What is the actual poem in this edition?

*The Vision of Sir Launfal* (1848) is a narrative poem by Lowell. In it, a knight dreams of searching the world for the Holy Grail, only to realize that the true act of charity—sharing a cup of water with a leper—is what truly matters.

What is the Riverside Literature Series?

A series of affordable school pamphlets published by Houghton Mifflin in Boston. Each issue featured a single poem or short prose piece, costing between 10 and 40 cents, and was intended for reading aloud and memorization in American classrooms.

Who is Campbell, mentioned at the top?

Thomas Campbell (1777–1844) was a Scottish poet known for his work. His poem *Lochiel's Warning* (1802) features a dramatic dialogue centered on the ill-fated Jacobite rising of 1745. This piece gained popularity and was frequently included in school anthologies during the 19th century.

Why does Project Gutenberg include this catalogue text?

Project Gutenberg digitizes physical books in their original form, capturing all front and back matter. The scanner captured the entire pamphlet, which means the publisher's price list is included in the digital file along with the poem.

Who were the other 'Leaflet' poets — Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., along with James Russell Lowell and occasionally Ralph Waldo Emerson, made up the group known as the Fireside Poets. They were the leading voices of American literary culture in the 19th century.

What is Lowell's Fable for Critics, listed at the end?

*A Fable for Critics* (1848) is a clever satirical poem where Lowell both critiques and celebrates his peers — including Emerson, Poe, Hawthorne, and others — using rhyming couplets. It stands out as one of the most incisive examples of literary criticism in verse within American literature.

The Annotated Edition

Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Other Poems; by James Russell Lowell

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

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This text isn’t really a poem; it’s a page from a publisher's catalog that lists titles in a series of educational reading books, complete with footnotes about pricing and binding options.

Poet: James Russell Lowell
Themes: art, home, identity

The PoemFull text

Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Other Poems;

James Russell Lowell

Campbell's Lochiel's Warning, and Other Poems. Also, bound in linen: [Footnote 33: 25 cents.] [Footnote 34: 11 and 63 in one vol., 40 cents; likewise 55 and 67, 57 and 58, 40 and 69, 70 and 71, 72 and 94.] [Footnote 35: Also in one vol., 40 cents.] [Footnote 36: Double Number, paper, 30 cents; linen, 40 cents.] _EXTRA NUMBERS_. _A_ American Authors and their Birthdays. Programmes and Suggestions for the Celebration of the Birthdays of Authors. By A.S. ROE. _B_ Portraits and Biographies of 20 American Authors. _C_ A Longfellow Night. For Catholic Schools and Societies. _D_ Literature in School. Essays by HORACE E. SCUDDER. _E_ Harriet Beecher Stowe. Dialogues and Scenes. _F_ Longfellow Leaflets.} (Each a _Double Number, 30 cents; linen,_ _G_ Whittier Leaflets. } _40 cents_.) Poems and Prose Passages _H_ Holmes Leaflets. } for Reading and Recitation. _O_ Lowell Leaflets. } _I_ The Riverside Manual for Teachers, containing Suggestions and Illustrative Lessons leading up to Primary Reading. By I.F. HALL. _K_ The Riverside Primer and Reader. (_Special Number._) In paper covers, with cloth back, 25 cents; in strong linen binding, 30 cents. _L_ The Riverside Song Book. Containing Classic American Poems set to Standard Music. (_Double Number, 30 cents; boards, 40 cents._) _M_ Lowells' Fable for Critics. (_Double Number, 30 cents._) End of Project Gutenberg's The Vision of Sir Launfal, by James Russell Lowell

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

This text isn’t really a poem; it’s a page from a publisher's catalog that lists titles in a series of educational reading books, complete with footnotes about pricing and binding options. You’ll find it at the back of the Project Gutenberg edition of James Russell Lowell's *The Vision of Sir Launfal*, and it doesn’t contain any poetic content. There’s nothing here that can be analyzed as poetry.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

Campbell's Lochiel's Warning, and Other Poems.
Editor's note
This is a catalogue entry rather than a piece of poetry. It references another title in the same publisher's series — Thomas Campbell's poem *Lochiel's Warning*, which is included with other works.
[Footnote 33: 25 cents.] … [Footnote 36: Double Number, paper, 30 cents; linen, 40 cents.]
Editor's note
These footnotes provide the retail prices for different volume combinations in the series. They consist of commercial information from a late 19th-century American educational publisher, likely Houghton Mifflin's Riverside Literature Series.
_EXTRA NUMBERS_. _A_ American Authors and their Birthdays…
Editor's note
This section includes additional pamphlets available for purchase alongside the main reading series—programs for celebrating authors' birthdays, collections of portraits, school dialogues, and 'Leaflets' featuring works by Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell.
_K_ The Riverside Primer and Reader… _L_ The Riverside Song Book…
Editor's note
More catalogue items include a beginner's reader, a primer, and a songbook that pairs classic American poems with standard music. These items indicate that the text is part of the Riverside Literature Series intended for school use.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Vision of Sir Launfal, by James Russell Lowell
Editor's note
The typical Project Gutenberg end-of-file marker. It verifies that the poem in this digital edition is indeed Lowell's *The Vision of Sir Launfal*, and that the content above is back matter added by the original publisher.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

There’s no poetic tone in this text. It has a dry, commercial, and administrative feel—like a 19th-century publisher listing products and prices for school librarians and teachers.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

Linen binding: A practical detail about book production, not a symbol. Linen-bound volumes are more expensive and designed to endure longer in school settings.
Double Number: A publishing term for a pamphlet that is double the standard length and sold at a higher price — this is purely a commercial distinction, not a figurative one.
Leaflets (Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Lowell): Thin anthologies created for classroom recitation reflect the late-Victorian American effort to establish a national literary canon via school education.

§06Historical context

Historical context

The Riverside Literature Series, published by Houghton Mifflin in Boston starting in the 1880s, packaged well-known American and British poems into affordable, sturdy pamphlets designed for public school classrooms. Among the featured poets was James Russell Lowell (1819–1891), a prominent member of the 'Fireside Poets,' whose work received significant promotion through the series. The text provided here is the back-matter from one of these pamphlets—the edition that includes Lowell's *The Vision of Sir Launfal* (1848), a narrative poem focused on the Holy Grail and themes of Christian charity. The catalogue page was printed inside the back cover to promote related volumes. Project Gutenberg digitized the entire physical book, back-matter included, which is why this non-poetic text appears alongside Lowell's name.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

No. The text provided is a publisher's catalogue page, which is essentially a list of other books for sale. It's printed at the back of a pamphlet that includes a poem by Lowell, specifically *The Vision of Sir Launfal*. However, Lowell did not create this catalogue.

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Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Other Poems; by James Russell Lowell

Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Other Poems;

What this poem is about

Recurring themes

Stanza by stanza, with notes

How this poem feels

Symbols & metaphors

Historical context

Questions readers ask

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