Recollections of a Literary Life
Or, Books, Places, and People

Delightfully detailed and surprisingly witty, this 1852 publication offers an eclectic mix of fiction, literary analysis and autobiography.

Mary Russell Mitford (Author)

9781108020572, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 September 2010

340 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm, 0.43 kg

Better known for her five volume portrait of English rural life, Our Village, Mary Russell Mitford (1787–1855) was one of the most prolific female writers of her day. Part critical essay, part autobiography, Recollections consists of a series of sketches on and selections from Mitford's favourite authors, stemming from her desire 'to make others relish a few favourite writers as heartily as I have relished them myself'. The collection is arranged according to Mitford's own eclectic system of categorization including 'fashionable poets', 'cavalier poets', and 'poetry that poets love'. This first volume contains essays on Beaumont and Fletcher, Sidney, Herrick, Samuel Johnson, and Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and several others. Mitford wears her immense literary skill lightly and Recollections is masterfully written, full of lively wit and fascinating biographical detail. Published just three years before Mitford's death, it was based on earlier articles and letters.

Preface
1. Various authors - Percy's Reliques
2. Irish authors - Thomas Davis, John Banim
3. Authors associated with places - Thomas Noel
4. Old authors - Abraham Cowley
5. Comic poets - J. Anstey
6. American poets - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
7. Authors sprung from the people - Thomas Holcroft
8. Authors associated with places - Beaumont and Fletcher
9. Fashionable poets - Winthrop Macworth Praed
10. Peasant poets - John Clare
11. Authors associated with places - Samuel Johnson
12. Old poets - Robert Herrick, George Withers
13. Female poets - Joanna Baillie, Catherine Fanshawe
14. Married poets - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning
15. Prose pastorals - Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia, Isaac Walton's Complete Angler.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]