“For a long time I did little but criticise and rearrange my books, separating, as it were, the sheep from the goats.”

Reading critically became part of his education as a writer · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Books
• Criticism
• Learning

“I read and studied the poets of England from the age of Chaucer to Swinburne.”

Describes the breadth of his self-directed literary education · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Learning
• Poetry
• Reading

“I read books on logic and astronomy and could point out the planets and discuss on the nebulae of the Milky Way.”

His intellectual curiosity ranged far beyond literature · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Knowledge
• Learning
• Wonder

“I took a certificate of one hundred and twenty words a minute at Pitman's shorthand and soon knew Euclid as well as a man of Trinity College.”

Combines pride in self-education with characteristic confidence · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Discipline
• Education
• Learning

“I set myself certain studies and these I pursued at night when I should be resting from a laborious day.”

Shows the discipline behind his largely self-directed education · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Discipline
• Learning
• Work

“Odd halfpennies which I got for some message run for the neighbours accumulated in time to half-crowns which were exchanged for The Arabian Nights, Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, and the poems of Keats and Longfellow.”

Shows the determination with which he acquired books despite poverty · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Books
• Learning
• Reading

“In all the competitions for which I entered I carried off the prize and soon had a decent library of the books which interest children.”

Literary competitions helped the young Ledwidge build his own library · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Books
• Childhood
• Learning

“There was a literary society for juveniles run through the pages of a Dublin weekly and I soon became a member of this.”

Recalls an early community that encouraged his literary interests · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Community
• Learning
• Literature