Record Number: 16377

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 10 August 1836: 'I can tell you [...] of [John Kenyon's] having given himself a great deal of kind trouble in finding the Countess of Essex for me and of my reading it and Paracelsus besides which he also lent me. As to the play, its talent may be both felt & seen -- but felt & seen [italics]in parts[end italics] [...] But have you seen Paracelsus? I am a little discontented even [italics]there[end italics], & wd wish for more harmony & rather more clearness & compression [...] but I do think that the pulse of poetry is full & warm & strong in it [...] There is a palpable power! a height & depth of thought, -- & sudden repressed gushings of tenderness which suggest to us a depth beyond, in the affections. I wish you wd read it, & agree with me that the author is a poet in the holy sense. And I wish that some passages in the poem referring to the divine Being had been softened or removed. They sound to me daringly; and [italics]that[end italics] is not the appropriate daring of genius.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 9 Jul 1836 and 10 Aug 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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Elizabeth Barrett

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

6 Mar 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Robert Browning

Title:

Paracelsus

Genre:

Drama, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

15 August 1835

Provenance

borrowed (other)

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Source Information:

Record ID:

16377

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1985

Vol:

3

Page:

186

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1985), 3, p. 186, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=16377, accessed: 25 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

None