The Pier-Glass
Graves, Robert, 1895-1985Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019
Rating 3.8- Word count
- 40K words
- Chapters
- 4
Tags
English Originals Modern Poetry War TraumaLove EntanglementsSolliloquyPsychological InsightSlow ReadingMemory and ForgettingImagismPoetic ConfessionModernismBritish MilieuSummary
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 Pier-Glass by Robert GravesAuthor: Graves, Robert, 1895-1985,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 31, 2014Editor's review
The Pier-Glass is a work by the English poet and novelist Robert Graves, released as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Graves is known for his poetry and his studies of myth, and his writing often combines a classical texture with personal psychological insight. The book falls under English literature in the Language and Literatures: English literature category, and serves as supplementary reading for understanding the landscape of twentieth-century English poetry. For readers accustomed to reading English originals, the Gutenberg edition is easy to access on electronic devices and suited to short sessions of close reading and language appreciation. Note that the Gutenberg entry focuses on providing access to the text, with plain version notes and formatting; readers should not expect an introduction or annotations. It is best treated as a poetic text to be revisited, and reading it alongside general knowledge of Graves's life and literary background will make its verbal pleasures more apparent.Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in twentieth-century English poetry who are willing to read English originals
- Self-learners who need free electronic texts for close reading of short pieces and language study
- Literature enthusiasts studying Graves's work who want supplementary primary texts
- Commuters who like to dip into poems on electronic devices
Not a good fit for
- Beginner readers seeking detailed annotations, introductions, or parallel translations
- Readers who prefer full plot-driven narratives and have little interest in poetry
- Rigorous researchers who need a critically edited version for scholarly citation
Reading tips
- Read through once to sense the overall tone, then revisit passages to examine imagery and word choice; don't feel you must understand everything at once.
- Keep a vocabulary notebook, record recurring words, and observe how they echo through the text.
- Drawing on general knowledge of Graves as a poet and mythographer, watch for classical allusions in the text.
- Read in several short sessions and write two or three sentences of personal response after each, building up experience in close reading
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971Project 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.
Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
FAQ
Is this book in Chinese or English?
According to the Gutenberg entry, the book is in English and falls under English literature in the Language and Literatures: English literature category. The text is the English original, with no Chinese translation.Does the Gutenberg edition include annotations or an introduction?
Project Gutenberg mainly provides free electronic texts. This entry focuses on access to the text and generally does not include detailed annotations or an introduction, so readers need to supply background knowledge themselves.Can I read it without a background in poetry?
You can try, but it requires more patience. Start with short passages, first grasp the overall tone and recurring images, and don't try to solve every word; build up reading experience gradually.Is it suitable for reading on a phone?
Yes. Gutenberg electronic texts are easy to open on phones or e-readers and can be read in short segments; enlarging the font and slowing down will help you savor the rhythm and word choice of the poems.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
Graves, Robert, 1895-1985 AuthorRobert 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.