Nirvana Days

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 72K words
Chapters: 8

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.Nirvana Days by Cale Young RiceAuthor: Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 7, 2009

Editor's review

Nirvana Days is a collection of English poems by Cale Young Rice, belonging to the more lyrical and philosophical strain of American literature. Rice, born in 1872, often wrote around inner peace, the passage of time, and spiritual transcendence; the title's "Nirvana" signals Eastern thought's appeal to Western poets of the era. As a public-domain Project Gutenberg e-book, its chief value is giving readers zero-cost access to less mainstream spiritual writing in early twentieth-century American poetry, useful as a sample of a side branch of literary history. It is not a textbook classic; its language carries rhetorical habits from the late Victorian to modernist transition, and its length suits fragmented reading. Treat it like a quiet afternoon walk: don't force yourself to fully grasp every poem; feel the imagery and rhythm first, then revisit recurring words like light, night, dream, and stillness. For readers studying American poetry or the history of Orientalism's reception, this small book can serve as supplementary material.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in early twentieth-century American poetry who want to broaden their reading.
Readers who enjoy lyrical short poems and are willing to read English originals slowly in fragments of time.
Students and enthusiasts studying the reception of Eastern thought in Western literature.

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting plot-driven narrative or a novel-like experience.
Beginner readers who need a Chinese translation and are unwilling to consult the English original.

Reading tips

Read three to five poems a day, pause after each, and note one or two images that move you.
Read through once without striving for full understanding, then on the second pass look up unfamiliar words, focusing on recurring thematic terms.
Use it as bedtime reading, reading aloud to feel the rhythm and sound of English poetry.

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 Chinese or English?

It is an English poetry collection released as a public-domain e-book by Project Gutenberg, with the text in English. Readers need basic English reading ability, or a dictionary and translation tools for assistance.

Do I need to know Eastern religions to understand it?

Not necessarily. Although the title contains "Nirvana," the poems mostly use the concept to express longing for inner peace and transcendence; it is not a religious treatise. Some background helps but is not a barrier to reading.

Is it suitable for reading straight through continuously?

It is better read slowly in sessions. The poems are relatively independent; reading straight through easily tires you, whereas a few poems a day makes it easier to appreciate shifts in language and mood.

Comments

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About the author

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943 Author

Cale Young Rice (1872–1943) was an American poet and playwright. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life are difficult to set out, but the eleven works by him held in this collection show that he wrote steadily in both poetry and verse drama. Poems such as Sea Poems, Many Gods and Nirvana Days take the sea, faith and Eastern philosophical reflection as their themes, with concise language and a lyrical, meditative quality; plays such as David: A Tragedy, Yolanda of Cyprus, Porzia and The Immortal Lure draw mainly on historical or legendary stories, using verse dialogue to develop their characters' emotions and conflicts of fate. His writing combines romantic imagination with a search for the meaning of life, and his works hold a place in early twentieth-century American letters, remaining of interest to readers studying the poetry and verse drama of that period.