Walking with Wordsworth

I found this interesting article from 2020 that honors Wordsworth on his 250th birthday by recollecting his poetry and his love of walking:

https://theconversation.com/walking-with-wordsworth-on-his-250th-birthday-135474

A lot of Wordsworth’s poems are told from the POV of someone wandering through nature; often, the perspectives are drawn from Wordsworth’s own experiences. The 1805 Prelude is from the POV of Wordsworth himself as he takes the reader through his journey. Since a portion of The 1805 Prelude discusses Wordsworth’s journey through a mountain pass, and before he realized it he had hiked a mountain, I thought this article would be a nice ode to Wordsworth’s undeniable love of walking through nature. The author mentions that Wordsworth often composed his pieces in the rhythm of his walks. 

The article states, “In his epic autobiography, The Prelude, Wordsworth describes himself doing this and sending his terrier (Pepper) ahead to warn him of others:”

And when at evening on the public way

I sauntered, like a river murmuring

And talking to itself when all things else

Are still, the creature trotted on before;

Such was his custom; but whene’er he met

A passenger approaching, he would turn

To give me timely notice, and straightway,

Grateful for that admonishment, I hushed

My voice, composed my gait, and, with the air

And mien of one whose thoughts are free, advanced

To give and take a greeting that might save

My name from piteous rumours, such as wait

On men suspected to be crazed in brain

So the next time you take a walk, enjoy the pleasures of nature around you in Wordsworth’s honor!