Last Verses

Coolidge, Susan, 1835-1905Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 118K words
Chapters: 12

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.Last Verses by Susan CoolidgeAuthor: Coolidge, Susan, 1835-1905,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 20, 2015

Editor's review

Last Verses is a poetry collection by Susan Coolidge (1835–1905), classified under American literature. Coolidge is known for works such as What Katy Did, and this collection gathers her late poems; its overall tone tends toward introspection, reminiscence, and quiet lyricism, suited to slow reading in quiet hours. Its value lies in presenting the poetic voice of a nineteenth-century American woman writer: the pieces are mostly short, the imagery plain, the emotion restrained, with no showy technique, focusing instead on the settling of feeling and thought. For general readers it works best as short bedside or commute reading, two or three poems at a time; for readers studying nineteenth-century American poetry or the whole of Coolidge's work, the collection is an important supplement to her fiction. This eBook is provided by Project Gutenberg in the original English. Note that the rhythm and wording of the poems bear period features and may feel distant at first; start with short poems and there is no need to read straight through.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century American lyric poetry
Researchers studying the full range of Susan Coolidge's work
People looking for short English poems for daily reading
Advanced learners who want to practice English sense through poetry

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting strongly narrative or plot-driven works
Beginners with little experience reading English poetry
Readers needing detailed notes or facing-page translations

Reading tips

Read only two or three poems at a time and pause before the next.
Start with the shortest poems, build a sense of rhythm, then move to longer ones.
Read aloud, noting line-end pauses and rhymes to help grasp the tone.
Keep a notebook and jot down recurring images and emotional words.

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

Can I read this collection without having read Coolidge's novels?

Yes. This collection is an independent work and does not depend on her novels' plots. Still, knowing her fame as a children's novelist helps in understanding the gentle, restrained tone of her poetry. Start with short poems; there is no need to read in table-of-contents order.

Does this eBook include a Chinese translation?

According to the information, this edition is an English-original eBook released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation mentioned. Readers wanting to compare can look for other translations or use tools for support.

What are the collection's themes roughly?

Judging from the title Last Verses and the common orientation of Coolidge's late work, the collection consists mostly of reminiscence, introspection, and quiet lyricism. Specific themes should be checked against the original; browse the contents and try poems with appealing titles first.

Comments

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About the author

Coolidge, Susan, 1835-1905 Author

Susan Coolidge (1835–1905) was an American writer of children's literature, born Sarah Chauncey Woolsey. She is best known for What Katy Did and its sequels, including What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next, which follow the girl Katy through family life, school days, and the experiences of growing up. Coolidge also wrote The New-Year's Bargain, A Little Country Girl, and other works. Her writing is gentle and attentive, with careful detail and an interest in inner life, often weaving the difficulties of growing up and self-cultivation into her stories. The collection here holds sixteen of her works, mostly grouped under inspirational growth. Public information is limited, and further biographical details are difficult to confirm.