Gustavus Vasa

Walker, William Sidney, 1795-1846Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.3

Word count: 218K words
Chapters: 22

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.Gustavus Vasa by William Sidney WalkerAuthor: Walker, William Sidney, 1795-1846,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 12, 2006

Editor's review

This verse drama comes from the 19th-century English author William Sidney Walker and takes as its subject the deeds of the Swedish king Gustavus Vasa, belonging to the line of historical verse composition in English literature. Its value lies not in providing detailed historical verification but in showing how Romantic-period writers handled themes such as national liberation, the responsibilities of kingship, and personal choice; the language is attentive to meter and rhetoric, making it a suitable sample for understanding the 19th-century English verse drama as a genre. It should be read as literature rather than as a history book, with attention to the moral conflicts in characters' monologues and to the lyrical passages. As a public-domain e-book, the text is easy to obtain and can be studied alongside materials on 17th- and 18th-century European historical background, appreciating the rhythm of verse narrative and dramatic dialogue. It suits steady act-by-act reading in quiet reading sessions, not the pursuit of rapid plot advance.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature students who need to study the 19th-century verse drama as a genre
Readers interested in early modern Nordic history who are willing to approach it from a literary perspective
Advanced readers who enjoy verse narrative and dramatic monologue
Collectors of public-domain e-books who wish to expand their library of English classical texts

Not a good fit for

Historical readers seeking verification of facts about Gustavus Vasa's life
Readers who prefer the pace of modern fiction and are not comfortable with verse
Beginners with weak English reading ability who need annotation support

Reading tips

First learn about the background of 16th-century Sweden's break from Danish rule, then enter the text; character motives become easier to understand.
Read in batches by act, and after each act review the main characters' monologues to trace changes in their positions.
When encountering unfamiliar words, it is acceptable not to check them at once; first grasp meter and tone, then read difficult sentences closely on a second pass.
It can be read alongside English historical drama of the same period to compare different ways verse drama handles political subjects.

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 a historical work or a literary work?

It is a verse drama by William Sidney Walker and belongs to literature. Although it draws on the deeds of Gustavus Vasa, its focus is dramatic conflict and verse expression, and it cannot be used as historical verification material.

How difficult is the English, and what foundation is needed?

The text is 19th-century English verse, with sentence patterns and wording older than modern English. A university-level English reading ability is recommended, along with a dictionary and historical background materials, for smoother reading.

Does the electronic edition include editorial annotations?

This is a public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, mainly providing the work's main text; annotations and introductions are usually limited. When background knowledge is needed, consult related literary history and historical materials separately.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Walker, William Sidney, 1795-1846 Author

William Sidney Walker (1795–1846) was an English poet and classical scholar, though public information about his life is limited. Only one of his works is held in this collection, the poem Gustavus Vasa, which draws on the historical deeds of the sixteenth-century Swedish king Gustav Vasa, who led the struggle for national independence and founded his dynasty. In early nineteenth-century English literature, such subjects were often treated in historical narrative verse or poetic drama; Walker's writing follows the taste of the period in its admiration for classical form, its attention to metre, and its sense of historical gravity, with fairly condensed language and a mode of scene-setting characteristic of early Romantic historical poetry. As records are scarce, a full assessment of his output and influence requires further sources, but Gustavus Vasa remains the main basis for understanding his poetic style and choice of subject.