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Last modified: October 20, 2009
© 2009 University of Delaware Library
Identification: MSS 099, F808
Creator: Richardson, David Lester, 1801-1865.
Title: "The shades of evening veil the lofty spires … " sonnet
Inclusive Dates: after 1825
Extent: 1 item (1 p.)
Abstract: Autograph manuscript of sonnet by David Lester Richardson.
Language: Materials entirely in English.
MSS 099, F808, "The shades of evening veil the lofty spires … " sonnet, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
Shelved in SPEC MSS 099
Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library / Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 / Phone: 302-831-2229 / Fax: 302-831-6003 / URL: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/
Purchase, July 2007.
Processed and encoded by Jaime Margalotti, August 2007.
The collection is open for research.
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, http://www.lib.udel.edu/cgi-bin/askspec.cgi
Englishman David Lester Richardson (1801–1865) served in the East India Company's Bengal army when he began to write poetry. Due to health concerns, Richardson returned to England in 1824. There he published several poetry volumes and founded the London Weekly Review. He returned to India in 1829, soon retiring from the military and holding a variety of education-related posts. Richardson continued to publish during the next two decades. He left India for the last time in 1861, returning to England where he served as editor of the Court Circular and Allen's Indian Mail. Richardson's poems are often incorporate Indian themes. He is also known (and occasionally criticized) for the lengthy notes which often accompany his poems.
Sources:
G. S. Boulger, "Richardson, David Lester (bap. 1801, d. 1865)," rev. Rebecca Mills, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23550 (accessed August, 15 2007).
Autograph manuscript of a sonnet by David Lester Richardson which begins: "The shades of evening veil the lofty spires … ." Richardson adds that the poem was "Written at Benares, in the East Indies." He includes a lengthy note explaining that the poem references an Indian custom whereby a woman will float a lamp into the Ganges to learn the fate of a missing lover.
"The shades of evening veil the lofty spires … " sonnet, after 1825 [Box 53 F808]
1 p.
Autograph manuscript.
