The Vicar of Morwenstow: Being a Life of Robert Stephen Hawker, M.A.

Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine), 1834-1924Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5
Word count
485K words
Chapters
49

Tags

English Originals General Biography Poetry and FaithLegendary LivesMissionary LifeLiterary GiantsSpiritual PracticeMoral CultivationLiterary ReminiscenceVictorian EraEnglish Countryside

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 Vicar of Morwenstow: Being a Life of Robert Stephen Hawker, M.A.Author: Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine), 1834-1924,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 2, 2018

Editor's review

This is Sabine Baring-Gould's biography of Robert Stephen Hawker, the vicar of Morwenstow in Cornwall and a distinctly individual Anglican clergyman and poet of the Victorian era. Its value lies in the fact that it is not a cold, chronological record but one pastor telling the life of another, and both were writers; the text carries the warmth and moral concern characteristic of nineteenth-century biography. Readers can see Hawker's work in a local parish, his relationship with a coastal community, and the way religious life and literary taste intertwined in that era. For readers studying Victorian religious history, Cornish local history, or the tradition of life-writing, this is a primary text rich in detail and marked by a clear point of view. It is best read as a product of its time: the author's reverence for his subject and his selective narration are themselves part of the historical record. The public-domain electronic edition makes it easy to search names, place names, and quoted letters.

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Reading tips

  1. Begin with the table of contents and preface to understand the author's relationship to his subject and his standpoint.
  2. Read alongside a map of Cornwall, noting the spatial relationship between place names and parish activities.
  3. Excerpt the letters and poems quoted in the book separately as clues to understanding the subject's character.
  4. For research, compare it with other contemporary clerical biographies to observe common features of biographical writing.

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
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  49. 49

FAQ

What is the relationship between the author and his subject? The author, Sabine Baring-Gould, was himself a clergyman and writer, and he and his subject belonged to the same nineteenth-century British religious and literary circles. This fellow-clergyman relationship gives the biography a tone of respect and personal observation, but it may also affect the selectivity of the narrative.
What is Hawker chiefly known for? According to this book, Hawker was the vicar of Morwenstow and was both a clergyman and a poet. The narrative centers on his parish life, local ties, and writing; specific deeds should be judged by the book's contents.
Do I need prior knowledge of Cornwall to read this biography? Systematic prior knowledge is not necessary, but reading with a map will help. The book mentions many place names and parish activities, and some basic geographical understanding aids comprehension of the subject's local work and community relationships.

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About the author

Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine), 1834-1924 Author

S. Baring-Gould (Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834–1924) was a prolific British author, with 49 of his works held in this collection. Public information about him is limited, but his writing interests clearly centered on religion, history, folklore, and local topography. His representative works include the multi-volume The Lives of the Saints, which presents saints' lives month by month; Curious Myths of the Middle Ages and A Book of Ghosts, which reveal his fondness for legend and the supernatural; and Strange Survivals, which explores ancient customs surviving in human history. He also wrote A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839–1908, the travel book In Troubadour-Land on Provence and Languedoc, and Conscience and Sin, a Lenten devotional. His style combines erudition with accessibility, weaving historical sources, legends, and travel observations into highly readable narratives.