Stories from the Italian Poets: with Lives of the Writers, Volume 2

Hunt, Leigh, 1784-1859Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.7
Word count
596K words
Chapters
60

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Literary ArchivesGroup BiographyPoet BiographyAnecdote CollectionPopular ExplanationItalian Literature

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.Stories from the Italian Poets: with Lives of the Writers, Volume 2 by Leigh HuntAuthor: Hunt, Leigh, 1784-1859,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jan 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is Volume 2 of Leigh Hunt's Stories from the Italian Poets: with Lives of the Writers, a public-domain eBook classified under Romance literatures. Its value lies in introducing Italian poets and their works through storytelling while presenting the writers' lives alongside, so that readers gain narrative reading experience while learning about the poetry's background. Hunt was a nineteenth-century English man of letters, and his narration carries a distinct period style and personal taste, making the book suitable as an introductory browsing read for those interested in Italian literary history and stories about poetry. It can be read as an extracurricular extension of a literary history course, or in leisure time by choosing chapters about poets of interest. Note that the retellings and biographies reflect the perspective of the author's era; readers should treat the book as a guide rather than authoritative scholarship and read it alongside the original poems or modern research for better results.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. First look at the list of poets in the table of contents, start with names you know, and do not feel obliged to read straight through.
  2. After finishing a poet's story, look up a representative poem and read the two together to deepen your impression.
  3. Keep the author's biographical narration separate from the story content and pay attention to his period perspective.
  4. Jot down poets you want to learn more about as leads for further reading.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60

FAQ

Can I read this book without a background in Italian literature? Yes. The book is mainly stories and biographical introductions and does not require prior knowledge of Italian or poetry theory. It is best to start with entries on poets you know, treat it as a literary guide, and seek translations or other materials for works that interest you.
How is this book different from common histories of Italian literature? It is closer to a nineteenth-century literary man's narrative introduction, focusing on storytelling and lives, with the author's personal style and period perspective, rather than a systematic and rigorous literary history textbook. It suits interest reading and background understanding, and should not be used as a basis for scholarship.
Do I need to read Volume 1 before Volume 2? Each volume is organized by poet entries, and browsing one on its own usually does not hinder understanding. But for a fuller picture, it is best to first learn which poets Volume 1 covers, then read Volume 2, arranging your reading flexibly by entry.
Any advice for reading the electronic edition? The layout and punctuation of public-domain electronic texts may differ from modern editions, and there are many long paragraphs. It is best to use a reader with adjustable font size, read section by section according to poet, and take simple notes to avoid fatigue from reading for long stretches at once.

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

Hunt, Leigh, 1784-1859 Author

Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) was an English poet, essayist and literary editor of the Romantic period. Public information about his life is limited on this site, so this introduction rests mainly on the six works collected here. His subjects were wide-ranging: the two volumes of Stories from the Italian Poets retell and comment on Italian literature for English readers; The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events and Coaches and Coaching recall the old city scene and the pleasures and routines of travel in an easy, anecdotal style. The poem Captain Sword and Captain Pen comments on affairs of the day through allegory, while A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla reads much like a collection of short essays. His prose is lively and personal, and has value both as literary history and as a record of nineteenth-century English life and manners.