Record Number: 19410
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'Allow me, Sir, to return you my best thanks for your Lyrical ballad, "The Triumph for Salamis", which I have just received. It [italics] looks [end italics] most tempting, and I mean to take it with me to Bolton Abbey, whither I am on the point of going. But independently of the intrinsic value of the poem, there is the great pleasure of receiving marks of approbation and sympathy from distant and unknown friends; (and such I may call you, may I not?) especially from one, first known to me through "Baby May" two or three years ago, but every poem of whose has made me feel to know and like him better and better.'
Century:1800-1849, 1850-1899
Date:Until: 1 May 1850
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: Manchester
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:Female
Date of Birth:29 Sep 1810
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:clergyman's wife and writer
Religion:Unitarian
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:Baby May and Other Poems on Infants
Genre:Poetry
Form of Text:Unknown
Publication Detailspublished as a book 1859 but other evidence suggests the letter is from 1850ish - maybe she had read an MS poem?
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:19410
Source:Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Editor:J.A.V. Chapple
Title:Letters of Mrs Gaskell, The
Place of Publication:Manchester
Date of Publication:1997
Vol:n/a
Page:808
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, J.A.V. Chapple (ed.), Letters of Mrs Gaskell, The, (Manchester, 1997), p. 808, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=19410, accessed: 22 November 2024
Additional Comments:
Additional editor Arthur Pollard. Undated letter to an 'Unknown' recipient - presumably Benett himself. As the letter's address was one Gaskell vacated in early 1850, it must date from before then.
