A Whirlwind Romance in Wales and Southwestern England
- Emily Freeman
- May 14, 2019
- 4 min read
Grim stones whose gray lips keep your secret well,
Our hands that touch you touch an ancient terror,
An ancient woe, colossal citadel
Of some fierce faith, some heaven-affronting error.
Rude-built, as if young Titans on this wold
Once played with ponderous blocks a striding giant
Had brought from oversea, till child more bold
Tumbled their temple down with foot defiant.
Upon your fatal altar Redbreast combs
A fluttering plume, and flocks of eager swallows
Dip fearlessly to choose their April homes
Amid your crevices and storm-beat hollows.
Even so in elemental mysteries,
Portentous, vast, august, uncomprehended,
Do we dispose our little lives for ease,
By their unconscious courtesies befriended.
-"At Stonehenge" by Katharine Lee Bates
It’s so interesting to me how one thing can be interpreted in so many different ways. Take Stonehenge, for example. Katharine Lee Bates does an excellent job of capturing the imposing, awe-inspiring, and even a bit formidable character of Stonehenge in her short poem. J.M.W. Turner artfully paints the stone configuration in its powerful, majestic, and mysterious nature. The photo taken by my friend Hannah so skillfully captures the incredible detail and pseudo-symmetry of the stones. And then we have my own sketch, which I think captures the simplicity and rawness of the stones. Each one of these depictions of Stonehenge is a great example of a very Romantic expression of something larger than oneself. These articulations are so much more than simple recreations of a bunch of giant stones set in a circle—they are expressions of the different feelings that are experienced in the presence of this impressive site. Similarly, Romanticism is a moving away from the idea that truth can be found only in facts, to the idea that truth can also be found in emotion and feeling.
Having prefaced this weekend trip to Southwestern England and Wales with a stimulating discussion about Romanticism, I felt like I was more inclined to see the different sites we visited through the eyes of a Romanticist. I saw beauty and emotion everywhere, even in the clouds and the rolling hills of the breathtaking English countryside we drove through. Without a doubt, my favorite place we visited was Stourhead, an impressive country estate that exemplified the unique, theatrical nature of 18th century English gardens. There are not words to describe how stunning and elegant this landscaping was—it very much embodied the idea of an “artful wildness.” I was amazed by the color all around me, the overwhelming green and the vibrant pinks, reds, purples, whites, blues, oranges, and yellows of the fragrant flowers. Beyond that, there were so many picturesque viewpoints scattered throughout our hike around the lake. The gently decaying classical-style ruins peeking out of the trees and rolling landscape honestly made me feel like I was living in a postcard, or a movie.
Tintern Abbey was also quite beautiful, though in a bit more of a somber, desolate sense. Walking through the ruins of this massive and once magnificent abbey was a unique experience. The abbey gently crumbling abbey had a quiet beauty about it, with whispers of its forgotten, yet impressive past. Though the building had been falling into disrepair since the for over 400 years, the grass growing on the floor of the abbey and in the cracks all over the walls hinted at a breath of growth and newness. This conflict between the death of the abbey as it once was and the rebirth of the abbey as it could be was intriguing and strikingly Romantic. Turner’s paining of Tintern Abbey expresses this discord perfectly.
The last place we visited in Wales was Puzzlewood, the magical forest that inspired Tolkein in his creation of Middle Earth and the hobbits, dwarves, and elves that inhabit his fantastical realm. And being there in those woods, I definitely understood how they could have inspired him. Wandering through the trees, getting lost on the twisted, muddy paths, I felt like I was living a story like those found only in fantasy novels and movies. There was a mystical, enchanted feel to the whole forest. It also had a mysterious and wild feel to it, it was very clearly the product of years and years of being left to grow untamed. In that sense, the forest of Puzzlewood tied beautifully into the idea of Romanticism, as it was a living, breathing example of what can happen when nature is left untouched and enabled to become something sublime and beyond the reach of human understanding. It was even an added bonus that we got to see part of a movie set where they had been filming a new Netflix show! Exciting things happening in the Puzzlewood forest! :)
My goal during this weekend trip was to work on savoring the present moment and the beauty of this amazing world we live in. Having this goal in mind as we were visiting so many breathtaking sites helped me to really enhance this experience. Knowing that my poor little phone camera would never be able to do these beautiful sights justice, I was able to not worry as much about trying to capture each moment in a picture. This gave me the freedom to simply savor the moment, to soak it all in, to witness and embrace them fully. I was able to feel the beauty around me, rather than just see it with my eyes. In this way, I was able to find truth in feelings and emotions, as well as in the factual reality of the beauty that I witnessed. And I even found that the more I focused on savoring the beauty around me, the more beauty I noticed. I will forever remember these sights in Wales and Southwestern England that stole my heart!
-Em
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