The Poetical Works of George MacDonald in Two Volumes — Volume 2

MacDonald, George, 1824-1905Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.8
Word count
456K words
Chapters
46

Tags

English Originals Modern Poetry Life PhilosophySpiritual ComfortTender SentimentSpiritual QuestWestern ThoughtPoetic FaithBeautiful EssaysMusical 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 poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2 by MacDonaldAuthor: MacDonald, George, 1824-1905,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2006

Editor's review

This is the second volume of George MacDonald's poetical works, containing his later and longer poems and showing the distinctive voice of a Victorian poet who was also a pioneer of fantasy literature. MacDonald's poems often take up faith, death, consolation, nature, and imagination; their language is plain and carries a sermon-like lyrical force, and for readers familiar with his fairy tales and fantasy novels this volume fills in the intellectual ground beneath them. As a public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, this edition is easy to search and quote, suitable for scholars checking the text and for general readers choosing poems by theme. You need not read it straight through: begin with shorter pieces whose imagery is clear, and with some knowledge of his life and times you will better feel the religious feeling and the lingering Romanticism in the poems. Overall it is a collection that demands patience but rewards the reader in language and in spirit.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents first and group the poems into short and long; read only two or three closely at a time, taking notes.
  2. Keep pen and paper to record recurring images such as light, night, death, and consolation.
  3. Read alongside MacDonald's fairy tales and observe the themes his poetry and prose share.
  4. If the English original is difficult, learn the gist of a poem first and then return to the text.

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

FAQ

Is this book MacDonald's complete poetical works? No. The materials show that this is the second of two volumes and contains only some of the poems, not the complete works. To read everything you would need the first volume and other editions as well.
Can I read this collection without any background in poetry? Yes, but it takes patience. Start with shorter pieces whose imagery is clear and do not feel obliged to read in order; look up the gist of unfamiliar words and focus on tone and theme rather than parsing word by word.
Is the text of this edition reliable? It comes from a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook, easy to obtain and search for free, but usually without detailed annotation or textual notes. For scholarly quotation, check it against an authoritative print edition.
Do I need to know about religion to read this collection? It helps. MacDonald's poems often deal with faith, death, and consolation, and some knowledge of the Victorian religious context makes his wording and emotional direction clearer, though it does not prevent ordinary readers from enjoying them.

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About the author

MacDonald, George, 1824-1905 Author

George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish author known for his fairy tales, fantasy novels and religious sermons. This library holds 68 of his works, including The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, At the Back of the North Wind, Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women, Sir Gibbie and the three series of Unspoken Sermons. His fairy tales often centre on children, weaving adventure with questions of morality and faith in plain, imaginative prose, while his fantasy works are regarded as forerunners of modern fantasy literature and have influenced later writers of the genre. Public information is limited, so no biographical details are speculated here; his works alone show him to be skilled in both storytelling and spiritual reflection, writing for children and adults alike.