Record Number: 34335

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

After listing some canonical writers discussed by Pound and whom Ford had never read he then goes on to write: 'On the other hand I possess a certain patience and, if I feel that I am going to get anything out of it I can read in a prose or verse book for an infinite space of time. At school I was birched into reading Vergil, who always excited in me the same hostility that was aroused by Goethe's FAUST. Homer was also spoiled for me a good deal by the schoolmaster. The schoolmaster did not contrive however to spoil for me Euripides. I have a good part of the BACCHAE and some of the ALKESTIS still by heart. But so, indeed, I have Books Two and nine of the AENEID, so that those mnemonics form no criterion; But for myself I have, I have read most of the books recommended for the formation of my mind in HOW TO READ—excepting of course "CONFUCIUS in full..." [...] I have read Doughty's DAWN IN BRITAIN, an epic in twelve books. And SORDELLO only last night. And CANTO'S.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 9 Sep 1889 and 10 Nov 1890

Country:

England

Time

daytime

Place:

city: London
specific address: University College School, Gower Street
location in dwelling: schoolroom

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:

Ford Madox Ford

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

17 Dec 1873

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Student

Religion:

Catholic

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:

Homer

Title:

The Iliad

Genre:

Classics

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown
either owned or provided by the school

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Source Information:

Record ID:

34335

Source:

Print

Author:

Ezra Pound

Editor:

Brita Lindberg-Seyersted

Title:

Pound/Ford: The Story of a Literary Friendship

Place of Publication:

New York

Date of Publication:

1982

Vol:

n/a

Page:

104

Additional Comments:

Ford reviewing in April 1932 in the "New Review" Ezra Pound's book of essays 'How to Read' which had appeared in book form in 1931.

Citation:

Ezra Pound, Brita Lindberg-Seyersted (ed.), Pound/Ford: The Story of a Literary Friendship, (New York, 1982), p. 104, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=34335, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

The date range and place of reading are somewhat speculative, but the evidence suggests that Ford read Homer under duress at his London school rather than at the innovative Pretoria House boarding school at Folkestone which he attended until his father's death in 1889.