Record Number: 3979

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

" But, when I was nearly sixteen, I made a purchase which brought me into sad trouble, and was the cause of a permanent wound to myself-respect. I had long coveted in the book-shop window a volume in which the poetical works of Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe were said to be combined.This I bought at length, and I carried it with me to devour as I trod the desolate road that brought me along the edge of the cliff on Saturday afternoons. Ben Jonson I could make nothing of, but when I turned to 'Hero and Leander' I was lifted to a heaven of passion and music. It was a marvellous revelation of romantic beauty to me, and as paced along that lonely and exquisite highway, with its immense command of the sea, and its peeps ever now and then, through slanting thickets, far down to the snow-white shingle, I lifted up my voice, singing the verses, as I strolled along..[quote]so it wenton, and I thought I had never read anything so lovely...[quote]it all seemed to my fancy intoxicating beyond anything I had ever even dreamed of, since I had not yet become aquainted with any of the modern romanticists."

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1865 and 31 Dec 1865

Country:

England

Time

afternoon: Saturday afternoon
daytime: Saturday afternoon

Place:

county: Devon
other location: walking along a cliff-top path in Devon

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:

Edmund Gosse

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1849

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

son of zoological writer

Religion:

Plymouth Brethren

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:

Christopher Marlowe

Title:

Hero and Leander

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

3979

Source:

Print

Author:

Edmund Gosse

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Father and Son : a study of two temperments

Place of Publication:

Keele

Date of Publication:

1994

Vol:

n/a

Page:

190-191

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Edmund Gosse, Father and Son : a study of two temperments (Keele, 1994), p. 190-191, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=3979, accessed: 24 September 2023

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Additional Comments:

None