Call Number:

F0808

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 item (1 page)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0099, F0808, The shades of evening veil the lofty spires … : sonnet, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

after 1825 (inclusive)

Creator:

Richardson, David Lester, 1801-1865

Form:

Poems

Abstract:

Autograph manuscript of sonnet by David Lester Richardson.

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.

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.