The Book Common Room
Hello! We are Lauren and Kali and we want to create a space for all to join in on our book discussions and learn to love reading.
The Book Common Room
The Wordsworths: Stewards of Nature, Stewards of Each Other
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In our twelfth episode of the season, we take a deeper dive into the writings of William and Dorothy Wordsworth. Through poetry, journals, and reflections, we explore themes of stewardship, of nature, of community, and of one another. Join us as we discuss how the Wordsworths invite us to see the natural world with renewed attention and care, and how their writings continue to speak to questions of responsibility and memory. We also feature Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, whose vision of humanity's encounter with the sublime beautifully complements the landscapes and reflections found in the Wordsworths’ work.
Links to the readings discussed in this episode:
William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence ("The Leech-Gatherer" 1807 version) – https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Resolution_and_Independence
OPTIONAL: William Wordsworth, Michael: A Pastoral Poem – https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Michael:_A_Pastoral_Poem
Dorothy Wordsworth, Thoughts on My Sick-bed – https://dorothywordsworth2019.byu.edu/
Dorothy Wordsworth, Grasmere—A Fragment – https://www.textarchiv.com/dorothy-wordsworth/grasmere-a-fragment/
OPTIONAL: Dorothy Wordsworth, An Excursion Up Scawfell Pike – https://romantic-circles.org/editions/wordsworth_dorothy/scawfell
Featured artwork:
Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (c. 1818)
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Introduction music featured by Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, B. 179 “American”: I. Allegro ma non troppo (1893), performed by the Cleveland Quartet (Telarc, 1991).