Wednesday March 15, 2017:
Ah! then , if mine had been the Painter’s hand,
To express what then I saw; and add the gleam,
The light that never was, on sea or land,
The consecration, and the Poet’s dream;
I would have planted thee, thou hoary Pile
Amid a world how different from this!
Beside a sea that could not cease to smile;
On tranquil land, beneath a sky of bliss.
– from Wordsworth’s “Elegiac Stanzas”
After having started our week by reading “Elegiac Stanzas” in Dove Cottage beside Beaumont’s painting, we now ventured to Piel Castle itself to visit the castle that inspired it all.
Professor Worsley was given the keys to the castle by the landlord of the Ship Inn, and when we reached it and unlocked it, we climbed the castle and explored the surrounding area as if we were children on a playground.
On our trip home, Jeff informed us that we were to pick up a canoe for a display The Wordsworth Trust would be creating, and so we drove home in the cramped minibus with a cold canoe tucked into the isle.
Home At Grasmere 