Record Number: 17007

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 3 June 1841: 'Yes [...] to [having read] Emerson's letters [sic]. Or rather, yes, to the letters, & "no" to Carlyle's preface -- because I read the American edition. Mr Kenyon lent the book to me, the book belonging to Mr Crabbe Robinson whose hair stood on end when he heard of its being lent to me! "Why" he said "that book is too stiff even for myself -- and I am not very orthodox." In fact the book [...] is very extravagant in some of its views. It sets about destroying [...] the personality of every person, & speaks of the Deity as of a great Background to which every created individual forms a little porch!!! For the rest, there are beautiful & noble thoughts in the book, beautifully & nobly said.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1842 and 3 Jun 1842

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

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Elizabeth 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

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Title:

Essays: First Series

Genre:

Other religious, Essays / Criticism, Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Boston, 1841

Provenance

n/a

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

17007

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1988

Vol:

6

Page:

6

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence (Winfield, 1988), 6, p. 6, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=17007, accessed: 27 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

See p.7 n.5 in source on probability that Barrett had read Emerson's Essays (1841), a British edition of which had also appeared, with a preface by Carlyle, in 1841.