Record Number: 19518

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett to Thomas Westwood, 6 September 1845: 'I shd. have written long since to you, if but to thank you for Edgar Poe's ballad .. of which [...] [italics]two[end italics] copies were lying by me when yours came, .. one from some anonymous American, & one from the author himself [...] For the ballad [...] I do not exactly know how to make up my mind to a conclusion about it. There is a certain power in it, no doubt, -- but if the writer had been mad .. professedly mad you know .. I shd. have appreciated the power better. It is not the madness of [italics]passion[end italics], I think .. it is as of an intellect dis[t]raught. There is a ludicrousness which tickles me through & through the melancholy. The "Sir or Madam" for instance! -- how do you bear [italics]that[end italics]?'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Aug 1845 and 6 Sep 1845

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 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:

Edgar Allan Poe

Title:

'The Raven'

Genre:

Fiction, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Newspaper

Publication Details

1845

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

19518

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Scott Lewis

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1993

Vol:

11

Page:

64

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Scott Lewis (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1993), 11, p. 64, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=19518, accessed: 11 March 2025

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Additional Comments:

Source eds. note that copies of poem in Barrett's possession 'presumably [...] all from the newspaper publications of "The Raven"' (see p.65 n.2).