The Greatest Poems & Carols for Christmas Time (Illustrated Edition)

The Greatest Poems & Carols for Christmas Time (Illustrated Edition)

by Robert Louis StevensonHenry Wadsworth Longfellow Charles Kingsley and others
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 13/12/2023

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The Illustrated Edition of 'The Greatest Poems & Carols for Christmas Time' is a splendid anthology that captures the essence of the festive season through its rich tapestry of poetic and musical heritage. This collection masterfully intertwines timeless Christmas carols with beloved poems, evoking the warmth and spirit of the holiday season. From classic narratives and lyrical ballads to reflective verses, the anthology encompasses a wide spectrum of moods and styles, transporting readers to enchanting winter landscapes and hearthside gatherings. Each piece, whether solemn or joyous, forms a mosaic that celebrates the cultural and literary significance of Christmas across different eras. The collection is a testament to the enduring creativity and diversity of its contributors, including literary luminaries such as Stevenson, Longfellow, and Dickinson. The editors have meticulously curated works that span the Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist periods, offering insights into each era's unique perspective on Christmas. By bringing together a myriad of voices—ranging from the contemplative musings of Coleridge to the evocative imagery of Yeats—the anthology illuminates the multifaceted nature of the holiday, blending tradition with innovation in literary expression. This volume serves as a unique invitation to traverse the poetic landscape of Christmas through the lenses of different authors. Readers and scholars alike will find this collection invaluable for its educational and aesthetic qualities, as it opens a dialogue between the diverse poetic traditions represented. In exploring these works, one can appreciate not only the layered textures of language and rhythm but also a shared humanity that transcends time, making it a perfect companion during the holiday season and beyond.

ISBN:
8596547752271
8596547752271
Category:
Poetry anthologies (various poets)
Format:
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date:
13-12-2023
Language:
English
Publisher:
DigiCat
Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied law but preferred writing and in 1881 was inspired by his stepson to write Treasure Island.

Other famous adventure stories followed including Kidnapped, as well as the famous collection of poems for children, A Child's Garden of Verses. Robert Louis Stevenson is buried on the island of Samoa.

Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley was a priest, university professor, historian and novelist.

The Water-Babies was his most famous novel and was originally written and published as a serial in Macmillan's Magazine from 1862-1863 before being published in its entirety as a book in 1863.

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 at Cockermouth, in the English Lake District, the son of a lawyer. He was one of five children and developed a close bond with his only sister, Dorothy, whom he lived with for most of his life. At the age of 17, shortly after the deaths of his parents, Wordsworth went to St John’s College, Cambridge, and after graduating travelled to Revolutionary France.

Upon returning to England he published his first poem and devoted himself wholly to writing. He became great friends with other Romantic poets and collaborated with Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Lyrical Ballads. In 1843, he succeeded Robert Southey as Poet Laureate and died in the year ‘Prelude’ was finally published, 1850.

Walter Scott

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh on 15 August 1777. He was educated in Edinburgh and called to the bar in 1792, succeeding his father as Writer to the Signet, then Clerk of Session. He published anonymous translations of German Romantic poetry from 1797, in which year he also married. In 1805 he published his first major work, a romantic poem called The Lay of the Last Minstrel, became a partner in a printing business, and several other long poems followed, including Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810) . These poems found acclaim and great popularity, but from 1814 and the publication of Waverley , Scott turned almost exclusively to novel-writing, albeit anonymously.

A hugely prolific period of writing produced over twenty-five novels, including Rob Roy (1817), The Heart of Midlothian (1818), The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), Kenilworth (1821) and Redgauntlet (1824) . Already sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire, Scott was created a baronet in 1820. The printing business in which Scott was a partner ran into financial difficulties in 1826, and Scott devoted his energies to work in order to repay the firm’s creditors, publishing many more novels, dramatic works, histories and a life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Sir Walter Scott died on 21 September 1832 at Abbotsford, the home he had built on the Scottish Borders.

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771, educated at the High School and University there and admitted to the Scottish Bar in 1792. From 1799 until his death he was Sheriff of Selkirkshire, and from 1806 to 1830 he held a well-paid office as a principal clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, the supreme Scottish civil court. From 1805, too, Scott was secretly an investor in, and increasingly controller of, the printing and publishing businesses of his associates, the Ballantyne brothers.

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset in 1840. His first published novel was Desperate Remedies in 1871. Such was the success of these early works, which included A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) and Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), that he gave up his work as an architect to concentrate on his writing.

However, he had difficulty publishing Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1889) and was forced to make changes in order for it to be judged suitable for family readers. This, coupled with the stormy reaction to the negative tone of Jude the Obscure (1895), prompted Hardy to abandon writing novels altogether and he concentrated on poetry for the rest of his life. He died in January 1928.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

One of the great figures of the Romantic age, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 1834) is known both for his poetry and prose, and for producing Lyrical Ballads with William Wordsworth, a work which revolutionized English poetry.

Plagued by debts and laudanum addiction, he left many pieces unfinished, yet his extraordinary influence was felt in literary figures as diverse as Wordsworth, Mary Shelley and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in India in 1865. After intermittently moving between India and England during his early life, he settled in the latter in 1889, published his novel The Light That Failed in 1891 and married Caroline (Carrie) Balestier the following year.

They returned to her home in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote the two Jungle Books and Captains Courageous.

He continued to write prolifically and was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 but his later years were darkened by the death of his son John at the Battle of Loos in 1915. He died in 1936.

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) lived in almost complete isolation from the outside world, but maintained many correspondences and read widely.

Upon her death, Dickinson's family discovered 40 handbound volumes of her poems, which she had assembled herself.

Clement Clarke Moore

Clement Clarke Moore was a scholar of ancient languages, but is remembered to this day for his memorable poem 'The Night Before Christmas', which started appeared anonymously in newspapers in the 1820s.

His character of St Nicholas strongly influenced the character of Santa Claus that we know today, and reading aloud the poem remains a favourite Christmas tradition.

John Milton

John Milton (1608 74) is best known for his epic masterpiece Paradise Lost and for his commitment to the republican cause.

He wrote the crucial justifications for the trial and execution of King Charles I and was Secretary for Foreign Tongues, thus becoming the voice of the revolution. His influence on English literature can only be rivalled by Shakespeare.

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