I recently visited the ‘Walking Poets’ Exhibition at The Wordsworth Trust museum in Grasmere. The exhibition expresses a connection between Wordsworth and Matsuo Basho, in terms of how they both pioneered the use of everyday language in poetry, they both used the natural world to express their ideas, and they both composed their poetry as they walked. Each found creative inspiration in nature, and for each, the act of walking itself was a creative process.
This exhibition features manuscripts and early printed editions of work written by Matsuo Basho, William Wordsworth, and Wordsworth’s sister Dorothy, who is now recognised as a significant writer in her own right. The exhibition also features new works by contemporary artists working in a wide range of media, responding to the manuscripts and what originally inspired them in ways that are as fresh, creative and radical now, as Wordsworth and Basho were during their lives.
'Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey’. Interpretation by Dr Manny Ling and Christine Flint-Sato (photo by Tim Sokell)
I very much enjoyed the mix of old and new works on display. I had particularly come to the exhibition to see the collaborative work of Manny Ling and Christine Flint-Sato, which I loved. Their piece was inspired by Wordsworth’s poem, ‘Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey,’ and they offer a visual interpretation of the poem which invites viewers to consider the references to mountains and water made by Wordsworth as he walked along the River Wye.
Other gems in the exhibition (for me) are Basho’s writings made during his several journeys in Japan, and the typographic works of Andrew Richardson and Eiichi Kono.
Tim Sokell
The exhibition is open until 2 November, and well worth a visit if you are in The Lake District. (p11-12 for exhibition details)
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