Switch to English Switch to French

The Open University  |   Study at the OU  |   About the OU  |   Research at the OU  |   Search the OU

Listen to this page  |   Accessibility

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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
  RED International Logo

RED Australia logo


RED Canada logo
RED Netherlands logo
RED New Zealand logo

Record Number: 3669


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Letter H. 39 - 12/10/1856 - "-I don't know when I read a poem, since as a boy I first read "The Assyrian came down" - which has given me such intense pleasure as the "Burden of Nineveh" in No. 8 of Oxford & Cambridge - Pleasure of course - of a different kind but I am quite wild about it - That profound last stanza - the infinite power and ease of all!!!"

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 01 Sep 1856 and 30 Oct 1856

Country:

Probably Britain, but reader travelled extensively

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:

John Ruskin

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

8 Feb 1819

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer and art critic

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Probably Britain, but reader travelled extensively

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Title:

The Burden of Nineveh

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

August 1856 issue, The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, produced by William Morris et al.

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

3669

Source:

Print

Author:

John Ruskin

Editor:

Virginia Surtees

Title:

Sublime and Instructive. Letters from John Ruskin to Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, Anna Blunden and Elle Heaton.

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1972

Vol:

n/a

Page:

189-90

Additional Comments:

From the editor's footnote: "Ruskin greatly admired Byron's poetry; the quotation is from Destruction of Sennacherib. The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, a monthly publication... was started by William Morris, Burne-Jones and some undergraduate friends... Ruskin, in Switzerland at the time, had missed the August issue which carried an unsigned poem by Rossetti: The Burden of Nineveh, but seeing it non his return he wrote excitedly to him: 'I am wild to know who is the Author of the "Burden of Nineveh" in No. VIII of Oxford and Cambridge. It is glorious. PLease find out for me, and see if I can get acquainted with him.' (The works of John Ruskin, Library Edition, ed. E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburnm, 39 vols, London: George Allen, Vol 36, p. 243, misdated). From a letter to Ellen Heaton (12/10/1856).

Citation:

John Ruskin, Virginia Surtees (ed.), Sublime and Instructive. Letters from John Ruskin to Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, Anna Blunden and Elle Heaton. (London, 1972), p. 189-90, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=3669, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design