William Wordsworth Walking: Art, Work, Leisure, and a Curious Form of Consumption :: William Wordswroth Walking Essays

William Wordsworth Walking Art, Work, Leisure, and a Curious Form of Consumption William Wordsworth spent a good portion of his life on foot, straiting. Consider a chronological succession of Dorothys journal entries Monday the 14th, Wm & Mary walked to Ambleside in the morning to buy mousetraps (about 5 miles fatten out trip) Tuesday the 15th, Wm & I walked to Rydale for letters (about 3 miles round trip) Wednesday the 16th, After dinner Wm & I walked twice up to the shed & back again (3 miles), met Miss Simpson and walked with her to the Oliffs and then(prenominal) back to her house (a nonher 3 miles) Thursday the 17th, we had a delightful walk (a couple of miles) Friday the 18th, Mary & Wm walked round the two lakes (about 6 miles) Saturday the 19th, We walked by Brathay to Ambleside (6 miles). instantly such distances are not remarkable in fine weather, entirely these were walks from the 14th to the 19th of December 1801, and Dorothys notes include A very subt le frost, extremely slippery, and Snow in the night & still snowing, and the evening turbid and promising snow (GJ 48-49). Undeterred by bad weather, Wordsworth (and Dorothy) gave manner of walking a central position in their daily lives, even to the extent that not walking becomes a remarkable event. Dorothy records that on September 13, 1800, William writing his enter did not walk (GJ 22). And of course in better weather in that respect were shorter and longer walking tours such as Dorothys record of September 3, 1800, in which Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Jonathan Wordsworth left after breakfast to walk upon Helvellyn and returned home at 10 at night, having covered believably 15 to 20 miles (GJ 20-21)--a long, but not unusually long for them, walk. In short, Wordsworth habitually spent at least(prenominal) several hours a day walking, and it was not at all uncommon for him to spend entire days on foot. The central role of walking in Wordsworths life suggest s a number of interesting questions, but I will focus here only on those related to the write up of this conference, work and leisure. Obviously, much of Wordsworths walking could be classed as leisure-time activity. There was probably no compelling reason for Wordsworth and Dorothy to walk twice to the Black Swan or for Wordsworth and Mary to circumambulate the lakes.