The Two Twilights

Henry Augustin BeersProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 60K words
Chapters: 7

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 Two Twilights by Henry A. BeersAuthor: Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin), 1847-1926,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 24, 2010

Editor's review

Henry A. Beers was an American literary scholar and poet. The Two Twilights, his collected poems, is modest in length yet unified in tone: the title's "two twilights" suggests an interweaving of dusk, memory, and the passage of time, and the language leans toward lyricism and reflection, carrying the restrained sensibility of late nineteenth-century American academic poetry. For general readers it is not a book that succeeds through plot; it is better read slowly in quiet hours, letting image and sound reverberate layer by layer. Its value lies in offering a light sample of American regional lyric tradition and the writing manner of academic poets, and it suits as extended reading after an introduction to English poetry. Note that this is a public-domain English e-book lacking modern annotation; readers unfamiliar with allusions and meter may need outside reference materials. Overall, it rewards careful reading by literature enthusiasts and poets.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature enthusiasts interested in late nineteenth-century American lyric poetry
English majors seeking to broaden their reading of English poetry
Readers looking for short poems for bedtime or commute reading
Poets wishing to study how imagery and sound are organized

Not a good fit for

Academic researchers expecting a full poet's biography and annotations
Readers who prefer strong narrative and clear plot progression
Beginners with little experience reading English poetry who are unwilling to look up background

Reading tips

Read two or three poems a day, aloud, feeling the rhythm first and then working out the meaning.
Keep pen and paper at hand to note recurring images of dusk and light, and summarize the themes after finishing.
Mark allusions or unfamiliar place names and look them up together later, so as not to interrupt the reading rhythm.
Pair the reading with background material on late nineteenth-century American history to understand the poems' restrained lyric tone.

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

How many poems does this book contain?

The materials do not give a specific number of poems, only that these are Beers's poems. Consult the actual e-book table of contents and survey it before deciding on a reading order.

Is it suitable for learning English poetic meter?

It can serve as supplementary material. Beers's style is relatively restrained and regular, good for observing rhyme and line breaks, but the book has no modern metrical annotation, so use it alongside an introductory guide to poetic meter.

Why is the book called "The Two Twilights"?

The materials give no explanation by the author himself; one can only infer from the titles and contents that it points to images of dusk, old age, or a double passing of time. Its precise meaning should be worked out through close reading rather than asserted.

Comments

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About the author

Henry Augustin Beers Author · American · 1847–1926

Henry Augustin Beers (1847–1926) was an American literary historian and poet who taught for many years as a professor of English at Yale University. His research centered on the development of English and American literature, with particular attention to the origins and course of the English Romantic movement. Ten of his works are held in this collection, including A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century, A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century, From Chaucer to Tennyson, Brief History of English and American Literature, and Four Americans, a study of Roosevelt, Hawthorne, Emerson, and Whitman. Beers was skilled at tracing the evolution of literary history in clear, readable prose; his survey works long served as introductory texts to English and American literature, combining scholarship with accessibility. Public information on the details of his life is limited, and his influence rests chiefly on these literary histories and essays.