Spots of Time

 


Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria

"When I undrew my curtains in the morning, I was much affected by the beauty of the prospect and the change.    The sun shone, the wind had passed away, the hills looked chearful."    Friday, 16th April 1802.    Dorothy Wordsworth (1717-1855)

Today snow is falling.   Once more our fell is covered in white powder.    

Dorothy Wordsworth sister of Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) wrote regularly in her journal.   Through her diaries we possess a social history of Dorothy's life and times.

Dorothy and William moved into Dove Cottage, Grasmere, in 1799.

"D is much pleased with the house and appurtenances the orchard especially;   in imagination she has already built a seat with a summer shed on the highest platform in this our little domestic slip of mountain"    December 1799   Letter to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

I visualise new plans for my garden during these cold, shadowy days.   Take out pencil and paints - mix colours, create new vistas on paper. 

William Wordsworth said that had he not been a poet he would have been a gardener.    William  landscaped an assortment of gardens - Dove Cottage, Grasmere; Coleorton Hall, Leicester; Rydal Mount, Rydal and the Lancrigg, Grasmere.

William Wordsworth was a poet who changed the world; he made things happen;  he took seemingly trivial subjects and made them into something special.        

Summary and Analysis Book 8:  The Prelude - Retrospect:  Love of Nature leading to love of mankind.

 www.wordsworth.org.uk   


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