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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 32894


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

‘There is an excellent article in this week Saturday Westminster, a paper of which I am very fond. It is a review by Walter de la Mare, and is that poet’s confession of Faith … My leave starts on Thursday—5 whole days … Do you not like Laurence Binyon’s verses in the Times Supplement? Those and Hardy’s and Kipling’s are the best of the bunch. Though I like Watson Grenfell and Noyes. Hardy’s grows on one. Did you ever read his last book of Short Stories—"The Changed Man"? … Have you read any of D F Lawrence? I have just finished an extraordinary book called "The White Peacock", full of arresting studies of character and most essentially breathing of earth and clouds and flowers—though not a pleasant book … we had Zeps here about a fortnight ago. Two bombs were dropped on Chelmsford itself, both on or near the Glosters billeting area. The damage was perhaps 5£ worth. It cured an old lady of muscular rheumatism, indeed it made an athlete, a sprinter of her—she went down the street in her nightgown like a comet or some gravity-defying ghost.’

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 6 Aug 1915 and 30 Sep 1915

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Chelmsford
county: Essex

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Ivor Bertie Gurney

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

28 Aug 1890

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Private, Gloucestershire Regiment

Religion:

Christian (Anglican)

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:

Thomas Hardy

Title:

Song of the Soldiers

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Newspaper

Publication Details

9 August 1915 London: Times

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

32894

Source:

Print

Author:

Ivor Gurney

Editor:

R. K. R. Thornton,

Title:

Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

Manchester

Date of Publication:

1991

Vol:

n/a

Page:

35-38

Additional Comments:

Letter to Marion Scott, violinist and musicologist September 1915, Chelmsford, Essex

Citation:

Ivor Gurney, R. K. R. Thornton, (ed.), Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters, (Manchester, 1991), p. 35-38, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32894, accessed: 22 November 2024


Additional Comments:

This 16 page anthology was issued as a supplement to the Times on Monday 9 August 1915. See also RED record ID 3232887.

   
   
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