 The
Lake District was an unregarded corner of England until the poets of the early-19th
century Romantic movement began to celebrate its beauties. Most famous of this group of
friends was William Wordsworth (1779-1850), who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1843.Setting first at Dove Cottage, Grasmere, he then moved to
Rydal Mount, just outside Ambleside, where he spent the rest of his life. His fried,
Sammuel Tayor Coleridge (1772-1834) collaborated with him in Lyrical Ballads and spent
four years at Keswick, when his health deteriorated to opium.
Robert Southey (1774-1843), Wordsworth's predecessor as Poet Laureate and renowned as
both a poet and biographer, lived at Greta Hall, Keswick. |