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'They all love you! They are obsessed with you!
And look at yourself; what have you done to
deserve such adulation?'
William Wordsworth: poetic genius or irresponsible
egotist? This world premiere production explores the
man behind the myth.
It's 1812 and all is not well in the Wordsworth
household.
Money is tight, the children are getting sick, and the
wild and unpredictable Samuel Coleridge is stirring up
trouble in London. But much to his sister Dorothy's
dismay, rather than penning his next poem and
providing for his family, Wordsworth's priorities seem
to lie with repairing his relationship with Coleridge and
currying favour with London's elite. With no money
coming in, the daily dilemma of having freedom to
pursue his art while also providing for his family is
starting
to
reach
breaking
point.
William Wordsworth is a co-production with English
Touring Theatre, one of the UK’s most successful and
exciting production companies, widely regarded as
England’s National Theatre of Touring.
Clockwise from top left: Amiera
Darwish, John Sackville, Richard
Evans with Joseph Mydell, Michael
Oakley, and Daniel Abelson.
Photos by Mark Douet
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3
William Wordsworth is perhaps the best-known
English-language poet in the world. His poem I
wandered lonely as a cloud (also known as
Daffodils) is universally known and loved.
Wordsworth was born in 1770 and by the time of
his death in 1850 he had produced some of
English poetry’s greatest works. He also
influenced future generations of poets.
For most of his life Wordsworth lived in the Lake
District. He was born in Cockermouth, educated
at Hawkshead Grammar school and spent much
of his adult life in Grasmere and Rydal, right in the
heart of the Lake District. He died at Rydal Mount
in 1850, and is buried, with his family, in
Grasmere churchyard.
He witnessed great social, political and artistic
change. His experiences and attitudes are
reflected not only in his poetry, but also in
letters and prose works.
William Wordsworth by Henry Edridge, 1806
By permission of the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere
Place and family were also important to Wordsworth. This is clear from his abiding love of the
Lake District and settled domestic life, celebrated in poems such as Home at Grasmere.
Home At Grasmere
In Wordsworth’s longer poem ‘The Recluse’, the first book deals with his feelings of Grasmere
as home. Here is a small section:
Embrace me then, ye Hills, and close me in;
Now in the clear and open day I feel
Your guardianship; I take it to my heart;
'Tis like the solemn shelter of the night.
But I would call thee beautiful, for mild,
And soft, and gay, and beautiful thou art
Dear Valley, having in thy face a smile
Though peaceful, full of gladness. Thou art pleased,
Pleased with thy crags and woody steeps, thy Lake,
Its one green island and its winding shores;
The multitude of little rocky hills,
Thy Church and cottages of mountain stone
Clustered like stars some few, but single most,
And lurking dimly in their shy retreats,
Or glancing at each other cheerful looks
Like separated stars with clouds between.
What want we? have we not perpetual streams,
Warm woods, and sunny hills, and fresh green fields,
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And mountains not less green, and flocks and herds,
And thickets full of songsters, and the voice
Of lordly birds, an unexpected sound
Heard now and then from morn to latest eve,
Admonishing the man who walks below
Of solitude and silence in the sky?
ACTIVITY: WRITE
Think about a place that makes you feel comfortable and calm. Write a description of how
the sights, sounds, touch and smell of the place perform their magic upon you. If you like,
turn it into a poem. Wordsworth uses ten syllables per line here, but no rhymes. It’s called
decasyllabic blank verse, a form which Wordsworth loved to use in his narrative and
reflective poetry. It’s up to you how you compose your piece.
Dove Cottage, where Wordsworth lived in Grasmere, c. 1810; believed to have been made by Amos Green while the
Wordsworths were living there.
By permission of the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere
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1770
1776-7
1778
1783
1787
1791-2
1793
1794
1795
1797
1798 July:
1799
1801
1802
1803
1805
1808
1809
1811
1812
1813
1820
1839
1843
1850
7 April: William Wordsworth (WW) is born in Cockermouth. He has one elder
brother, Richard, and later his sister Dorothy (DW) and two younger brothers,
John and Christopher, are born.
WW attends Mrs. Anne Birkett’s Dame School in Penrith.
His mother dies and the following year he is sent with his brother Richard to
Hawkshead Grammar School, where he lodges with Hugh and Anne Tyson.
WW’s father dies.
October: WW goes to St. John’s College at Cambridge University.
WW is in France during this time, where he becomes involved in revolutionary
politics. He also falls in love with Annette Vallon in Orléans. He returns to
England before the birth of their daughter Caroline in December 1792.
29 January: WW publishes his first book of poems entitled An Evening Walk and
Descriptive Sketches. He writes Letter to the Bishop of Llandaf.
April: WW and his sister DW stay at Windy Brow, near Keswick, the home of
William and Mary Calvert.
January: WW’s friend Raisley Calvert dies and leaves him £900.
September: WW and DW set up home at Racedown in Dorset. WW meets
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (STC) and their friendship begins.
July: WW and DW move to Alfoxden in Somerset to be nearer STC.
WW completes his play The Borderers.
WW and DW visit Tintern Abbey. WW writes Tintern Abbey, which is added to
Lyrical Ballads.
September: the first edition of Lyrical Ballads is published. WW and DW travel
with STC to Germany. They separate and WW and DW spend the winter in
Goslar. WW begins what becomes Books I and II of The Prelude.
December: WW and DW move into Dove Cottage, Grasmere. Between 1799
and 1808, WW writes many of his most famous poems including ‘Michael’,
‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’, ‘Daffodils’ and ‘Ode: Intimations of
Immortality’.
January: the second edition of Lyrical Ballads is published, dated 1800.
August: WW and DW visit Annette and Caroline in France.
4 October: WW marries Mary Hutchinson (MH). They have five children
between 1803 and 1810, John, Dora,Thomas, Catherine and William.
August: DW and WW go on a tour of Scotland and visit Sir Walter Scott.
WW completes the 13 book Prelude.
February: WW’s brother John is drowned in a shipwreck off Weymouth.
May: the family moves to Allan Bank, Grasmere.
WW writes much of The Excursion. The following year, WW’s Guide through the
District of the Lakes was published.
May: the family move to the Rectory, Grasmere.
WW’s daughter, Catherine, aged three, and his son Thomas, aged six, both die.
April: WW becomes Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland.
May: the family move to Rydal Mount.
May: WW writes a series of sonnets to The River Duddon.
WW revises The Prelude for the last time.
WW becomes Poet Laureate.
23 April: WW dies. He is buried in Grasmere churchyard. The final version of
The Prelude is published after his death.
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Act: William Wordsworth by Nicholas Pierpan, premiered at Theatre by the Lake,
Easter 2017, explores the life-changing year of 1812.
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Pick a year from the timeline
Write a conversation between William and either Dorothy, Mary or Coleridge
where they talk about the past and their hopes for the future
Perform it to the class
Research: find out more details about a small part of the timeline:
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What was William writing?
What was happening in his life? What was happening in England and the
wider world?
Which other poets, novelists and playwrights were at work and what were
they creating?
Present your findings to the class
Discuss: in groups, rearrange the events below into the correct order
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------He was educated at Hawkshead Grammar school.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------By the time of his death in 1850 he had produced some of English poetry’s greatest works and
influenced future generations of poets.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Most of his life was spent in the Lake District.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The poet William Wordsworth was born in 1770.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------He died at Rydal Mount in 1850, and is buried, with his family, in Grasmere churchyard.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------He spent much of his adult life in Grasmere and Rydal, right in the heart of the Lake District.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------He was born in Cockermouth (a town in the northern Lake District).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------He went to Cambridge University and later moved to France.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Write: can you rewrite the events as a paragraph, but in a more interesting way?
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You could use a variety of sentences: simple, compound and complex
You could write this up as an article for a newspaper or as an imagined
‘interview’
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Nature, in all its forms, was important to Wordsworth, but he rarely uses simple descriptions.
Instead he concentrates on the ways in which he responds and relates to the world. He uses his
poetry to look at the relationship between nature and human life, and to explore the belief that
nature can have an impact on our emotional and spiritual lives.
My Heart Leaps Up
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Write: take a look at the poem and write your own.
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What makes your heart leap up? Something you see, hear, touch, taste or
smell? Or a feeling?
Jot down your thoughts about your chosen topic:
o How do you feel right now?
o What did you feel in the past?
o How would you like to feel in the future?
Use the poem’s opening for yours if you like or create your own twist
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Wordsworth saw the imagination as a powerful, active force. It works alongside our senses,
interpreting the way we view the world and influencing how we react to events. He believed
that a strong imaginative life is essential for our well-being. Often in Wordsworth’s poetry, his
intense imaginative effort translates into the great visionary moments of his poetry.
Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell'd in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
The rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the rose;
The moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair;
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath pass'd away a glory from the earth.
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10
15
These are the first two stanzas of a longer poem where Wordsworth explores, amongst other
things, how your view of nature can change over time.
Write: have a think about something you have a different view of now to how you felt
about it in the past. Write two stanzas:
 Stanza One – you explain the main difference in your feelings
 Stanza Two – you explore the details of the change in you from now to
then
Research: find and read the whole poem. Talk about what you think it means and how
it makes you feel.
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Wordsworth was not living and working in isolation. His friends and family were an important
source of support and inspiration. Of his sister Dorothy, he wrote ‘She gave me eyes, she gave
me ears’. By his own admission, the best two lines in the poem ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud /
That floats on high o’er vales and hills’ were by his wife Mary.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud or Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Dorothy Wordsworth: pen and ink silhouette (c.1806)
by an unknown artist.
By permission of the Wordsworth trust
Discuss: what do you think are the best two lines in the poem?
Research: can you find out how Wordsworth was influenced by Mary and Dorothy in
the writing of this poem?
Drama: in groups, work on a dramatized reading and present it to the class. Think
about:
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
choral reading
rapping or chanting
adding characters
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adding dialogue between characters
using a different number of voices
varying the pace and volume
repeating words or phrases
adding sound effects
using movement and levels
using freeze-frames
using facial expressions
Also think about:
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Who is the voice of the poem?
What is the ‘story’?
What is it about – what is the main point?
What is the mood?
What do we want the audience to experience?
She was a Phantom of Delight
She was a Phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;
A dancing Shape, an Image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.
I saw her upon nearer view,
A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin-liberty;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet;
A Creature not too bright or good
For human nature's daily food;
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A Being breathing thoughtful breath,
A Traveller between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect Woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.
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Write: this poem was written for Wordsworth’s wife Mary. It has eight syllables per
line and is in rhyming couplets. Think about someone or something you met or
discovered for the first time:
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What were your first impressions and reactions?
Use similes as comparisons
Maybe take a fresh look at someone you’ve known all your life
Perhaps you could write about discovering a favourite hobby
You could echo Wordsworth’s poetic form with the eight syllables per line
and the rhyming couplets
The Sparrow’s Nest
BEHOLD, within the leafy shade,
Those bright blue eggs together laid!
On me the chance-discovered sight
Gleamed like a vision of delight.
I started---seeming to espy
The home and sheltered bed,
The Sparrow's dwelling, which, hard by
My Father' house, in wet or dry
My sister Emmeline and I
Together visited.
She looked at it and seemed to fear it;
Dreading, tho' wishing, to be near it:
Such heart was in her, being then
A little Prattler among men.
The Blessing of my later year
Was with me when a boy:
She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble care, and delicate fears;
A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;
And love, and thought, and joy.
Write: this poem is a recollection of childhood where William and Dorothy are
reacting to the same thing. It also shows the strong bond which existed between them
as brother and sister and how she influenced his poetry. He often called Dorothy
‘Emmeline’ in his writings.
Think about a moment you shared with a friend or family member. Have a go at
writing your own poem:
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What was it you both reacted to?
Did it affect you in the same way?
Take a close look at the pattern of the poem – can you echo the same number
of syllables and the arrangement of the rhymes?
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12
The French Revolution began in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille. The Bastille was a
notorious prison in Paris. Those who were seen as a threat to the state were kept there, often
in terrible conditions and without trial.
This was the first time that the leaders of a movement had been able to mobilise the urban
working class to rise against the establishment of church and state. The motto of the Revolution
was ‘Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood’. It stood for ideas such as social justice, personal freedoms,
and the idea that there were inalienable human rights. Rights that did not depend on class,
wealth or gender.
Wordsworth supported many of the ideals of the French Revolution and to do so could be
dangerous. To speak or write in support was a criminal offence. In the summer of 1797, while
living in Somerset, Wordsworth and Coleridge, his friend and fellow poet, were suspected of
being French spies. A government agent sent to investigate concluded, however, that they were
merely a ‘mischievous gang of disaffected Englishmen’.
Research: find out about Wordsworth’s poem The Prelude. It’s a long,
autobiographical poem about many different parts of his life.
Write: think a small part of your own life. Write an autobiographical poem.
Wordsworth and Coleridge were fired by the ideas of the time. In terms of literature and art
these brought a new stress on individual creativity and a sense of freedom to innovate. The two
poets helped to bring about a revolution in poetry, giving it fresh impetus and a new direction.
In their day, Wordsworth and Coleridge were seen as experimental poets. Their work challenged
accepted ideas about what poetry was and how it might be written.
Extract from Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
“The principal object, then, proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents and situations
from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a
selection of language really used by men, and, at the same time, to throw over them a certain
colouring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an
unusual aspect; and, further, and above all, to make these incidents and situations interesting
by tracing in them, truly though not ostentatiously, the primary laws of our nature: chiefly, as
far as regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement. Humble and
rustic life was generally chosen, because, in that condition, the essential passions of the heart
find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a
plainer and more emphatic language; because in that condition of life our elementary feelings
coexist in a state of greater simplicity, and, consequently, may be more accurately
contemplated, and more forcibly communicated; because the manners of rural life germinate
from those elementary feelings, and, from the necessary character of rural occupations, are
more easily comprehended, and are more durable; and, lastly, because in that condition the
passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature.”
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Write: Wordsworth was being quite a rebel here, saying that poetry should take a
look at ordinary life with ordinary words. Have a go at writing something about your
life, but in your own words, this time without echoing any of Wordsworth’s poetic
forms. Just be inspired by his philosophy – choose something you know about it and
write about it in your own way with your own choice of language.
Wordsworth is often considered to be an egocentric poet – interested only in himself, his
experiences and his development. This is not quite a fair reflection. He supported social reform
and believed in what were popularly known as ‘The Rights of Man’. These were the rights to
individual freedoms of thought and expression, the right to justice.
Society was undergoing huge changes. The drive for economic prosperity lead to an increase in
both urban and rural poverty. Wordsworth explores the impact of this on the emotional and
spiritual lives of the characters in his poems.
Extract from Michael, A Pastoral Poem
Upon the forest-side in Grasmere Vale
There dwelt a Shepherd, Michael was his name;
An old man, stout of heart, and strong of limb.
His bodily frame had been from youth to age
Of an unusual strength: his mind was keen,
Intense, and frugal, apt for all affairs,
And in his shepherd’s calling he was prompt
And watchful more than ordinary men.
Hence had he learned the meaning of all winds,
Of blasts of every tone; and, oftentimes,
When others heeded not, he heard the South
Make subterraneous music, like the noise
Of bagpipers on distant Highland hills.
The Shepherd, at such warning, of his flock
Bethought him, and he to himself would say,
‘The winds are now devising work for me!’
And, truly, at all times, the storm, that drives
The traveller to a shelter, summoned him
Up to the mountains: he had been alone
Amid the heart of many thousand mists,
That came to him, and left him, on the heights.
So lived he till his eightieth year was past.
Research and Write: ask a family member or friend about the work that they do or
have done in their life. Alternatively, go to a library and find an autobiographical book
about working lives present or past. Write a poem about your chosen person and the
work they do or have done. You could use ten syllables and blank verse as Wordsworth
does with Michael.
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14
The Prelude is the name of Wordsworth’s great autobiographical poem. The earliest
manuscripts, containing material that later formed part of the poem, date from 1798, but
Wordsworth continued to work on it for the rest of his life. The earliest versions differ quite
significantly from the published version. The poem was not published until after Wordsworth’s
death in 1850. It was given its name by his wife Mary.
The first complete version of the poem dates from 1805. The manuscript is on display in The
Wordsworth Museum. Many of Wordsworth’s friends read the poem long before it was
published. It is possible that this is the very book that was passed from hand to hand.
The manuscript is open on a page in the handwriting of Dorothy Wordsworth. The corrections
you can see are by Wordsworth himself. This then, was very much a working document and
gives us a fascinating insight into the way Wordsworth continually revised the poem.
The Prelude: ‘Spots of time’
There are in our existence spots of time,
Which with distinct pre-eminence retain
A renovating Virtue, whence, …
… our minds
Are nourished and invisibly repaired
(Book XI, ls 258-278)
‘Spots of time’ for Wordsworth are past experiences. Through them he can trace his
development as a man and as a poet. They continue to resonate with new meanings many years
after the events themselves.
Many of Wordsworth’s ‘spots of time’ arise out of moments of activity, such as ice-skating,
horse riding or climbing a mountain. Others come in response to a particular feeling, such as
guilt after stealing a rowing boat. Times of emotional intensity, such as the death of his father,
are also ‘spots of time’.
The death of Wordsworth’s father (Book XI, ls 346-389)
This happened during the school holidays, when Wordsworth was 13. Waiting impatiently for
the horses to take him home for the holidays, the young Wordsworth has no idea of what is to
come. Many years later, however, the sights and sounds of his wait become entwined with the
memory of the death of his father:
And afterwards, the wind and sleety rain,
And all the business of the elements,
The single sheep, and the one blasted tree,
And the bleak music of that old stone wall…
All these were spectacles and sounds to which
I often would repair and thence would drink,
As at a fountain …
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Stealing a boat ( Book I, ls 372-427)
This spot of time is a good example of the way in which Wordsworth projects his own feelings
onto a landscape. His feeling of ‘troubled pleasure’ on stealing the boat is given substance by
the looming mountains, which eventually become ‘the trouble of my dreams’.
… I struck, and struck again,
And, growing still in stature, the huge Cliff,
Rose up between me and the stars, and still,
With measured motion, like a living thing,
Strode after me.
Ice-skating (Book I, ls 452-489)
This is a memory from Wordsworth’s school days. It describes ice-skating on frozen Esthwaite
Water at night. The centre of the experience is the way in which the people and the landscape
are all involved:
So through the darkness and the cold we flew,
And not a voice was idle; with the din,
Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud;
The leafless trees, and every icy crag
Tinkled like iron;
Furness Abbey (Book II, ls 99-144)
This is another schoolboy adventure. Wordsworth and his friends hire horses and race them
along the sands near Furness Abbey. There is contrast here between the ‘internal breezes,
sobbings of the place’ and the living energy of the riders:
… Oh! ye Rocks and Streams,
And that still Spirit of the evening air!
Even in this joyous time I sometimes felt
Your presence, when with slackened step we breathed
Along the sides of the steep hills, or when,
Lighted by gleams of moonlight from the sea,
We beat with thundering hoofs the level sand.
Climbing Snowdon (Book XIII, ls 1-119)
This is the imaginative vision with which the poem concludes. Here Wordsworth moves from
describing the sights and sounds of the scene to imagining what might lie behind it.
… and from the shore
At distance not the third part of a mile
Was a blue chasm; a fracture in the vapour,
A deep and gloomy breathing-place, through which
Mounted the roar of waters, torrents, streams
Innumerable, roaring with one voice.
The universal spectacle throughout
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16
Was shaped for admiration and delight,
Grand in itself alone, but in that breach
Through which the homeless voice of waters rose,
That dark deep thoroughfare, had Nature lodged
The Soul, the Imagination of the whole.
Write: thinking about your own ‘spots of time’, first of all write a list of important
moments in your life. Choose two or three of your memories and write a set of lines
on each. If you like, you could then join these up to make one continuous poem.
 The
 The
 The
 The
 The
 The

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17
Romanticism is a general term used to describe much of the art and literature produced during
the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Wordsworth is sometimes described as the ‘father of
Romanticism’ because he was the first person to articulate those feelings and ideas which came
to characterize the movement.
During this period there was a broad shift of emphasis in the arts. The movement was away
from the structured, intellectual, reasoned approach of the 18th century (often called the ‘Age
of Reason’, or the ‘Enlightenment’). The new approach increased emphasis on the emotions and
the imagination.
Romanticism can be seen as a revolution in the arts. It should be seen alongside the political,
social and industrial revolutions of the age. All spheres of human activity were undergoing great
change. New theories and ideas were sweeping through Europe. Wordsworth and Coleridge
were among the first British poets to explore them. Their poems display many characteristics of
Romanticism, including:
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An emphasis on the emotions (a fashionable word at the beginning of the period was
‘sensibility’. This meant having, or cultivating, a sensitive, emotional and intuitive way
of understanding the world)
Exploring the relationship between nature and human life
A stress on the importance of personal experiences and a desire to understand what
influences the human mind
A belief in the power of the imagination
An interest in mythological, fantastical, gothic and supernatural themes
An emphasis on the sublime (this word was used to describe a spiritual awareness,
which could be stimulated by a grand and awesome landscape)
Social and political idealism
Research: find out more about the Romantic Poets.
Extract from Tintern Abbey
Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
'Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
For more information visit www.theatrebythelake.com or call us on 017687 74411
18
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
With some uncertain notice, as might seem
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire
The Hermit sits alone.
Write: choose a place that you know well, one that you have visited more than once.
Jot down a few feelings about the place, using the five senses of sight, sound, touch,
taste and smell. Turn your thoughts into a poem.
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For more information visit www.theatrebythelake.com or call us on 017687 74411