The Widow's Dog

Mary Russell MitfordProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 27K words
Chapters: 3

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 Widow's Dog by Mary Russell MitfordAuthor: Mitford, Mary Russell, 1787-1855,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 2, 2007

Editor's review

The Widow's Dog is a short work by Mary Russell Mitford, also from Project Gutenberg's public-domain resources. The title suggests that the story revolves around a widow and her dog; such themes often use an animal as a thread linking a character's emotions and daily life. Mitford's touch excels at presenting human warmth and coldness within ordinary details, and this book is not long, making it a lightweight sample for understanding her narrative style. For readers who like animal themes, depictions of rural life, or nineteenth-century English short stories, this work offers a quiet entry point for reading. Because it is an English electronic text, a certain foundation in English is needed to read it. It can also serve as material for English learners to practice short-story reading, making it easy to finish in a relatively short time and gain a complete reading experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like animal themes and warm short stories
Readers who want to experience a nineteenth-century English short story in a short time
English learners who need short English originals for close-reading practice
Readers interested in rural life and depictions of everyday human feelings

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping to read long, complex plots
Readers without English reading ability and without translation assistance
Researchers who need detailed scholarly annotations and background interpretation

Reading tips

First read the short story in one sitting to feel the overall emotional tone, then go back and analyze the details.
Pay attention to the descriptions of the dog and the widow, and consider the role of the animal in the narrative.
It can be used as close-reading material for an English short story; excerpt descriptive sentences and imitate them in writing.
After reading, compare it with Mitford's other works to appreciate the common style of her regional narrative.

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 work long?

Judging from the title and Project Gutenberg's inclusion, this is a short work with relatively limited length, suitable for completing in one or two readings. The exact page count varies with the electronic edition's layout, but the overall reading burden is not great.

Do I need to read other works by Mitford first?

No. This short story can be read independently and does not depend on prior events from other works. If, after reading, you are interested in her style, you can then expand to her longer works or other short stories.

How difficult is the English roughly?

As a nineteenth-century English literary work, the language carries the expressive habits of the time, and some words and sentence patterns uncommon today may appear. Readers with intermediate English reading ability can finish it with a dictionary; beginners are advised to use a translation or reference books alongside.

Is this book suitable for classroom teaching?

It can be used as short-story reading material, especially suitable for English literature electives or reading interest groups. However, because it lacks modern annotations, teachers need to supplement background materials and vocabulary explanations themselves to better help students understand.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Mary Russell Mitford Author · British · 1787–1855

Mary Russell Mitford (1787–1855) was an English essayist, novelist, poet and playwright. She is best known for Our Village, a five-volume collection of rural sketches that vividly portrays the scenery and people of the English countryside in a warm, delicate and lively style. Besides Our Village, the collection also includes thirteen of her works, such as The Lost Dahlia, The Widow's Dog, Jesse Cliffe, The Beauty of the Village, Aunt Deborah, Miss Philly Firkin, The China-Woman and The Ground-Ash. Public information about her life is limited, but her extant works show that she drew on local customs and everyday human relations, and her writing had a lasting influence on later realistic regional fiction.