Record Number: 16095
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'During these eight months [of striving for literary fame, aged eleven] I never felt myself of ore consequence or had a better opinion of my own talents -- In short I was in infinite danger of being as vain as I was inexperienced! During this dangerous period I was from home & the fever of a heated imagination was perhaps increased by the intoxicating gai[e]ties of a watering place Ramsgate where we then were and where I commenced my poem "The Battle of Marathon" [...] When we came home one day after having written a page of poetry which I considered models of beauty I ran downstairs to the library to seek Popes Homer in order to compare them that I might enjoy my OWN SUPERIORITY [...] I brought Homer up in triumph & read first my own Poem & afterwards began to compare -- I read fifty lines from the glorious Father of the lyre -- It was enough -- I felt the whole extent of my own immense & mortifying inferiority -- 'My first impulse was to throw with mingled feelings of contempt & anguish my composition on the floor -- my next to burst into tears! & I wept for an hour and then returned to reason and humility [...] From this period for a twelvemonth I could find no pleasure in any book but Homer. I read & longed to read again and tho I had it nearly by heart I still found new beauties & fresh enchantments'.
Century:1800-1849
Date:Between 6 Mar 1817 and 6 Mar 1818
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: Ramsgate
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:Child (0-17)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:6 Mar 1806
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:child
Religion:Evangelical
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:The Battle of Marathon
Genre:Classics, Poetry
Form of Text:Manuscript: Unknown
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceowned
Source Information:
Record ID:16095
Source:n/a
Editor:Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson
Title:The Brownings' Correspondence
Place of Publication:Winfield
Date of Publication:1984
Vol:1
Page:351
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1984), 1, p. 351, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=16095, accessed: 22 November 2024
Additional Comments:
Evidence from Elizabeth Barrett's 'Glimpses into My Own Life and Literary Character' (composed 1820-21). Not clear whether Pope's translation of the Odyssey and/or the Iliad referred to.
