Cornwall

7-6-09

I think the last Hardy related travel that I wrote about was Dorchester. Since then, Brian has thoroughly schooled me on many of the biographical details of Hardy's life. Especially where they have an influence on his work as a novelist and poet. Much of this is wrapped up in his relationship with his first wife, Emma Livinia Gifford. As you may or may not know, Hardy was trained as an architect and in 1870 was sent to St. Juliot in Cornwall to plan for the restoration of the parish church. This is where he met Emma and many poems were written about her and their courtship there. Today, we visited St Juliot church as well as the vicarage where Emma was staying with her sister when the two met.







First Three Pictures: St. Juliot Church










Fourth Pic from Top: The vicarage, now the Old Rectory Bed and Breakfast.

Fifth Pic from Top: Brian and I discussing the scenery from the viewing platform at the back of the vicarage garden.



Then we continued to the Cornish coast, near the town of Boscastle to Beeny Cliffy, a place where Emma and Hardy came often and was described in much detail in several of the poems Hardy wrote about their courtship after Emma's death in 1913. The day was overcast and the wind was blowing off the ocean with tremendous force which all contributed to the rugged beauty of the place. I don't think these pictures do it justice.

>Brian and I reading Hardy's poem entitled “Beeny Cliff” while at Beeny Cliff! (It looks like I either have to go to the bathroom or it was just really cold and windy)












The last stop of the day was at Tintagel, the ruins of a 12th-century castle, which according to legend was the birthplace of King Arthur. I'm not a big fan of the whole knights of the round table bit and I didn't really think the ruins were all that impressive. But I did like Tennyson's “The Lady of Shallot” that Brian had me read in preparation. He has done a good job of widening my scope of English literature by introducing me to authors I have not been familiar with and connecting them to a physical place. I haven't yet written anything about the visit to Dartmoor and the literary connections there but I will, oh yes, I will. We also have one more outing tomorrow having to do with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (sp?) and then it is on to Bronte country.