People

“we have all of us one human heart.” – William Wordsworth, The Old Cumberland Beggar

Poetry has the power to help people from all walks of life.

Through our work, we have seen young children discover their creativity, people living with dementia remember poems that they love, those recovering from substance misuse create a writing group. Poetry offers the chance for people young and old to express themselves and embrace the world around them.

Every day, we see how poetry can enhance people’s lives. Poetry can also simply provide us with a sense of happiness and enjoyment, and the chance to embrace our creative side. Reimagining Wordsworth will give us the chance to create new spaces and opportunities to bring people closer to poetry, both at Dove Cottage and across Cumbria.

Benefits for people

A sense of community

The project will help us to involve to communities and groups across Cumbria, bringing poetry to more people through pop-up events and exhibitions. We will also offer training for group and workshop leaders. We will help them to develop their skills so that they too can use the power of poetry to make a difference to people’s lives.

Things to do

There will be new spaces in the Wordsworth Museum for hands-on activities. Staff and volunteers will help people to have a go at quill-writing, rag rug-making and other crafts. This will create a sense of fun and involvement for everyone who visits, creating a shared learning experience. A new learning centre will be a place for schools, families and community groups to enjoy workshops and activities.

Space to breathe

There will be things to do outdoors for people of all interests, inspired by Wordsworth’s love of nature and landscape. Children will be able to play in the woodland next to Dove Cottage while others can take time to relax and reflect in a new walled garden at the heart of the hamlet. Access for people with disabilities will be improved across the site.

youthful Poets, who among these hills Will be my second self when I am gone.

William Wordsworth, Michael -

My Wordsworth

Volunteer researchers will use a new website to map, for the first time, Wordsworth’s links to places across the UK and beyond.

Moss Huts 2020

An artist will help groups and schools build their own moss huts, replicating the Wordsworths’ own place for conversation, reflection and creativity.

Wordsworth's Wish

Wordsworth expressed a wish that his poetry would “live and do good”. Care workers will be trained to create poetry groups, so that the benefits of a local activity can be shared across the country and even internationally.

Sole to Soul

Volunteers will devise guided walks inspired by William and Dorothy Wordsworth, including for people with mobility and sensory impairments.

Let Nature Be Your Teacher

Schools will benefit from new outdoor learning activities based on the Forest School approach.

Neighbours' Voices

Local residents will help create sound points to welcome visitors to Town End and share its fascinating history.

This group changed my life at a time when I felt I had nothing left. I now love to write poetry, have won awards and been published, and was Poet in Residence at the Kendal Poetry and Lakes Alive festivals. I am now ‘a poet who uses a scooter’ rather than just ‘the disabled girl.’ I honestly don’t know what state my life would be in without this group.

Hannah Hodgson, member of the Dove Cottage Young Poets -

I didn’t know that reading an old white man’s poetry would make this brown girl cry, but here I am reminiscing and becoming emotional... I have gained a newfound sense of self.

Anon -

These sessions helped the children understand how poetry can enable people with different opinions and backgrounds to connect. They touched on some sensitive issues, but the children enjoyed exploring them through Wordsworth as it felt very unthreatening. You have made the sessions and Wordsworth great fun.

Anon -

My husband has vascular dementia. This group gives him an interest, I get to relax, there’s no stress involved, and I’ve got to learn more. It’s given me an interest in poetry and especially Wordsworth.

Anon -

Once in the heart of Wordsworth country, undergraduates who a week earlier daydreamed through my lectures on ‘spots of time’ and ‘loss and recompense’ frequently find themselves reaching for their poetry anthologies. On one memorable trip, a dozen students, most novitiates in poetry, spent their first night in the Lake District reading poems aloud by moonlight. The following morning, several made a point of informing me that their most powerful experience with literature had come while their professor was fast asleep.

Nicholas Mason, Brigham Young University, Utah -

One of the children stood back to admire his completed project and said, ‘I can’t believe I’ve written that’. The look of pride on his face was a picture. They don’t know it yet, but for some of these children, this will have been a life-changing experience.

Anon -

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