Recollections of a Literary Life Or, Books, Places, and People [Paperback]

Delightfully detailed and surprisingly witty, this 1852 publication offers an eclectic mix of fiction, literary analysis and autobiography.Part autobiography, part critical analysis, this 1852 collection of essays was penned by one of the most prolific female writers of the nineteenth century. This first volume contains essays on Beaumont and Fletcher, Sidney, Herrick, Samuel Johnson, and Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and several others.Part autobiography, part critical analysis, this 1852 collection of essays was penned by one of the most prolific female writers of the nineteenth century. This first volume contains essays on Beaumont and Fletcher, Sidney, Herrick, Samuel Johnson, and Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and several others.Better known for her five volume portrait of English rural life, Our Village, Mary Russell Mitford (17871855) 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; 7lsK