The Feather Bed

Graves, Robert, 1895-1985Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 29K 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 Feather Bed by Robert GravesAuthor: Graves, Robert, 1895-1985,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 12, 2019

Editor's review

The Feather Bed is an English work by the British poet and novelist Robert Graves, made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Graves is known for his classical subjects and poetry, and his writing tends to combine narrative tension with carefully weighed language; this short work is a good entry point into his English prose. The electronic edition preserves the original language, letting readers experience rhythm, word choice, and tone in the source text rather than through paraphrase. For Chinese readers, it works best as short practice material for reading English literature: the length is manageable, it can be reread, and it is easy to check against notes and a dictionary. Read it within the tradition of English literature and pay attention to narrative perspective and diction; background knowledge of Graves's other works will deepen your understanding. Note that this is the original English text and the listing provides bibliographic information only; treat it as source reading material, not an annotated or translated edition with a guide.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to practice close reading with a short original English text
Readers interested in English literature and the work of Robert Graves
Readers who need an English ebook of manageable length that can be reread
Literature lovers who want to experience the rhythm of English narrative language in the original

Not a good fit for

Readers looking for a Chinese translation or a heavily annotated edition
Casual readers who want a long plot or a complex storyline
Beginners whose English reading is not yet strong enough to handle the original on their own

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the overall tone, then go back paragraph by paragraph to review word choice and sentence patterns.
Keep pen and paper handy to note recurring images and phrasing, and organize them after finishing.
You may first learn about Graves's poetry and classical background, then approach the text.
If reading is difficult, work through it sentence by sentence with an English-Chinese dictionary; do not rush.

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 the original English?

According to the listing, this is an English work published as an ebook by Project Gutenberg, in English. It is not a Chinese translation and comes with no translation notes or introduction, so readers face the English original directly. If your English reading is not yet strong, prepare a dictionary and slow down.

With no notes or introduction, how should I read it?

Try a two-pass approach: on the first pass, aim only to grasp the overall tone and narrative direction without worrying about unfamiliar words; on the second, work through difficult sentences and key words paragraph by paragraph and note recurring images. This keeps your reading rhythm while building language details.

Is this book suitable for learning English?

It can serve as short close-reading material because the length is relatively manageable and easy to reread. But it is not a textbook and has no vocabulary list or exercises; the learning effect depends on whether you actively take notes, look up words, and review. Readers with weaker English may find it difficult.

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About the author

Graves, Robert, 1895-1985 Author

Robert Graves (Graves, Robert, 1895-1985) was an English writer and poet, though details of his life are limited in publicly available sources. The library holds seven of his works, including the poetry collections Fairies and Fusiliers, Over the Brazier, The Pier-Glass, Whipperginny, and Country Sentiment, as well as The Feather Bed and the critical study On English Poetry. These works show that his writing spans both poetry and poetic criticism: his early poems often revolve around wartime experience, rural scenery, and personal feeling, with concise language, vivid imagery, and restrained yet profound emotion, while On English Poetry reflects his systematic thinking on poetic tradition and craft. Overall, his work crosses lyric poetry and criticism, combining classical cultivation with modern sensibility, and holds a place in twentieth-century English poetry.