Over Here

Edgar Albert GuestProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.2

Word count: 134K words
Chapters: 14

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.Over Here by Edgar A. GuestAuthor: Guest, Edgar A. (Edgar Albert), 1881-1959,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 2, 2005

Editor's review

Over Here is a poetry collection by Edgar A. Guest, made available as a free electronic text by Project Gutenberg. Guest is known for accessible, singable verse that often depicts the warmth, diligence, and patriotism of ordinary daily life. His language is plain and his rhythm brisk, making the book suitable for reading aloud and for introductory English poetry reading. As a public-domain ebook, its greatest value lies in offering a very low-threshold encounter with the tone and themes of early twentieth-century American popular poetry; readers can observe how newspaper verse of the time addressed social life in plain language. Note that Guest's poems favor popular expression over refined rhetoric; read them for their period context and spoken rhythm rather than measuring them against the complexity of modernist poetry. A light read for cultivating an interest in English poetry, for morning recitation, or for English language training, and also suitable for readers studying popular literature and newspaper culture as reference browsing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers who want to start with English poetry through light texts
Readers who need morning-reading or recitation material and prefer short, rhyming lines
Students of early twentieth-century American popular literature
Those who want to practice English rhythm and feel through reading aloud

Not a good fit for

Poetry readers expecting complex symbolism and modernist rhetorical experiment
Researchers who need detailed annotations and scholarly introductions
Pure literature readers uninterested in popular verse style

Reading tips

Read through the table of contents first, pick a few poems on similar themes and read them together to feel the colloquial rhythm.
Read one or two poems aloud each day, paying attention to rhyme and line breaks, and experience the recitative quality of newspaper poetry.
When a poem's historical background is unclear, note it down first and then understand it in light of early twentieth-century American social context.
When using it as English-learning material, excerpt short lines, imitate their plain expression, and do rewriting exercises.

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 a complete poetry collection or a selection?

This is a public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg; its content is the poems of Guest's book Over Here itself, not a later edited selection of highlights. For the specific poems, refer to the main text of the electronic edition; browse the table of contents before reading to see the scope.

Can I read it if my English is average?

Guest's poems are plain in language, short in sentence structure, and clearly rhymed, so the overall difficulty is not high; basic English reading ability is enough to try. It is advisable to use reading aloud and dictionary tools, starting with short poems to build confidence before moving to longer ones.

What background do I need to understand this book?

It helps to know the popular tradition of early twentieth-century American newspaper poetry—that such works were aimed at the general public and emphasized being easy to recite. Specific events and place names in the book can be looked up as you read; no systematic prior research is necessary.

Comments

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About the author

Edgar Albert Guest Author · American · 1881–1959

Edgar Albert Guest (1881–1959) was an American poet. Born in Birmingham, England, he moved with his family to Detroit in 1891 and became known as the "People's Poet." He worked for many years at the Detroit Free Press, and his poems drew on everyday themes such as home, motherhood, and hard work. Optimistic, plain-spoken, and easy to recite, his verse won a wide popular readership. His representative works include A Heap o' Livin', The Path to Home, Just Folks, and When Day is Done. Seven of his works are held in this collection. A prolific writer, Guest served as Poet Laureate of Michigan from 1952 until his death in 1959. Public information on his early education and specific writing career remains limited.