Farm Legends

Carleton, Will, 1845-1912Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 163K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Farm Legends by Will Carleton. Author: Carleton, Will, 1845-1912. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Jan 18, 2017

Editor's review

Farm Legends is a collection of pastoral narrative poems by the American poet Will Carleton (1845–1912). Through plain-spoken rural stories, it presents the daily life, labor, and emotions of farmstead living. Carleton was skilled at depicting fields, farmhouses, and neighborly relations in unadorned verse; his work carries the warmth and moral concern of nineteenth-century American rural literature and serves as an accessible introduction to the tradition of American regional poetry. This is a free electronic edition from Project Gutenberg, convenient for searching and excerpting at any time; readers may treat it as light reading in English poetry—taking it up poem by poem on a commute or before bed—and savor the scenes and characters of narrative verse.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers curious about nineteenth-century American rural poetry
Self-learners seeking light English poetry reading material
Readers interested in American regional literature and local narrative
Readers who enjoy short narrative poems that can be read in sections

Not a good fit for

Academic researchers expecting in-depth literary-theory analysis
Readers who want a Chinese translation and prefer not to engage with the English original
Readers who prefer modern urban themes or strongly plot-driven fiction

Reading tips

Start by reading the table of contents, then choose and read in order the pieces related to the farming seasons
After finishing each poem, summarize its scene and character relationships in one sentence
When encountering unfamiliar farming terms, first infer from context, then verify with a dictionary
Read aloud to feel the rhythm and rhyme of the narrative poems

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in English or Chinese?

The original is in English. Project Gutenberg provides the English electronic edition, suitable for readers with some foundation in English reading.

Is it suitable for English beginners?

The poetic language is concise but contains literary expressions and farming vocabulary. It is advisable to try it after acquiring basic English reading ability; begin with the short pieces and use a dictionary as needed.

Do I need to read it through in order?

Not necessarily. Each piece is relatively independent; you may read selectively according to interest, or group them by season or farming theme.

Comments

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About the author

Carleton, Will, 1845-1912 Author

Will Carleton (1845–1912) was an American poet known for narrative verse on rural themes. Public information about his life is limited, and only three of his works are held in this collection. His representative works include Farm Ballads, Farm Legends, and City Ballads, whose titles show that his writing consistently centered on country life and the urban scene. Carleton was skilled at depicting the everyday circumstances of ordinary people in accessible verse, with a plain style rich in local color and folk narrative. His works circulated widely among American readers of his time and offer vivid literary material for later generations to understand nineteenth-century American rural and urban life.