Contrasted Songs

Longfellow, Marian, 1849-1924Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 78K words
Chapters: 8

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.Contrasted Songs by Marian LongfellowAuthor: Longfellow, Marian, 1849-1924,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 11, 2013

Editor's review

Contrasted Songs is a poetry collection by Marian Longfellow (1849–1924), digitized for free by Project Gutenberg. The author shares a surname with the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; her poems are notable for their lyricism, and “contrasted” in the title suggests that the works in the collection form contrasts in theme or mood. It is a useful sample for understanding nineteenth-century American women’s poetry. As a public-domain e-book, it is easy to access and undemanding to read; it can be dipped into on a commute or before sleep, and is also suitable for researchers as a primary source for comparison in the history of American literature and women’s writing. One caveat: this is a nineteenth-century work, and its language and imagery bear the marks of its time; general readers need not study every poem closely and can read selectively according to interest. Those expecting plot or narrative content may find it thin. Overall, it is better suited as extended reading for poetry lovers and as a supplementary text for literary researchers.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Poetry lovers who enjoy nineteenth-century British and American lyric poetry and want to broaden their reading
University teachers and students in American literature or the history of women’s writing who need primary texts
Readers accustomed to public-domain e-books who want light poetry reading
Learners with good English reading ability who are willing to read slowly and savor poetic language

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong plot and narrative works and have limited interest in pure poetry
Beginners with weak English who need annotations or translations
Readers hoping to obtain information about historical events or social reportage from the book

Reading tips

First read through the table of contents and try poems whose titles or first lines attract you; there is no need to proceed in order.
Read each poem twice: the first time grasp the overall mood, the second time note recurring images and contrasts.
Keep brief notes recording favorite lines and attempts at translation to help appreciate the poetic language.
Read in comparison with works by the poet Longfellow, who shares the surname, to sense different aspects of nineteenth-century American poetry.

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

What is the relationship between this book and the poet Longfellow?

The author, Marian Longfellow, shares a surname with the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but the available information does not indicate that they were related, so this should not be assumed. When reading, treat her as an independent nineteenth-century American poet and avoid confusing the two authors’ works.

What does “contrasted” in the title mean?

The available information gives only the title and does not explain the arrangement. In poetry collections, “contrasted” may refer to contrasts in theme, mood, or style; readers should judge for themselves in the course of reading rather than settling the question in advance.

Can I read this book if my English is not good?

This is an English public-domain poetry collection without a translation or annotations. Readers with weak English will find it difficult; it is advisable to use a dictionary or a parallel translation first, or choose an annotated edition.

Is this book suitable for academic citation?

As a public-domain text digitized by Project Gutenberg, it can be used for general reading and preliminary research; for formal academic citation, however, it is advisable to check an authoritative edition or the page numbers and wording of the original printed book to ensure accuracy.

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

Longfellow, Marian, 1849-1924 Author · American · 1849–1924

Longfellow, Marian (1849–1924) was an American poet active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this period she published several collections of poetry and essays; though her output was not large, her work continued to attract readers of her time. Her representative work is Contrasted Songs, whose title points to the idea of contrast: the poems often develop through juxtaposed images and situations, creating striking tension and layering. Her writing combines lyricism with reflection, in clear and flowing language that values the natural movement of feeling and avoids elaborate rhetorical display. Besides poetry, essays form part of her creative work, generally centered on everyday impressions and reflections on life, in a plain and approachable tone. Overall, her work reflects the tendency of women poets of her era to write inner experience with a delicate touch. Public information about the details of her life is limited; existing accounts rest mainly on her surviving works and basic bibliographic information and await fuller documentary research.