''The Road of Dreams'' is a book of poetry by crime writer

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

. It was published at her own expense by ''Geoffrey Bles'' in January 1925 priced at five

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

(5/-). 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. 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". ''

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'' of 23 March 1925 said,

Forgotten creations

Christie does not mention the book in her autobiography. Her official biography recounts that

Eden Phillpotts Eden Phillpotts (4 November 1862 – 29 December 1960) was an English author, poet and dramatist. He was born in Mount Abu, India, was educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for ten years before studying for the stage a ...

, 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. Morgan, Janet. ''Agatha Christie, A Biography''. (Page 117) Collins, 1984 The contents of this book were reprinted in the 1973 collection ''

Poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...

'' 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,

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12657447

References

External links

''The Road of Dreams''
at the official Agatha Christie website {{DEFAULTSORT:Road of Dreams, The 1925 poetry books Poetry by Agatha Christie English poetry collections Geoffrey Bles books