Record Number: 17305

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett to Richard Hengist Horne, letter postmarked 21 February 1844: '[italics]Have[end italics] I read "Festus"? Certainly I have [...] Oh yes! I was much struck by "Festus" [...] Both the "Festus" & the supplement apologetic to it, which appeared in the Monthly Repository (I think) filled me with admiration [...] Its [italics]fault[end italics] is an extraordinary inequality -- so really one falls down precipices continually; & from pinnacles of grandeur, into profundities of badness. Parts of the poem are as bad, & as weak as is well possible to be conceived of: and moreover [...] there is an occasional coarseness & gratuitous indelicacy [...] Also, I will not say that there is not some over-daring in relation to divine things [...] But when all is said, what poet-stuff remains!'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Sep 1839 and 21 Feb 1844

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:

Evangelical

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:

Philip James Bailey

Title:

Festus

Genre:

Poetry, Astrology / alchemy / occult

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Published anonymously in 1839

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

17305

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1990

Vol:

8

Page:

217

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1990), 8, p. 217, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=17305, accessed: 25 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

Text a version of the Faust myth. In letter quoted, Barrett also recalls her recommendation of the work to her friend Thomas Westwood, who was shocked by its content (see vol.7 p.176 in same edition of The Brownings' Correspondence).