Raleigh by Edmund Gosse (1903)

Name: Raleigh
Author: Edmund Gosse

The memoir recounts the author's unhappy childhood, dominated by his father Philip Henry Gosse, a marine biologist and strict Christian who imposed a harsh regime on his family. The narrative explores the tensions between the father's scientific rationality and his religious fundamentalism, as well as the son's struggle to establish his own identity and break free from paternal tyranny.

By Edmund Gosse · First published 1903 · Genre: Biography, Historical, Non-fiction · 10 chapters · 73,574 words

First lines

Walter Raleigh was born, so Camden and an anonymous astrologer combine to assure us, in 1552. The place was Hayes Barton, a farmstead in the parish of East Budleigh, in Devonshire, then belonging to his father; it passed out of the family, and in 1584 Sir Walter attempted to buy it back. 'For the natural disposition I have to the place, being born in that house, I had rather seat myself there than anywhere else,' he wrote to a Mr. Richard Duke, the then possessor, who refused to sell it. Genealogists, from himself downwards, have found a rich treasure in Raleigh's family tree, which winds its branches into those of some of the best Devonshire houses, the Gilberts, the Carews, the Champernownes. His father, the elder Walter Raleigh, in his third marriage became the second husband of Katherine Gilbert, daughter of Sir Philip Champernoun of Modbury.

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Raleigh is listed on Textopian as a novel by Edmund Gosse, dated 1903 CE.

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Work type: Novel
Author: Edmund Gosse
Date: 1903 CE
Language: English
Genres: Biography, Historical, Non-fiction
Length: 73,574 words
Structure: 10 chapters, 572 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)

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Similar titles

Genres

Biography — The work is a detailed account of the life of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Historical — The narrative is set in the past and includes real historical events.
Non-fiction — The book is based on factual information and real events.