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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
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Record Number: 11245


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'One evening my father took down his Virgil from an upper shelf...And then, in the twilight, as he shut the volume at last, oblivious of my presence, he began to murmur and to chant the adorable verses by memory...I stopped my play, and listened as if to a nightingale ... My prosodical instinct was awakened, quite suddenly that dim evening, as my father and I sat alone in the breakfast-room after tea, serenely accepting the hour, for once, with no idea of exhortation or profit ... I persuaded my Father, who was a little astonished at my insistance, to repeat the lines over and over again. At last my brain caught them."

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jun 1859 and 31 Aug 1859

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

county: Devon
location in dwelling: breakfast-room in family home in Devon

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary reactive unknown
single serial unknown


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Philip Gosse

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1810

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

zoological writer

Religion:

Plymouth Brethren

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

son Edmund Gosse, age 9 1/2 years


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Virgil

Title:

Eclogues

Genre:

Classics, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned


Source Information:

Record ID:

11245

Source:

Print

Author:

Edmund Gosse

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Father and Son: a study of two temperments

Place of Publication:

Keele: Ryburn Publishing

Date of Publication:

1994

Vol:

n/a

Page:

121

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Edmund Gosse, Father and Son: a study of two temperments (Keele: Ryburn Publishing, 1994), p. 121, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=11245, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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