The Rime of the Ancient Mountaineer: Romantic poets including William Wordsworth were tough, outdoor types who climbed to keep fit Author claims romantic poets such as John Keats were tough outdoorsy types Simon Bainbridge says male poets were ‘very keen to prove their masculinity’ Poet William Wordsowth scaled Helvellyn in the Lake District at the age … Read more
Last week, there were two major cultural anniversaries. Two hundred and fifty years ago, on April 7, 1770, William Wordsworth was born. Fifty years ago, on April 10, 1970, The Beatles split up. Does anything link these two anniversaries? They seem to belong to different worlds and, in many ways, they do. Yet bizarre though … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK RADICAL WORDSWORTH by Jonathan Bate (William Collins, £25, 608 pp) The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge spent Christmas Day 1806 with his close friend William Wordsworth, together with Wordsworth’s wife Mary, her sister Sara Hutchinson and Wordsworth’s own sister, Dorothy. Two days later, Coleridge bolted from the house. Taking refuge in the … Read more
A portrait of William Wordsworth Admittedly, it’s a muted kind of celebration given the circumstances in which the whole nation finds itself. But, long term, the crowds will return (often far too many of them) and normal service will resume to mark the 250th anniversary of William Wordsworth’s birth. Of course, the great poet’s A … Read more
Britain at its best: Walking with Wordsworth in the Wye and Usk valleys Gliffaes is an ‘ultra-comfy’ country house hotel in the Usk Valley, Wales The artist and cleric Rev William Gilpin once lauded the qualities of the river Wye Llangoed Hall, above Hay-on-Wye, is being ‘driven to yet greater heights’ By Clive Aslet For … Read more