Books, Poetry, and Music, Oh My!

Fanny and Taylor both loved to read and they ADORED poetry - something that they passed down at least a couple of generations to my grandfather. I've never been a big poetry-reader, though I am a voracious consumer of books - I *have* to read every night before bed or I can't sleep. This blog post will be a running list of the books and poems that they talk about as well as an occasional song. I will have to actually read some of these!

Please note that this will be an ongoing blog post: as I come across more titles, I'll add them to the list. When available, I'll include a link to an online version.

Books:

Great Expectations written between 1861 and 1862 by Charles Dickens
From Wikipedia: In the 21st century, the novel retains good ratings among literary critics and in 2003 it was ranked 17th on the BBC's The Big Read poll.
Take your pick from over 1 million copies on Hathi Trust
The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit originally published as a series between 1842 and 1844 by Charles Dickens
Read the 1885 edition on Hathi Trust
The Love-letter Writer (possibly this one by Uncle Wamak? - if so, it's an earlier edition)
Fanny mentions that she was looking over it at a friend's house in her 15 Nov 1889 letter to Taylor. She describes it as a "tacky little old book," and says, "It said young ladies should never commence letters to their lovers by any warmer expression than 'dear___.' and that it is unmaidenly and absurd for a young lady to express any ardent love for a young man."
A Little Journey in the World written in 1889 by Charles Dudley Warner
Preface by the author: " This story is an attempt to trace the demoralization in a woman's soul of certain well-known influences in our existing social life. In no other way could certain phases of our society be made to appear so distinctly as when reflected in the pure mirror of a woman's soul."
Click to read it on Hathi Trust
Jupiter Lights written in 1889 by Constance Fenimore Woolson
One reviewer on Goodreads, "Teresa" says: "Set mostly on a South Carolina island and then the Great Lakes area in the specific year of 1869, this is a ‘rough’ book dealing with tough subjects: domestic abuse; cruelty; revenge; race relations (on a side note, though a strong one, is the attitude toward black men who are thought to have committed a crime based purely on circumstantial evidence). No matter our modern sensibilities about such issues as women choosing to stay with abusive partners, these topics remain relevant. Also 'rough' in that the reader gets the ending she likely ‘wants,’ but it comes at a big cost (especially for a 21st-century reader): a realistic deflation, not a triumph (romantic or otherwise)."
Read the 1889 edition on Hathi Trust
Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor written in 1869 by R. D. Blackmore
Description from Goodreads: "Lorna Doone is the story of John Ridd, a farmer who finds love amid the religious and social turmoil of seventeenth-century England. He is just a boy when his father is slain by the Doones, a lawless clan inhabiting wild Exmoor on the border of Somerset and Devon. Seized by curiosity and a sense of adventure, he makes his way to the valley of the Doones, where he is discovered by the beautiful Lorna. In time their childish fantasies blossom into mature love—a bond that will inspire John to rescue his beloved from the ravages of a stormy winter, rekindling a conflict with his archrival, Carver Doone, that climaxes in heartrending violence."
Because Fanny refers to "sketching from Lorna Doone," I'll link to this 1889 illustrated version on Hathi Trust.
*Update: Summer 2022 - I read (well- listened to) this book and it is really good. Highly recommend.
Young Mrs. Jardine written in 1879 by Dinah Craik.
Read it here
She: A History of Adventure Originally published as a series in 1886, it was published as a novel in 1887 by H. Rider Haggard
From Wikipedia: "The story is a first-person narrative which follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in the African interior. They encounter a primitive race of natives and a mysterious white queen named Ayesha who reigns as the all-powerful 'She' or 'She-who-must-be-obeyed.' Haggard developed many of the conventions of the lost world genre which countless authors have emulated." Fanny states in a letter dated 28 Sep 1889, that if she has to wait until she's 25 to get married that she'll end up old, and gray and wrinkled, and shrivel up like She did in Haggard's novel.
Read it on Hathi Trust.
Reveries of a Bachelor; or, A Book of the Heart Originally published in 1850 under the pseudonym IK Marvel, written by Donald Grant Mitchell.
From "Jane" on Goodreads: "Heavy sledding here, but I persevered because this was one of Emily Dickinson’s favorite books. It’s easy to see why: Marvel’s musings take place in a solitary room, late at night, and they are an homage to the art of writing, especially letters. He strews literary references like festive confetti, and most readers, myself included, will puzzle over them."
Read it on Hathi Trust.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Comrade of Tom Sawyer) Originally published in 1885.
Read it on Hathi Trust.
The Pothsumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (aka "The Pickwick Papers"). Written in 1836 by Charles Dickens.
From Wikipedia: "A great hokey-cokey of eccentrics, conmen, phony politicians, amorous widows and wily, witty servants, somehow catching an essence of what it is to be English, celebrating companionship, generosity, good nature, in the figure of Samuel Pickwick, Esq, one of the great embodiments in literature of benevolence. — Actor and director Simon Callow on The Pickwick Papers"
Read it on Hathi Trust
Martin Chuzzlewit. Written by Charles Dickens; originally published as a serial between January 1843 and July 1844. I suspect Fanny read it as a complete volume - perhaps the one published in 1889 and available on Hathi Trust. One of Fanny's very common refrains to Taylor is to lament how he must be ashamed of her and how selfish she believes she is. She wrote on 16 November 1889, "I have been reading 'Martin Chuzzlewit' and thinking that I am like Martin in my selfishness, and if I try to be better it doesn’t seem to do any good." She announces she has finished the book in her letter written 21 November 1889 and declares that it is her favorite of all of Dickens' books.
From Wikipedia: [Dickens] satirized [the U.S.] as a place filled with self-promoting hucksters, eager to sell land sight unseen. He also unfavourably highlighted slavery and featured characters with racist attitudes and a propensity to violence. In later editions, and in his second visit 24 years later to a much-changed US, he made clear in a speech that it was satire and not a balanced image of the nation and then included that speech in all future editions.
The main theme of the novel, according to Dickens's preface, is selfishness, portrayed in a satirical fashion using all the members of the Chuzzlewit family.

Poetry:

So far, the poems are all written out by Fanny in her letters to Taylor. Sometimes they're in a post script, or on a separate page, but they are just as often right in the middle of the letter. Some have been hard to pin down because they were in magazines, but I've managed to find most.

Excerpt from "The Merchant of Venice"

The Beggar Maid, by Alfred Lord Tennyson
This one will get a future blog post all of its own...
Read it on Internetpoem.com
A Confession by W.J. Henderson, published in The Century Vol. 36 (May 1888-October 1888) page 800
Taylor sent Fanny his old copies of The Century and Harper's magazines to read. Then they would discuss poems or stories inside.
You can read it on Google Books.
Comfort, author unknown
Fanny copied it in its entirety at the end of a long letter dated 23rd & 24th September 1889 along with thef following note, "Some poet must have written it for his sweetheart. Don’t you think it is pretty?"
You can read it here.
Drachenfels, by Lord Byron
Fanny copied out the third stanza, which begins with "I send the lilies given to me..." in a letter sent to Taylor on the 24 June 1889, which also included an unknown type of flower (only mentioned that it was a not a lily gathered by the Rhine).
Read it in its entirety here.
Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Fanny tried reading it once before, but was uninterested, giving it another go on 27 June 1889.
Read it yourself here.
The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare
Fanny copied out an excerpt for Taylor inside the envelope containing a letter dated 29th & 30th September 1889. There is also a note written under the stamp (though it's too small to read fully - plus still has some stamp attached!) - something they appeared to do often. Usually marked with # # (kiss kiss).
You can read the entire Merchant of Venice on Hathi Trust.
You and I by Henry Alford
Sent by Fanny to Taylor in a letter dated 26 June 1889.
Read it on All Poetry.com

Music:

Both Fanny and Taylor claim to be poor musicians, yet they both enjoy music very much. Taylor lives in a small house along with two aunts (Angeline and Nira), his mother (Lelia), and grandmother (Eliza Morgan Grimes). Angeline was a music teacher when they lived in Princeton, Illinois, and has a piano which she plays often in the house. In fact, in several letters, Taylor writes that she is practicing for Nira's wedding in October 1889.

My Laddie by William Armour Thayer
This particular recommendation came from Fanny who writes that she very much admires the poetry of Amélie Rives (1863-1945), but that Taylor probably wouldn't except maybe for this song to which she contributed.
Listen here (1915 recording).

Letters From the Box