Our textbooks

So yes, we spend most of our days roaming around the Lake District, exploring and hiking. But that's not all we are doing. At night, we discuss the text we have been reading and what it means to us now that we are physically in the same spot most of this text was written. Over the past three weeks, the eight of us along with Dr. Bob have focused on two texts:

Home at Grasmere: The Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth
Guide to the Lakes by William Wordsworth

Dorothy's journals were written for William but were later published after her death. They give us a better understanding for what life was like in the 1800s as well as a fairly decent idea about the relationship between these two siblings. This journal is like any journal; exciting things don't happen everyday. Some entries were full of descriptive passages about people Dorothy met or landscapes she saw. Other passages were much more plain, about baking bread or that William was feeling under the weather (which happened quite frequently). My favorite passage though was probably these couple of sentences dated on March 18th, 1805:

"I seemed indeed to myself unfit for it, but when he was gone I thought I would get the visit over if I could, so I ate a beefsteak thinking it would strengthen me; so it did, and I went off."

What I love about this passage is that it really shows the reader that Dorothy was just like everyone else. And this was her diary. She wrote about ordinary things. For me, a passage like this makes Dorothy so real in my head. Yes, I probably could have picked one of her more eloquent passages, but this one is still memorable.

The other book is the guide William wrote about the Lake District. During his entire lifetime, only three years were spent living somewhere not in Cumbria. Throughout this guide, William gives brilliant descriptions of the landscape. I particularly like how he describes waterfalls on page 100 of his guide:

?..the contrast maintained between the falling water and that which is apparently at rest, or rather settling gradually into quite in the pool below. The beauty of such a scene, where there is naturally so much agitation, is also heightened, in a peculiar manner, by the glimmering, and, towards the verge of the pool, by the steady reflection of the surrounding images."

After seeing so many waterfalls of all shapes and sizes on this trip, I understand exactly what he is saying. There is something so peaceful abut them yet when you really get up close to them, they are actually quite violent.

Along with this journal and the guide, we have dabbled in William's poetry. Class tonight is actually discussing some of his best known works, so I am excited for that. Ever since I did many close readings of poems in Literary Analysis, I'm always up for some good poetry!