William Wordsworth was one of the most influential of English Romantic poets and we love that he and his family spent time in and around Brinsop Court Estate. Just for fun we thought we’d pick 4 of his poems that could have been written at Brinsop.
One
Probably one of his most famous poems is I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud written in 1807.
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 the breeze.
Two
As we know, his sister lived at Brinsop and so his poem To A Butterfly could definitely have been composed at ours! The poem starts with these four lines which are so beautiful and you can imagine him sitting outside in the sunshine.
I’ve watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
The second verse of the same poem starts with these two lines, surely he might have been at Brinsop!
This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers;
Three
He also wrote a poem entitled To My Sister which ends with these four lines – very appropriate for holidays on the estate.
Then come, my Sister! Come I pray,
With speed put on your woodland dress
And bring no book: for this one day
We’ll give to idleness.
Four
One of Wordsworth ‘miscellaneous’ sonnets was entitled St Catherine of Ledbury and he could well have composed it after a day trip to the town which is only 20 miles away.
When human touch (as monkish books attest)
Nor was applied nor could be, Ledbury bells
Broke forth in concert flung adown the dells,
And Upward, high as Malvern’s cloudy crest;
And the Quote
Apparently he said “Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness” which somehow seems very fitting for a holiday destination!