The Road of Dreams
Dust-jacket of the first and only UK edition | |
Author | Agatha Christie |
---|---|
Cover artist | Not known |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Poetry |
Publisher | Geoffrey Bles |
Publication date | January 1925 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 112 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
Preceded by | The Man in the Brown Suit |
Followed by | The Secret of Chimneys |
The Road of Dreams is a book of poetry by crime writer Agatha Christie. It was published at her own expense by Geoffrey Bles in January 1925 priced at five shillings (5/-).[1] Only one edition of the 112-page volume was ever published and this was undated.
Christie wrote poetry for most of her life; her first traceable published works are three poems from 1919: World Hymn in The Poetry Review issue for March/April, Dark Sheila in Poetry Today issue for May/June and A Passing in the same journal for November/December.[2] All three poems are reprinted in The Road of Dreams (with the first under the slightly amended title of World Hymn, 1914).
The book is divided into four sections:
- A Masque from Italy
- Ballads
- Dreams and Fantasies
- Other Poems
The final section includes a poem titled In a Dispensary which mentions many of the poisons that Christie would use in her long fictional career.
Literary response
The Times Literary Supplement in its issue of 26 February 1925 praised A Masque from Italy and other selected poems whilst stating that "her talent, however, is too delicate to turn a ballad convincingly" and World Hymn, 1914 was a "subject too large for her hand to grasp". It did conclude, however, by stating that in poems such as Beatrice Passes (from Dreams and Fantasies) her "real poetic gift is best displayed".[3]
The Scotsman of 23 March 1925 said,
Miss Agatha Christie, in her book of poems, The Road of Dreams, reveals a pleasing lyrical sense. The movement of her verse is light and graceful, and its substance, though not of the 'thought compact,' is not empty. Such lines, however – and there are a few – as:–
"The South Wind comes a-whispering, a-whispering from the sea,"
are banal. Flow in verse is not everything. A stronger note is struck in some of the ballads, for instance, The Ballad of the Flint. Here Miss Christie has a story to tell, and along 'the road of reality' she swings quite vigorously. In the first collection of songs, grouped together as A Masque from Italy – the players are the old and over-new Harlequin and company – Miss Christie is perhaps happiest. The poem is quite a charming bubble.[4]
Forgotten creations
Christie does not mention the book in her autobiography. Her official biography recounts that Eden Phillpotts, a family friend, wrote to her and told her she "had great lyric gifts". He also warned her that it would not sell well, and was proven right when copies remained unbound and unsold well into the 1960s.[5]
The contents of this book were reprinted in the 1973 collection Poems as "Volume 1", although there are several differences between the two editions (See Poems for details).
Publication history
- 1925, Geoffrey Bles, Hardcover, January 1925, 112 pp, OCLC 12657447
References
- ^ The English Catalogue of Books. Vol XI (A-L: January 1921 – December 1925). Kraus Reprint Corporation, Millwood, New York, 1979 (page 310)
- ^ Japanese website with details of publications
- ^ The Times Literary Supplement 26 February 1925 (Page 142)
- ^ The Scotsman 23 March 1925 (Page 2)
- ^ Morgan, Janet. Agatha Christie, A Biography. (Page 117) Collins, 1984 ISBN 0-00-216330-6
External links
- The Road of Dreams at the official Agatha Christie website
- v
- t
- e
- Bibliography
- Universe
- Adaptations
- Superintendent Battle
- Tommy and Tuppence Beresford
- Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent
- Sir Henry Clithering
- Captain Arthur Hastings
- Chief Inspector James Japp
- Miss Jane Marple
- Ariadne Oliver
- Hercule Poirot
- Parker Pyne
- Mr. Harley Quin
- Raymond West
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles
- The Secret Adversary
- The Murder on the Links
- The Man in the Brown Suit
- The Secret of Chimneys
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
- The Big Four
- The Mystery of the Blue Train
- The Seven Dials Mystery
- The Murder at the Vicarage
- The Sittaford Mystery
- Peril at End House
- Lord Edgware Dies
- Murder on the Orient Express
- Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
- Three Act Tragedy
- Death in the Clouds
- The A.B.C. Murders
- Murder in Mesopotamia
- Cards on the Table
- Dumb Witness
- Death on the Nile
- Appointment with Death
- Hercule Poirot's Christmas
- Murder Is Easy
- And Then There Were None
- Sad Cypress
- One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
- Evil Under the Sun
- N or M?
- The Body in the Library
- Five Little Pigs
- The Moving Finger
- Towards Zero
- Death Comes as the End
- Sparkling Cyanide
- The Hollow
- Taken at the Flood
- Crooked House
- A Murder Is Announced
- They Came to Baghdad
- Mrs McGinty's Dead
- They Do It with Mirrors
- After the Funeral
- A Pocket Full of Rye
- Destination Unknown
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- Dead Man's Folly
- 4.50 from Paddington
- Ordeal by Innocence
- Cat Among the Pigeons
- The Pale Horse
- The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
- The Clocks
- A Caribbean Mystery
- At Bertram's Hotel
- Third Girl
- Endless Night
- By the Pricking of My Thumbs
- Hallowe'en Party
- Passenger to Frankfurt
- Nemesis
- Elephants Can Remember
- Postern of Fate
- Curtain
- Sleeping Murder
Westmacott
- Giant's Bread
- Unfinished Portrait
- Absent in the Spring
- The Rose and the Yew Tree
- A Daughter's a Daughter
- The Burden
collections
- Poirot Investigates
- Partners in Crime
- The Mysterious Mr Quin
- The Thirteen Problems
- The Hound of Death
- The Listerdale Mystery
- Parker Pyne Investigates
- Murder in the Mews
- The Regatta Mystery
- The Labours of Hercules
- The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
- Three Blind Mice and Other Stories
- The Under Dog and Other Stories
- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
- Double Sin and Other Stories
- The Golden Ball and Other Stories
- Poirot's Early Cases
- Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories
- Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories
- The Harlequin Tea Set
- While the Light Lasts and Other Stories
- Black Coffee
- And Then There Were None
- Appointment with Death
- Murder on the Nile
- The Hollow
- The Mousetrap
- Witness for the Prosecution
- Spider's Web
- Towards Zero
- Verdict
- The Unexpected Guest
- Go Back For Murder
- Fiddlers Three
- Akhnaton
- Chimneys
television plays
- Wasp's Nest
- The Yellow Iris
- Three Blind Mice
- Butter in a Lordly Dish
- Personal Call
- The Road of Dreams
- Come, Tell Me How You Live
- Star Over Bethlehem
- Poems
- An Autobiography
- The Mousetrap and Other Plays
- Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks
- Agatha Christie Memorial
- Agatha (1979 film)
- Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures (2004 docudrama)
- The Unicorn and the Wasp (2008 TV episode)
- Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018 film)
- Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar (2019 film)
- Agatha and the Midnight Murders (2020 film)
- See How They Run (2022 film)
- Archie Christie (first husband)
- Max Mallowan (second husband)
- Ashfield, Torquay (home)
- Greenway Estate (home)
- Agatha Award
- Agatha Christie Award (Japan)
- Category