Personal Poems I

John Greenleaf WhittierProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 74K 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.Personal Poems I by John Greenleaf WhittierAuthor: Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 1, 2005

Editor's review

This is a collection of Whittier's personal lyric poems, a public-domain ebook suited to readers curious about nineteenth-century American poetry. Whittier writes of daily life, faith, and local feeling in a plain, sincere style; the poems are short and clear, free of the obscurity found in some poets of his day. For Chinese readers, the book can serve as an introduction to American abolitionist literature and regional poetry, and as material for extensive reading and reading aloud in English. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook it is easy to obtain, but it lacks notes and an introduction, so readers must fill in the background themselves. Read it as a bedside poetry collection or a supplement for English study, a few poems at a time, without feeling obliged to finish it in one go.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers who enjoy nineteenth-century British and American poetry and want to broaden their reading
University students and self-learners who need material for extensive reading in English poetry
Readers with an early interest in American literary history and the literature of the abolitionist era
Readers accustomed to light reading with public-domain ebooks

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a modern poetic style or strongly experimental expression
Beginners who need detailed notes, introductions, and facing-page translations
Readers who prefer novels or narrative works

Reading tips

Start with the table of contents and pick short poems on themes close to daily life and nature, three to five at a time.
Read along with the English aloud and attend to Whittier's rhythm and rhyme rather than looking up every word.
After reading, briefly note each poem's theme and feeling to build your own poetry notebook.
If the background is unfamiliar, first learn some basic history of nineteenth-century New England before reading.

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 book in Chinese or English?

This is an original English poetry collection released by Project Gutenberg, in English. Chinese readers can use it as English poetry reading material, with a dictionary or a translation for reference.

Do I need to know Whittier's life first?

Not necessarily. Most of his poems are direct in theme and plain in language, so you can read them directly. To understand them more deeply, first learn about the era he lived in, especially the social and religious atmosphere of nineteenth-century New England.

Is it suitable for learning English?

It suits readers with some English foundation for extensive reading and reading aloud. Poetic language is condensed and some vocabulary is old-fashioned; focus on rhythm and imagery rather than every unfamiliar word.

What is the reading experience of the ebook like?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a plain-text ebook, easy to read and search on phones and tablets, but without notes or illustrations. A reading app with dictionary lookup and bookmarks is recommended.

Comments

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About the author

John Greenleaf Whittier Author · American · 1807–1892

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American poet and abolitionist, a Quaker, and one of the nineteenth-century "Fireside Poets," born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He devoted himself early to the anti-slavery cause, edited several abolitionist newspapers, and gave voice to the movement in verse collected in volumes such as the Anti-Slavery Poems. His poetry ranges widely: the narrative poem Snow-Bound depicts New England country life and family memory in plain, homely language, while other works include nature poems, subjective and reminiscent pieces, religious poems, and legendary narrative poems such as The Tent on the Beach. His writing is simple and warm in feeling, marked by strong local color and moral concern. The library holds 44 of his works. Public information is limited, so this note gives only the main points of his life and writing.