Wordsworth 2017 Day Two: Journeying Through History
How many people? Eleven? No, sorry, I don’t think we have enough room”
“Eleven? No, we don’t have space. Sorry about that.”
“Not right now, maybe if you come back in about 45 minutes we’ll have more room.”
After facing this response two more times, our chances of finding a place to have lunch were looking bleak, and the growling of our stomachs was growing steadily louder by the minute. That’s what we got for going out to eat on a Bank Holiday in England. Every restaurant and sit-down café along the main road was teeming with families enjoying their long weekends and couples spending their day off of work treating themselves to a lunch date.
As we rounded a corner toward an intersection, we were losing hope of ever finding somewhere that would fit our whole group and were beginning to consider the option of eating separately when we were stopped by our trusty guide Jeff. At long last we had found it: an English Valhalla, an oasis in the middle of our less than dry Grasmere desert, the final salvation at the end of our Dantean journey for sustenance. Before us, hiding beneath the cover of a wide green awning stamped with the word “Lucia’s,” lay a quaint café that seemed relatively empty. The counter was located just within the doorway and two employees were rearranging the rows of sandwiches and pastries that lined the shelves in the café window. Mission accomplished!
Upon our return to the Wordsworth Trust, we were met with an enlarged manuscript on the wall that was covered in markings and edits. Even the title had been changed: “Prelude” had been crossed out and “Recluse” placed in the space below. Jeff, switching with ease from guide to curator, started the discussion with a question: “How many people marked this document?” What started as a seemingly simple question became an extensive discussion about ink heaviness, letter styles, and the history of the text. Our estimates steadily grew from two writers to three then to six until we were finally satisfied that we distinguished every individual who had written on the manuscript. The final six individuals were: the original author Dorothy Wordsworth, alterations by William Wordsworth, titling by John Carter, “1” in the upper right corner by Mary Wordsworth, changing of title to “Recluse” by Gordon Wordsworth, and “7” in the upper right corner by a curator several years later. From there, we made a list of what we can learn from the edits of manuscripts and how they can be analyzed as a window into the history and development of literature. Whether the notes were by William in his textual alterations or by Gordon in his title adjustments, each set of edits gave an insight on how what the writers prioritized and focused their critiques on.
From valiant quests for food to archeological digs through script, it’s safe to say that Grasmere has kept us plenty busy thus far. And, so we forge on once more into the fray.
Kathleen Toner
