The Three Poets are 3 birch trees at #hodgeclose in the #lakedistrict.
#Wordsworth #Southey #Coleridge My #oilpainting on 24”x18” board
Hodge Close is a dramatic quarry near Coniston

I have two reasons for preferring a residence near the sea. I love to pickle myself in that grand brine tub ; and I wish to catch its morning, evening, and mid-day appearance for poetry, with the effect of every change of weather. Fancy will do much ; but the poet ought to be an accurate observer of nature ; and I shall watch the clouds, and the rising and setting sun, and the sea birds with no inattentive eye. I have remedied one of my deficiencies, too, since a boy, and learnt to swim enough to like the exercise. This I began at Oxford, and practised a good deal in the summer of 1795. My last dip was in the Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of the Arrabida Mountain — a glorious spot. I have no idea of sublimity exceeding it. …. Have you ever met with Mary Wollstonecroft’s letters from Sweden and Norway? She has made me in love with a cold climate, and frost and snow, with a northern moonlight. Robert Southey, Letter to his brother Thomas Southey April 28. 1797. from _The life and correspondence of Robert Southey_ by Southey, Robert, 1774-1843; ed. Charles Cuthbert Southey, 1819-1888 London, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1849 p.311 https://archive.org/details/lifeandcorrespo01unkngoog/page/n341/mode/1up?view=theater

An oil painting by Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/1629–1682), entitled Village in Winter by Moonlight. from second half of 17th century. Nocturnal view of a few rural houses in a flat landscape. Roofs and a leafless tree are covered with a thin layer of snow. The light appears to come from the moon, but which is hidden behind a thick cloud. In the foreground first a path covered by slush/dirty snow with two figures in the center. A man, pulling a sledge or net on a rope, and a boy walk into the picture, then a channel where one can see a boat and some timbers. The light is weak, such that the picture appears almost monochrome on first sight, hues between dusky pine, brown and black, with some flecks of white, where snow is hit by moonlight. Original in Staatsgalerie im Neuen Schloss Schleißheim, Bavaria Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Isaacksz._van_Ruisdael_-_Village_in_Winter_by_Moonlight_-_WGA20498.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (22.1/n)
#North #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

In a letter from 1797, Robert Southey contrasts the South, alluding to his travel to Portugal, and declares his love with North by referring to Mary Wollstonecraft's travelogue.

Here might the hideous face of war be seen, Stript of all pomp, adornment, and disguies; It was a dismal spectacle, I ween, Such as might well to the beholders' eyes Bring sudden tears, and make the pious mind Grieve for the crimes and follies of mankind. Robert Southey, from _The poet's pilgrimage to Waterloo_ 1816 II, Brussels, X

Painting by J.M.W.Turner showing the aftermaths of the battle of Waterloo. It is evening or night after the battle, near the farmhouse of Hougoumont. A mass of wounded or dead can be discerned form some lights of a torch in front of a dark building. Sky and flat fields in the distant background are dark, brown & black, somewhere pale greenish. In the upper left of center white light like from a rocket or falling star. In the foreground, a group of three or four women, one appears to carry a child in her arms and another holding up the torch that lits the scene. There are two others, one turns away, possibly in horror from the human desaster, another bents forward towards a wounded or dead soldier. Around this group, colors are strongest: a fallen drum shining with some silver, some ensigns, and pieces of uniforms with red, white & blue specks. The painting, oil on canvas, is dated 1818. It is in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner_(1775-1851)_-_The_Field_of_Waterloo_-_NG500_-_Tate.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (21/n)
#Waterloo #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

Almost immediately after the end of the Napoleonic wars, the battlefield of Waterloo became a subject for romantic poets. Here Robert Southey in 1816, from _The poet's pilgrimage to Waterloo_.

#Sheffield #SheffieldIsSuper #sheffielddeservesbetter #sheffielders #Burngreave #FirthPark #Hillsborough #Shiregreen #Brightside #Southey @sheffgreenparty.bsky.social

And glittering and frittering, And gathering and feathering, And whitening and brightening, And quivering and shivering, And hurrying and skurrying, And thundering and floundering ; Dividing and gliding and sliding, And falling and brawling and sprawling, And driving and riving and striving, And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling, And sounding and bounding and rounding, And bubbling and troubling and doubling, And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling, And clattering and battering and shattering ; Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting, Delaying and straying and playing and spraying, Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing, Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling, And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing, And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping And curling and whirling and purling and twirling, And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping, And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing ; And so never ending, but always descending, Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending, All at once and all o’ver, with a mighty uproar, And this way the Water comes down at Lodore. Robert Southey Keswick, 1820

John Constable (1776–1837) Watercolour, Lodore A largely monochrome small watercolour sketch - Lodore falls is seen as Cataract behind Derwent Water. To the right is a bridge and a few trees. The falls are seen left between rocks and woodland. The picture appears on closer inspection amazingly detailed as executed on spot for the memory of the artist. Dated as 'Lodore 6 Octr. 1806 noon.' Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constable_-_Lodore,_178-1888,_2006BH9316.jpg

Romantic Landscape (19.4/n)
#LodoreFalls #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

Collecting, projecting, Receding and speeding, And shocking and rocking, And darting and parting, And threading and spreading, And whizzing and hissing, And dripping and skipping, And hitting and splitting, And shining and twining, And rattling and battling, And shaking and quaking, And pouring and roaring, And waving and raving, And tossing and crossing, And flowing and going, And running and stunning And foaming and roaming And dinning and spinning And dropping and hopping And working and jerking And guggling and struggling, And heaving and cleaving, And moaning and groaning ;

A watercolor sketch showing Derwent Water and the Falls of Lodore by J.M.W.Turner, c.1830-32. The picture seems to consist mainly of light and very little color. Still the main outline can be discerned: a white cataract, its waters falling - between light brown or yellow rocks & a row of trees - into the Derwent water, a lake mirroring these central shapes. Behind them a very light blue mountain ridge appears. Title: Falls of Lodore: Study for ‘Keswick Lake’, for Rogers’s ‘Poems’ c.1830–2, Joseph Mallord William Turner Source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-falls-of-lodore-study-for-keswick-lake-for-rogerss-poems-d27608

Romantic Landscape (19.3/n)
#LodoreFalls #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

The Cataract strong Then plunges along, Striking and raging As if a war waging Its caverns and rocks among : Rising and leaping Sinking and creeping, Swelling and sweeping, Showering and springing, Flying and flinging, Writhing and ringing, Eddying and whisking, Spouting and frisking, Turning and twisting, Around and around With endless rebound ! Smithing and fighting, A sight to delight in ; Confounding, astounding, Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound.

A sketch of Lodore Cataract - Watercolor and pencel by Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fall of Lodore 1797 from _Tweed and Lakes Sketchbook_ The carefully executed sketch of the whitish water between speckled rocks in gray, brown, reddish ochre, still acquires an abstract quality of shapes and hues, as only the center of the page is filled with the description of the cataract, surrounded in the foreground by a few outlines in pencil, delineating the rocks nearest to the viewer, while the rest of the format remains blank as yellowish paper. Source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-fall-of-lodore-r1150192

Romantic Landscapes (19.2/n)
#LodoreFalls #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

From its sources which well In the Tarn on the fell ; From its fountains In the mountains, Its rills and its gills ; Through moss and through brake, It runs and it creeps For awhile, till it sleeps In its own little Lake. And thence at departing, Awakening and starting, It runs through the reeds And away it proceeds, Through meadow and glade, In sun and in shade, And through the wood-shelter, Among crags in its flurry, Helter-skelter, Hurry-scurry. Here it comes sparkling, And there it lies darkling ; Now smoaking and frothing It’s tumult and wrath in, Till in its rapid race On which it is bent, It reaches the place Of its steep descent.

Watercolor of Lodore Falls by Amos Green (1735–1807) Views in England, Scotland and Wales: Upper part of the Fall of Lowdoor, A Study from Nature 1803 It shows the cataract as whitish water stream falling down between black cliffs and sparse trees. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amos_Green_-_Views_in_England,_Scotland_and_Wales,_Upper_part_of_the_Fall_of_Lowdoor,_A_Study_from_Nature_-_B1981.25.2131_-_Yale_Center_for_British_Art.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (19.1/n)
#LodoreFalls #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

THE CATARACT OF LODORE. DESCRIBED IN RHYMES FOR THE NURSERY “ How does the Water Come down of Lodore ? ” My little boy ask’d me Thus, once on a time ; And moreover he task’d me To tell him in rhyme. Anon at the word There first came one daughter And then came another To second and third The request of their brother And to hear how the water Comes down at Lodore, With its rush and its roar. As many a time They had seen it before. So I told them in rhyme, For of rhymes I had store : And ‘twas in my vocation For their recreation That so I should sing ; Because I was Laureat To them and the King.

Photo of Lodore Falls, a not very substantial cataract - white foaming between black rocks - in a very green and wet forest. Author: David Purchase Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lodore_Falls_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5170514.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (19/n)
#LodoreFalls #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

The cataract of Lodore in the Lake District furnishes some onomatopoetic minimal music : Robert Southey in 1820.