The Kings and Queens of England with Other Poems

Bigelow, Mary Ann H. T. (Mary Ann Hubbard TownsendProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
84K words
Chapters
9

Tags

English Originals World HistoryModern Poetry Historical ReappraisalPortrait GalleryRise and FallPower GamePatriotismMusical Rhythm

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 Kings and Queens of England with Other Poems by Mary Ann H. T. BigelowAuthor: Bigelow, Mary Ann H. T. (Mary Ann Hubbard Townsend), -1870,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 7, 2005

Editor's review

This poetry collection takes the kings and queens of England as its subjects and also gathers other poems, a literary text left by the nineteenth-century American poet Bigelow. Its value lies not in rigorous historical scholarship but in presenting a popular versified account of the succession to the throne: readers can observe how ordinary nineteenth-century readers understood English kingship and how poetry handled historical subjects. The royal poems tend to focus on character or turning points of fate, in plain language and regular rhythm, suitable as light reading in English poetry. The other poems mostly concern personal reflection and everyday scenery, in a simple style. As the original is a public-domain electronic text, it should be read as material for literary and reception history rather than a historical reference. It suits readers with a preliminary interest in the English royal lineage who are willing to read English verse, in short segments during commutes or before sleep.

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Reading tips

  1. Begin with the royal poems in the table of contents, linking them in order of succession to form a simple chain of figures.
  2. After each royal poem, jot down keywords for the character or event it highlights for easy review.
  3. Treat the other poems as interludes, reading only one or two at a time to avoid rhythmic fatigue from continuous reading.
  4. When encountering unfamiliar names and titles, consult a basic chronology before rereading the lines for smoother understanding.

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

FAQ

Can this book be used as a history of the British royal family? It is not suitable as a historical work. It is a literary work singing of monarchs in verse, emphasizing feeling and impressions of character rather than verifying dates and institutions. For accurate facts, read it alongside a general history or chronology; better to see it as a sample of nineteenth-century popular historical taste.
How difficult is the English, and what background is needed? The original is nineteenth-century English verse with fairly regular syntax and not overly difficult vocabulary, but with many names, titles and historical allusions. A college-level reading ability in English is enough to attempt it; keep a chronology of English monarchs at hand and look up unfamiliar proper names before reading.
Why does the book include other poems? The title features royal poems while also collecting other poems, showing that the book is a poetry collection rather than a single long poem on one theme. The other poems mostly concern personal reflection and everyday subjects, helping readers understand the author's overall writing and serving as interludes between the royal poems.

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About the author

Bigelow, Mary Ann H. T. (Mary Ann Hubbard Townsend Author

Mary Ann H. T. Bigelow, whose full name is Mary Ann Hubbard Townsend Bigelow, has very limited biographical information available in public sources; her dates of birth and death, nationality, and educational background are not clearly recorded. Only one work by her is held in this collection, The Kings and Queens of England with Other Poems. Judging from the title and genre, the book takes the successive monarchs of England as its subject and includes other poems as well, following a creative path that turns historical material into verse and combines instruction with lyric expression. Works of this kind were usually aimed at general readers, using rhyme to set out the succession of kings and the deeds of individual figures in a form easy to remember and circulate. Because relevant documents are scarce, her poetic sources, the full range of her writing, and her later influence remain to be examined further; readers may regard her as a small sample of nineteenth-century English-language poetry on historical themes.