The Inner Life

John Greenleaf WhittierProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 176K words
Chapters: 18

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 Inner Life 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

Whittier's The Inner Life is brief in length yet rich in meaning—a prose-like work well worth reading slowly and attentively. With a poet's sensitivity and restraint, the author turns his gaze to the inner world, exploring the tension between faith, conscience, and everyday experience; the language is plain, yet carries a sustained reflective power. It has no grand narrative and does not rely on plot; instead, in a calm tone it delves deeper layer by layer, prompting readers to keep looking back at themselves as they read. For readers used to fast-paced reading, this book may seem slow, but it is precisely that slowness which leaves room for thought. It suits solitary reading in quiet hours, especially as a short piece for bedtime or early morning—read a small section each time and let it linger. The spiritual concerns expressed in the book bear the mark of nineteenth-century American literature and religious thought; readers with some familiarity with the cultural context of that period will more easily appreciate its measure and depth.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century American prose and poetry and are willing to read slowly and savor the details
Those who wish to use short texts for self-reflection and spiritual stocktaking
People who need quiet reading to balance a fast-paced daily life
Readers interested in themes such as faith, conscience, and inner experience

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting intricate plots and strong storytelling
Readers seeking systematic philosophical argument or academic research
Readers who prefer modern colloquial expression and are unaccustomed to nineteenth-century style

Reading tips

Read only a small section at a time; after finishing, pause for a few minutes and note your immediate feelings or questions.
Read in the early morning or before bed; avoid fragmented, easily interrupted settings.
Make brief annotations where something strikes you, then after some time look back and see how your thinking has changed.
If the religious and historical background is unfamiliar, learn a little about the intellectual atmosphere of nineteenth-century America 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 a long work or a short prose piece?

The materials indicate that The Inner Life is a work by Whittier, not long in length and closer to a prose-like short piece than a plot-driven novel. It suits slow reading in sections, not a reading style that seeks narrative momentum.

How difficult is the original English?

The work dates from the nineteenth century, and its sentence structures and diction carry the literary style of the time, with many long sentences and indirect expressions. Readers with a reasonable foundation in English can attempt it; when encountering unfamiliar passages, first read for the general sense of the paragraph rather than stopping at every word.

Do I need to know the author's background to read it?

Extensive preparation is not necessary, but knowing something about Whittier's era and his background in poetry and prose will help in understanding the statements about faith and conscience in the text. General readers can also gain insight from reading it directly.

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.