A corner

There is a corner in the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere, with seating and a huge screen across which landscapes sweep whilst poetry is spoken. It is possible to sit there for a long time and lose oneself in the images and the words. 



Today, after an early breakfast at Rheged, we headed for Grasmere thinking we could risk a visit before all the weekend visitors arrive. Then it rained!!

We had planned to go to the Museum just for a short time in order to see the original manuscript of Wordsworth’s ‘I wandered lonely as a Cloud’ which is on display at the Museum, having been borrowed from the British Library. Cleverly, the Museum has placed the manuscript next to Dorothy Wordsworth’s journal open at the page where she describes the sight of the daffodils by Ullswater that inspired the poem. Interesting that many words she used to describe the event were then used by her brother, although his poem was not really about daffodils at all. 

Our Art Passes got us in free and, as we were early, got us free parking as well. The weather put us off the planned walk by the Lake, so we wandered the Museum, very differently laid out since we were last there and hardly anyone else about. We later joined a couple (and their baby) for a ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour where one of the curators took us next door to the extensive collection of books: ones which had belonged to Wordsworth and his friends, first editions of his work etc. She described how this impressive collection came into being, how it is organised and cared for. Fascinating. 

We went into Grasmere, but the weather was still not good. I went to the jigsaw shop (of course) and Gordon bought gingerbread (of course). And then we went home. As soon as headed home the sun came out, but so did all the cars and caravans so we decided going home was still a good idea.