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This book is an investigation of youth and adolescence in pre-industrial England. It concentrates on young people from the middle or lower groups of society, who, between 1500 and 1800, left home to work as apprentices, agricultural labourers or in domestic service. Drawing on municipal, ecclesiastical and parish records, and over 70 autobiographies, Ben-Amos focusses on aspects of youth as they related to maturation: the separation of adolescents from their parents; their working lives and relationships with their employers or masters and mistresses; the relative independence and autonomy exercised by younger women; the role of the young in religious affairs; and the question of whether there was such as thing as a youth subculture.

'A Flower Wedding: Described by Two Wallflowers' by Walter Crane is an exquisitely illustrated poem that transports readers to a joyous wedding celebration in 1905. Immerse yourself in the charming tale of Lad's Love and Miss Meadow Sweet as their love blossoms amidst a garden filled with a kaleidoscope of flowers. Crane's masterful artistry brings each page to life, with intricate illustrations capturing the essence of every bloom.

Thomas Mohlmann is a poet who works for the The Dutch Foundation for Literature in Amsterdam. --

Provides a postmodern theory of poetry that sees rhythm as its essential quality