Record Number: 11340

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'when I was eleven a school history-book containing biographies of Sir Thomas More, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sire John Eliot showed me that reading could be something quite different. My reading books up to then must have been poor, for I can remember nothing of them except a description of Damascus, with a sentence to the effect that at night the streets were "as silent as the dead". I had had, of course, to learn "Casabianca" and "Lord Ullin's Daughter" and "Excelsior" and the other vapid poems which are supposed to please children, but like everyone else I was bored by them.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 15 May 1887 and 1 Jan 1898

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Garth

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:

Edwin Muir

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

15 May 1887

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

farmer's son, later poet

Religion:

Protestant

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Felicia Dorothea Hemans

Title:

Casabianca

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

published in school reader?

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

11340

Source:

Print

Author:

Edwin Muir

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The story and the fable: An autobiography

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1940

Vol:

n/a

Page:

86

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Edwin Muir, The story and the fable: An autobiography, (London, 1940), p. 86, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=11340, accessed: 22 November 2024

---

Additional Comments:

None