Record Number: 33734

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Diary entry, June 24, 1831: "Afterwards we returned to Mr. Boyd’s own room, & read Aeschylus again. We read the scene after the first chorus of the Seven Chief, & both of us abused it. I had abused it before reading it with him; & he, from indistant recollections, had taken it’s part; but by this co-reading our opinions became united. While I was reading, I observed the closing of eyes & imperfect attention –what he calls “his heaviness” coming on. I may be wrong; but I cant help thinking that if he were much interested, he wd. not suffer in this way. I thought so yesterday, till my voice absolutely trembled. I may be wrong. When the reading was over, we talked of the Knowles’s"

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

24 Jun 1831

Country:

England

Time

daytime

Place:

city: Malvern Hills, Ledbury, Wellington Heath
county: Herefordshire
specific address: Hope End

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

passive in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

6 Mar 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

Poet

Religion:

Evangelical Anglican

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

Hugh Stuart Boyd

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Aeschylus

Title:

Septem Apud Thebas

Genre:

Classics, Drama, Unknown

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Aeschylus. Septem contra Thebas. Edited by C.J. Blomfield. Third edition. London, 1824.

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33734

Source:

Print

Author:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning,

Editor:

Phillip & Ronald Kelley & Hudson

Title:

Diary of E.B.B.: The Unpublished Diary of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Place of Publication:

Athens, OH

Date of Publication:

1969

Vol:

n/a

Page:

31

Additional Comments:

Diary entry, June 24, 1831

Citation:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning,, Phillip & Ronald Kelley & Hudson (ed.), Diary of E.B.B.: The Unpublished Diary of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, (Athens, OH, 1969), p. 31, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33734, accessed: 13 March 2025

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Additional Comments:

- She is probably reading "Seven Chiefs Against Thebes", which she started some days before. - She is probably reading aloud to Hugh Stuart Boyd, who was blind.