WALKS & POETS
The breathtaking landscape of the Lake District has profoundly inspired some of England’s most celebrated writers.
Notably, the Romantic poets of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey, and John Ruskin, found their muse in this stunning environment.
Additionally, children’s authors like Beatrix Potter, Arthur Ransome, and even the creator of Postman Pat have drawn from the region’s charm. Alfred Wainwright, renowned for his walking guides, also left a significant mark on the literary landscape of the Lake District.
Probably one of the most famous poems is: ”I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth
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.
Man of Coniston and Scafell Pike clearly visible.