The House

Field, Eugene, 1850-1895Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 272K words
Chapters: 28

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.The House by Eugene FieldAuthor: Field, Eugene, 1850-1895,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 11, 2007

Editor's review

Eugene Field was a 19th-century American poet and columnist, known for his humorous, warm children's verse and urban sketches. The House is short, with plain, rhythmic language, making it a light read for beginners in English literature or for parent-child reading. Its everyday images of home and dwelling convey the warmth and humor of Victorian-era American family life. As a public-domain ebook, it has no modern annotations or introduction, so readers must supply background themselves. It is best used for practicing the rhythm of English poetry or as bedtime reading rather than as a subject of systematic literary study; read alongside Field's other children's poems, it better reveals his playful yet sentimental tone.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to practice reading aloud and language feel with short English poems
Parents and teachers looking for English materials for parent-child reading
Light readers interested in 19th-century American everyday life

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting long plots or complex narratives
Literary researchers needing detailed annotations and scholarly introductions
Beginners with weak English who are unwilling to use a dictionary

Reading tips

Read through once for rhythm, then look up new words section by section and record yourself reading aloud for comparison
When reading with children, describe the images first, then discuss the family scenes in the poem
Read alongside Field's other children's poems to appreciate his style, which blends humor and sentiment

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 suitable for English beginners?

The language is plain and the sentences are short, so it suits learners with some foundation for reading-aloud practice; but the book has no annotations or translation, so complete beginners need a dictionary while reading and are advised to start with simpler graded readers.

Why is there no introduction or annotation?

The book comes from Project Gutenberg and is a public-domain ebook that provides only the original text, without modern editorial introductions, annotations, or translation; readers must look up background information themselves.

Do I need to know the author's background to read this book?

You can read it without that, but knowing that Field was a 19th-century American poet known for children's poems and columns makes it easier to understand the warm, humorous tone and family themes.

Comments

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About the author

Field, Eugene, 1850-1895 Author

Eugene Field (1850–1895) was a nineteenth-century American poet and essayist, best known for his children's verse and humorous prose. Fifteen of his works are held here, spanning a considerable range: the lively, read-aloud poems of Lullaby-Land: Songs of Childhood; the imaginative, fable-like short pieces in A Little Book of Profitable Tales and The Mouse and the Moonbeam; and The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac, a light, witty portrait of a book lover's quirks and obsessions, while verse collections such as John Smith, U.S.A. show the variety of his poetry. His writing is typically warm and playful, drawing poetry from everyday life and childhood and appealing to both adults and young readers. Because public information is limited, biographical details are hard to verify, yet the surviving works suggest a modest influence in children's literature and the essay, and he is often grouped among inspirational and coming-of-age reading.