‘The Blessing of my later years
Was with me when a boy:
She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble cares, and delicate fears;
A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;
And love, and thought, and joy.’

— William Wordsworth

Today we visited Wordsworth’s childhood home. We are on holiday in the beautiful Lake District and so a visit to Wordsworth House and Garden was a must. Over the last few days, we got ourselves excited by memorising the first couple of verses of the poem ‘Daffodils’.

As a family we love poetry. We may not necessarily understand it deeply but have come to love a variety of poems both serious and silly, beautiful and bold, and ancient and modern. I tend to read poetry to the children over meal times as I have their full attention (ideally!) and since most poems are short we can stop and start quite easily until the next meal. We don’t stop to analyse the poems but just enjoy them for their rhyme, well-chosen words, descriptions of everyday life and often a wonderful sense of humour. I will admit that I do love reading out loud so I try to bring the poems alive with full expression!

Now for me to decide which poet we’ll enjoy next in September….more Wordsworth or Emily Dickinson…?