Record Number: 948
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'Shakespeare incited his appetite for poetry: Cowper, Pope, Dryden, Goldsmith, Thomson, Byron. Not only were they more interesting than the fifty volumes of Wesley's Christian Library: eventually Barker realised that "the reason why I could not understand them was, that there was nothing to be understood - that the books were made up of words, and commonplace errors and mystical and nonsensical expressions, and that there was no light or truth in them". When his superintendent searched his lodgings and found Shakespeare and Byron there, Barker was hauled before a disciplinary committee'.
Century:1800-1849
Date:unknown
Country:n/a
Timen/a
Place:n/a
Type of Experience(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:Male
Date of Birth:1806
Socio-Economic Group:Clergy (includes all denominations)
Occupation:circuit preacher
Religion:Methodist
Country of Origin:n/a
Country of Experience:n/a
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:n/a
Genre:Poetry
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:948
Source:Jonathan Rose
Editor:n/a
Title:The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes
Place of Publication:New Haven
Date of Publication:2001
Vol:n/a
Page:32
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 32, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=948, accessed: 05 October 2024
Additional Comments:
See Joseph Barker, 'The History and Confessions of a Man' (1846)