And now 'tis mine

When Wordsworth was a boy, he came over a ridge and saw Grasmere for the first time, spread out below him:

…And, with a sudden influx overpowered

At sight of this seclusion, he forgot

His haste, for hasty had his footsteps been

As boyish his pursuits; and sighing said,

“What happy fortune were it here to live!...”

No Prophet was he, had not even a hope,

Scarcely a wish, but one bright pleasing thought,

A fancy in the heart of what might be

The lot of others, never could be his. (Home at Grasmere, 7-11, 15-18)

Who that has visited Grasmere has not felt as Wordsworth did?  I’ve been to Grasmere several times—twice to attend the Wordsworth Trust Summer Conference and twice to visit while doing research at the area County Records Offices and the Jerwood Centre Library at Dove Cottage.  There’s something in particular about standing on one of the surrounding hills and looking down at the little village quietly nestled along the edge of the lake that makes one think, “I’d love to live there.”  But as did Wordsworth, one only sighs and thinks, yes, that is the “lot of others.” 

“And now ‘tis mine,” Wordsworth exults later in the poem Home at Grasmere (56).  My husband, Chris, and I now find ourselves in the same situation, though not “perchance for life” (56).  Instead we will be in Grasmere for six months while I am on sabbatical researching at the Jerwood Centre.  And like Wordsworth, we can say, “Beloved Grasmere…/One of thy lowly Dwellings is my Home” (57, 59).  We will be living just a five minute walk from Dove Cottage so that I can take full advantage of the library. The library houses 90% of Wordsworth’s known poetic manuscripts!  I can’t wait.

We are arriving in the dead of winter, when it is likely to be cold, dark, and wet, and not at the height of summer when we have most often seen it.  Frankly, we couldn’t be happier.  Whenever we’ve talked about wanting to spend some extended time in England, naysayers have always pulled out the dark winter card to prove that we wouldn’t like it as much as we think we would.  Well, perhaps we won’t, but we are ready to find out.  But it’s our guess that we will like it—very much.  We hope to be like Dorothy and William who also came in winter and found that even “Two months unwearied of severest storm,/…put the temper of our minds to proof,/ And found us faithful through the gloom” (181-3).  And since we are here six months, we will experience England’s glorious spring season.

This blog will be a place for me to record the joys of researching at the library and to introduce others to the wealth of researching materials there and throughout England.  Once a month, I plan on going down to London to visit the Quaker Library and the British Library, and I will include those adventures here as well.  For an American scholar of British literature, there’s nothing like being in Britain. Every time I’ve spent even a little time doing research here, I’ve come home with a wealth of material that has sustained me for some time.  I can’t quite imagine what it will be like to have a luxurious six months to read and explore, but I will be sure to let you know. 

Thank you for reading!