The Romantic Calendar Herbert was Poet in Residence at the Wordsworth Trust in 1998. During that time he helped to organise the annual series of summer poetry readings held in the Museum at Town End, Grasmere; and also a literary conference held in September 98 at the Samling, Dovenest, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Lyrical Ballads. All these events featured many luminaries of the contemporary poetry scene. He also gave impromptu readings in the Museum to mark points in the year of special interest to readers of Wordsworth and the other Romantics. From all this work arose the idea of a Poets' Calendar, in which the months of the year would each be marked by three pieces of writing: one written by a Romantic poet, one by a more contemporary figure, and one by a visiting writer. To put these in some context, the main dates of birth and death of the major Romantic poets are set out below, together with some of the dates of composition of poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge. This project was begun by Herbert and Stephen Hebron, whose superior design skills distinguished its initial appearance. It is continued here at a more rudimentary level. |
January Byron born 22 Jan 1788 Robert Burns born 25 Jan 1759 Dorothy Wordsworth died 25 Jan 1855 February Mary Shelley died 1 Feb 1851 Charles Lamb born 10 Feb 1778 Keats died 23 Feb 1821 March Robert Southey died 21 March 1843 Wordsworth composed 'My heart leaps up when I behold' (Rainbow), 26 March 1802 Intimations of Immortality was begun on 27 March 1802 April John Wilson 'Christopher North' died 3 April 1854 The first version of Coleridge's Dejection was written 4 April 1802 William Wordsworth born 7 April 1770 Matthew Arnold died 15 April 1888 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' (Daffodils) Dorothy records seeing the daffodils on 15 April 1802 William Hazlitt born 10 April 1778 Byron died 19 April 1824 Wordsworth died 23 April 1850 Mary Wollstonecraft born 27 Apr 1759 May Charlotte Smith born 4 May 1749 James Hogg died 14 May 1734 Felicia Hemans died 16 May 1835 John Wilson born 18 May 1785 John Clare died 20 May 1864 Humphrey Davy born 29 May 1829 June Harriet Martineau born 12 June 1802, died 27 June 1876 July Resolution and Independence (The Leech Gatherer) completed 4 July 1802 Shelley died 8 July 1822 John Clare born 13 July 1793 Burns died 21 July 1796 Coleridge died 25 July 1834 Jane Austen died 18 July 1817 Composed on Westminster Bridge 29 July 1802 August Shelley born 4 Aug 1792 Blake died 12 Aug 1827 Tennyson born 6 Aug 1809 Robert Southey born 12 Aug 1774 De Quincey born 15 Aug 1785 Walter Scott born 15 Aug 1771 Mary Shelley born 30 Aug 1797 September Felicia Hemans born 25 Sept 1793 Mary Wollstonecraft died 10 Sept 1797 Scott died 21 Sept 1832 October Wordsworth meets the Leech Gatherer Oct 3 1800 Tennyson died 6 Oct 1892 Coleridge born 21 Oct 1772 Keats born 31 Oct 1795 November Blake born 28 Nov 1757 December Matthew Arnold born 4 Dec 1822 De Quincey died 8 Dec 1859 Jane Austen born 16 Dec 1775 Humphrey Davy 17 Dec 1778 Charles Lamb 27 Dec 1834 Dorothy Wordsworth born 25 Dec 1771 |
For the opening page of the Poets' Calendar, click here Those who wish to visit the Wordsworth Trust website should click on the following: http://www.wordsworth.org.uk/ The complete works of WW are available here: http://www.bartleby.com/145/index.html Not quite finished the Wiary, were you? Or you can just return to biographical irrelevancies |
