge

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

19 Sep 1796

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Poet, essayist, teacher, biographer

Religion:

Church of England

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:

Robert Southey

Title:

Funeral Ode on the Death of the Princess Charlotte

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book, Serial / periodical

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

33993

Source:

Print

Author:

Hartley Coleridge

Editor:

Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs

Title:

Letters of Hartley Coleridge

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1936

Vol:

n/a

Page:

190

Additional Comments:

Letter written to Hartley's cousin, Henry Nelson Coleridge, from Grasmere, dated May 8, 1836. The �epicedian� to which Hartley refers is probably Southey�s �Funeral Ode on the Death of the Princess Charlotte� (1817).

Citation:

Hartley Coleridge, Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs (ed.), Letters of Hartley Coleridge, (London, 1936), n/a, p. 190, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33993, accessed: 08 February 2026


Additional Comments:

None