Record Number: 21471

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Alfred Tennyson to John Forster, 29 March 1854: 'I understand from Archibald Peel that you are aggrieved at my not writing to you [...] A reason for my not writing much is the bad condition of my right eye which quite suddenly came on as I was reading or trying to read small Persian text. You know perhaps how very minute in some of those Eastern tongues are the differences of letters: a little dot more or less: in a moment, after a three hours' hanging over this scratchy text, my right eye became filled with great masses of floating blackness, and the other eye similarly affected tho' not so badly. I am in a great fear about them, and think of coming up to town about them'.

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1854 and 29 Mar 1854

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

county: Isle of Wight
specific address: Farringford

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:

Alfred Tennyson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

6 Aug 1809

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

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:

Title:

Persian grammar

Genre:

Textbook / self-education, Reference / General works

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

21471

Source:

Print

Author:

Hallam Tennyson

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1897

Vol:

1

Page:

373

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Hallam Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son (London, 1897), 1, p. 373, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=21471, accessed: 23 March 2023

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Additional Comments:

Source author notes on p.374: 'my father [...] had hurt his eyes by poring over a small-printed Persian Grammar [...] this with Hafiz and other Persian books had to be hidden away, for he had "seen the Persian letters stalking like giants round the walls of his room."'