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

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Listings for Reader:  

Anne Isabella Milbanke

 

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Tobias Smollett : Complete History of England

'At ten the poor infant was reading Smollett's History... She summed up her impression with scornful lucidity: "There seem to have been more weak kings than wise ones".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Thomas Campbell : [poetry]

'there was always poetry. Campbell, just then at the top of his short-lived vogue; Ossian, the unreadable of to-day; Milton - and with the New Year of 1812 a Captain Boothby (met during the London season) as a visitor with whom to read the last, but not the other two. For he did not admire Campbell or Ossian; and indeed seems to have been a person of delicate discriminations, though not advanced in thought. They were reading "Paradise Lost"...'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Ossian (pseud.) : [poetry]

'there was always poetry. Campbell, just then at the top of his short-lived vogue; Ossian, the unreadable of to-day; Milton - and with the New Year of 1812 a Captain Boothby (met during the London season) as a visitor with whom to read the last, but not the other two. For he did not admire Campbell or Ossian; and indeed seems to have been a person of delicate discriminations, though not advanced in thought. They were reading "Paradise Lost"...'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Homer : Iliad

'Annabella was now reading Cowper's "Iliad" and annotating evey second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to "Evelina". In "Evelina" she was disappointed, like a good many more of its readers - more perhaps than make the confession. There was study of Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them... Annabella waded through "Madoc". She found some passages wearisome but was convinced that Southey would one day be ranked high "among the ancient poets".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Vittorio Alfieri : [unknown]

'Annabella was now reading Cowper's "Iliad" and annotating evey second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to "Evelina". In "Evelina" she was disappointed, like a good many more of its readers - more perhaps than make the confession. There was study of Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them... Annabella waded through "Madoc". She found some passages wearisome but was convinced that Southey would one day be ranked high "among the ancient poets".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Frances Burney : Evelina

'Annabella was now reading Cowper's "Iliad" and annotating evey second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to "Evelina". In "Evelina" she was disappointed, like a good many more of its readers - more perhaps than make the confession. There was study of Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them... Annabella waded through "Madoc". She found some passages wearisome but was convinced that Southey would one day be ranked high "among the ancient poets".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

William Wordsworth : [unknown]

'Annabella was now reading Cowper's "Iliad" and annotating evey second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to "Evelina". In "Evelina" she was disappointed, like a good many more of its readers - more perhaps than make the confession. There was study of Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them... Annabella waded through "Madoc". She found some passages wearisome but was convinced that Southey would one day be ranked high "among the ancient poets".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Samuel Taylor Coleridge : [unknown]

'Annabella was now reading Cowper's "Iliad" and annotating evey second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to "Evelina". In "Evelina" she was disappointed, like a good many more of its readers - more perhaps than make the confession. There was study of Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them... Annabella waded through "Madoc". She found some passages wearisome but was convinced that Southey would one day be ranked high "among the ancient poets".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Robert Southey : Madoc

'Annabella was now reading Cowper's "Iliad" and annotating evey second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to "Evelina". In "Evelina" she was disappointed, like a good many more of its readers - more perhaps than make the confession. There was study of Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them... Annabella waded through "Madoc". She found some passages wearisome but was convinced that Southey would one day be ranked high "among the ancient poets".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Maria Edgeworth : [unknown]

'She read enormously, finding time and energy we wonder how. A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though she did include some novels - Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's sensation-making "Vathek", in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, Lord Byron's "Childe Harold". "Childe Harold's" only rival in her poetic reading was "The Faerie Queene". That was a reckless undertaking for the height of the London season; she may not, like so many of us, have quite finished "The Faerie Queene".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

William Beckford : Vathek

'She read enormously, finding time and energy we wonder how. A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though she did include some novels - Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's sensation-making "Vathek", in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, Lord Byron's "Childe Harold". "Childe Harold's" only rival in her poetic reading was "The Faerie Queene". That was a reckless undertaking for the height of the London season; she may not, like so many of us, have quite finished "The Faerie Queene".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

George Gordon, Lord Byron : Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

'She read enormously, finding time and energy we wonder how. A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though she did include some novels - Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's sensation-making "Vathek", in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, Lord Byron's "Childe Harold". "Childe Harold's" only rival in her poetic reading was "The Faerie Queene". That was a reckless undertaking for the height of the London season; she may not, like so many of us, have quite finished "The Faerie Queene".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Edmund Spenser : The Faerie Queene

'She read enormously, finding time and energy we wonder how. A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though she did include some novels - Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's sensation-making "Vathek", in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, Lord Byron's "Childe Harold". "Childe Harold's" only rival in her poetic reading was "The Faerie Queene". That was a reckless undertaking for the height of the London season; she may not, like so many of us, have quite finished "The Faerie Queene".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Jane Austen : Pride and Prejudice

'She read a great deal, among her books being one called "Pride and Prejudice", "Which is at present the fashionable novel. It is written by a sister of Charlotte Smith's and contains more strength of character than other productions of this kind".'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

J.C. de Sismondi : history of the Italian republics;: Being a view of the origin, progress, and fall of Italian freedom, A

'she asked [Byron] to recommend her some books of modern history. At present she was reading Sismondi's "Italian Republics". And she had read "Lara". Shakespeare alone possessed the same power as Byron had there displayed'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

George Gordon, Lord Byron : Lara

'she asked [Byron] to recommend her some books of modern history. At present she was reading Sismondi's "Italian Republics". And she had read "Lara". Shakespeare alone possessed the same power as Byron had there displayed'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Tobias Smollett : History

'Everything seems to have been designed to develop the serious fold in her nature. At ten, the poor infant was reading Smollett's History [...] She summed up her impression with scornful lucidity: "There seem to have been more weak kings than wise ones."'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Joseph Blacket : poetry

'In Seaham village lived a poet, "an unfortunate child of Genius," -- one Joseph Blacket, a cobbler's son, whom [Anne Isabella Milbanke's] parents actively befriended. Whether they took him seriously as a poet, or (like Byron) very much the reverse, Annabella [i.e. Anne Isabella] was impressed by his attempts. One of the early records is a copy of verses to her, "on her presenting the author with a beautiful edition of Cowper's Poems" -- just a year before Blacket's death in 1810, at twenty-three.'

Unknown
Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      

  

Horace  : 

'Poetry and shoemaking were part of the daily round [for the young Anne Isabella Milbanke]; a grander ambition was taking shape. Translations from Horace [...] Three lines and a half of English verse ... and then this phoenix sank for evermore amid its scanty ashes.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Homer  : Iliad

'Annabella was now [in 1812] reading Cowper's Iliad and annotating every second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to Evelina. In Evelina she was disappointed [...] There was study of Southey, Wordsworth and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Frances Burney : Evelina

'Annabella was now [in 1812] reading Cowper's Iliad and annotating every second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to Evelina. In Evelina she was disappointed [...] There was study of Southey, Wordsworth and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

William Wordsworth : 

'Annabella was now [in 1812] reading Cowper's Iliad and annotating every second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to Evelina. In Evelina she was disappointed [...] There was study of Southey, Wordsworth and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Samuel Taylor Coleridge : 

'Annabella was now [in 1812] reading Cowper's Iliad and annotating every second line; she was studying Alfieri with the family-solicitor's daughter; for relaxation condescending to Evelina. In Evelina she was disappointed [...] There was study of Southey, Wordsworth and Coleridge as well, for everyone was reading them'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Robert Southey : Madoc

'The "Lakers," as Byron called them, were making themselves strongly felt [in 1812], and (at this moment) Southey most strongly of all. So Annabella waded through Madoc. She found some passages wearisome, but was convinced that Southey would one day be ranked high "among the ancient poets." Her prophecy may have come true, for it is impossible to tell what she meant by it. She was often guilty of this woolly kind of writing.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Maria Edgeworth : novels

'She [Anne Isabella Milbanke] read enormously [...] A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though it did include some novels -- Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's [sic] sensation-making Vathek, in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, "Lord Byron's Childe Harold." Childe Harold's only rival in her poetic reading was The Faerie Queene.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

William Beckford : Vathek

'She [Anne Isabella Milbanke] read enormously [...] A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though it did include some novels -- Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's [sic] sensation-making Vathek, in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, "Lord Byron's Childe Harold." Childe Harold's only rival in her poetic reading was The Faerie Queene.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

George Gordon Lord Byron : Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

'She [Anne Isabella Milbanke] read enormously [...] A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though it did include some novels -- Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's [sic] sensation-making Vathek, in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, "Lord Byron's Childe Harold." Childe Harold's only rival in her poetic reading was The Faerie Queene.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Edmund Spenser : The Faerie Queene

'She [Anne Isabella Milbanke] read enormously [...] A list of her books makes the unregenerate blood run cold, though it did include some novels -- Miss Edgeworth's and Beckford's [sic] sensation-making Vathek, in which she detected the source of some passages in the Book of the Season, "Lord Byron's Childe Harold." Childe Harold's only rival in her poetic reading was The Faerie Queene.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

George Gordon Lord Byron : Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (cantos I and II)

'On March 15 [1812] [...] [Anne Isabella Milbanke] dined at Lady Melbourne's [...] [William Lamb] may have been genuinely tired of the principal topic as recorded in Annabella's journal -- Childe Harold, poem and poet, about both of whom his wife [Lady Caroline Lamb] had lost her head [...] 'Annabella could not join in that discussion, for she had not read Childe Harold. And she let another week go by before she did read it [...] on the following Sunday she surrendered to the spirit of the season, and began. Two days later she had finished the two cantos of which it then consisted; in her diary for March 24, she set down her opinion: '"It contains many stanzas in the best style of poetry. He is rather too much of a [italics]mannerist[end italics], that is, he wants variety in the turns of his expression. He excels most in the delineations of deep feeling, and in reflections relative to human nature." [...] 'Annabella met him the day after that entry in her diary.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Jane Austen : Pride and Prejudice

'[Anne Isabella Milbanke] read a great deal [during season of 1813], among her books being one called Pride and Prejudice, "which is at present the fashionable novel. It is written by a sister of Charlotte Smith's and contains more strength of character than other productions of this kind."'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

George Gordon Lord Byron : The Giaour

'Annabella had [...] written to her aunt [Lady Melbourne; during autumn 1813], after having read the enlarged edition of the Giaour. "The description of Love almost makes [italics]me[end italics] in love ... I consider his [Byron's] acquaintance so desirable that I would incur the risk of being called a Flirt for the sake of enjoying it."'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

George Gordon Lord Byron : Lara

'At present [August 1814] she [Anne Isabella Milbanke] was reading Sismondi's Italian Republics. And she had read Lara.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

  

Sismondi : Italian Republics

'At present [August 1814] she [Anne Isabella Milbanke] was reading Sismondi's Italian Republics. And she had read Lara.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Isabella Milbanke      Print: Book

 

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