Dove Cottage: Finding Inspiration

A long time ago my husband and I took a trip to Great Britain and the Lake District, and while there, poet that I am, I couldn’t help but include in our itinerary a visit to Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage. Do you know it? It’s an unimposing place, a small whitewashed structure which was originally a pub called the “Dove and Olive.”

From late 1799 to 1808, Wordsworth lived there with his sister, Dorothy, the two indulging in what he called “plain living and high thinking.” Their lifestyle was indeed plain—there was no indoor plumbing and their meals were simple. But they filled their days with meaning. Walking in the countryside, keeping journals (both William and Dorothy), and in William’s case, writing poetry. Three of my favorite poems of his: “Ode: Intimations of Immortality,”  “My Heart Leaps Up” and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” were written there.

 A Connection to Greatness
There’s something inspiring about being in a place where exceptional lives were lived. Where works of greatness were created. Being in rooms where writers worked, seeing their favorite chairs and desks, the pens and pencils they used. At Dove Cottage, I felt a certain sense of connection, knowing that where I walked, Wordsworth walked. Where I looked out the window to the English countryside, the poet did, too. I experienced a sense of the sacred. A sense of the heights a human heart and soul and brain can attain.

Then, too, there was the idea that being in the same space where Wordsworth wrote, maybe some of his molecules of greatness were still floating around in the atmosphere. And if I were lucky, some might fall on me.

Lastly, it was encouraging to see the humble surroundings. To think that I, too, coming from a similar modest background could dare to attempt poems that might be, if not great, then at least not-half bad.

Finding a Mentor From the Past
Pushing the limits of your abilities in the arts is the work of a lifetime. And like all worthwhile things, it isn’t easy. It helps to have a companion, someone along with you who is walking the same path. Real life mentors who can encourage you and coax you, and prod you at times. But also mentors from the past like Wordsworth or Jane Austen or Mary Oliver. People we admire and want to emulate—whether it be in their writing style, or their work ethic and commitment to excellence.

Since Dove Cottage, I’ve visited Eudora Welty’s home in Jackson, Mississippi and Willa Cather’s childhood home in Red Cloud, Nebraska. Also Hemingway’s house in Key West. It is said that inspiration can come from anyone, anywhere, anytime. What about your experiences? What places have inspired you? –Lucy Adkins 

For more inspiration, check out our website www.thewritingandcreativelife.com. Or follow this link to purchase Writing in Community or our latest book, The Fire Inside.