University Missourian., 1912-02-20
WRITERS INSPIRED
BY ENGLISH LAKES
Prot. F. Nj. Tisdel in AS
sembly Lecture Told of
Poets, HauntS.
VIEWS OF REGION SHOWN
Here Wordsworth, COleridge
and DeQuincey Dreamed
and Wrote.
VIEWS OF REGION SHOWN

The delicate, almost fairylan,
beauty of the English lake district
the place remembered by those wh'
have been there as the Garden SpO
of England" becomes of especial in
terest when We find that to this en-
virOnment so many of the Englisl
poets owed their inspiration.
A lecture on this subject was re
Gently given before the University
Assembly by Prof. F. NJ. Tisdel
| Professor Tisdel has spent consider
able time in haunts of the sOcalleC
Lake Poets" While there he pro-
cured set of stereOptican views
which he used in illustration of his
lecture. These views deal with the
lakes and the homes of the authors
and are cOlOred so perfectly, accord.
| ing to Professor Tisdel, that when he
looks at them he almost feels himself
back there again.
Few places, certainly none i'm the
British Isles" said he, have a great
er interest for lovers of nature and
literature than the lake and noun
tain district of WestmOreland and
Cumberland. Here Wordsworth was
born. and with the exception of his
college life at Cambridge. five trOub-
led years in London and one or two
with Coleridge at Neither Story. he
spent his entire life of eighty years in
this region, gathering from the quiet
lakes and mountains that pOise of
mind and that serenity of spirit which
were his peculiar gifts to the nine
teenth century"
Many Writers Lived There.
1t was here, he said, that COleridge
and DeQuincey dreamed and wrote
Here also lived Southey, John Rus
kin. Matthew Arnold and Harriet
Martineau.
This was the only place on earth
that could draw Charles Lamb from
his beloved London. Scott and Ten
nysOn We're both familiar with the re-
giOn. Shelley dwelt here for a time.
These are only a few of the great
literary leaders whose names are as
sOciated with this place"
The reasons why men of literature,
both poets and prose writer's. were
attracted to this region needed little
explanation when there was cast on
the screen a view of Lake Winder-
mere with its soft. quiet waters.
Perhaps" said Professor Tisdel,
this quiet, peaceful beauty is sur
passed by four or five miles of seem
cry in the TrOssack mountains in
Scotland. The English scenery. lacks
perhaps the wild witchery of the
Scotch. However, for continued
charm and natural beauty. the Scotch
district can not compare to the I'M
folding miles of glOriOusness that the
ldke ulStrlct presents.
English Mountains.
THE English mountains" he said,
have a less austere sublimity; but
as Wordsworth says, they steal upon
you with sense of elevated
thoughts. Sympathy rather than
alOOfness is the keynote of their
charm. And between them, best of
all lie the picturesque lakes of Win
dermere. COnistOn, Grasmere, Rydal
Water, Derwent Water and many
others hardly less removed for their
beauty. hardly less famous in story
and song
"On an eminence to the east of
was Elleray, the home
of John Wilson. professor and critic.
a somewhat intolerant critic of
BlackwOods Magazine, kind of
Roosevelt of the country side, a |
sworn foe of all nolly-coddles. fond
of every stimulating thing from trag-
ic poetry to cock fights and whisky
punch. Here in 1925 Wilson enter
tanned Sir Walter Scott, at that time |
perhaps the most widely known liter
airy man in the British Isles.
Matthew Arnold Different.
AT the upper end of Windermere,
somewhat back from the
shore of the lake on the banks of |
the river RothaX, was Fox Howe. the
home of critic of another generation,
Matthew ArnOld-a man very differ
ant in temperament from Wilson. Ar
mold was the foe of all intolerance
and narrOw-mindedness. the great
apostle of culture and refinement, a
prince of mOllycoddles in the best
sense man of reflection rather than
Of action Such men count for quite
Is much in the end as the more
because more theatrical,