Explore Dove Cottage - once home to Dorothy and William Wordsworth

This video is from www.futurelearn.com/courses/w... ‘William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place’ is a free online course by the University of Lancaster available on FutureLearn.com
December 1799 marked the start of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy making a real home together at Dove Cottage in Grasmere. After William married Mary Hutchinson in 1802, Dorothy continued to live with them and to help look after their children. Dorothy’s life was a remarkable one for a woman of her day. Famously, William wrote of Dorothy in one of his poems: ‘She gave me eyes, she gave me ears’.
This film takes us into Dove Cottage itself with Professor Sharon Ruston to explore this house as a home. We see various objects associated with Dorothy and think about the experience of living and writing here.
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[@bobbyrainsbury230]

Adore William Wordsworth

[@pakngakena880]

Very nice! Ican feel their presence , today they are alive in the forms of books especially in poetry , my favorite poet

[@menavikanandan4090]

lungda

[@femiqueen5855]

I have visited his house in 1990.

[@Dana9437]

wonderful vid and very informative

[@voiceofgoddessweapon]

I appreciate the inclusion of Dorothy in this. It's easy to think women had no place in history because their voices and contributions are being erased. But most people with siblings know they are often exposed to the same influences and can have similar gifts and abilities. In another era, her connection to a great man of literature would have been a contact within the industry to gain a foot in the door. It's also heartening to see an accurate portrayal of all the ways women, both paid and unpaid afforded greats such as Wordsworth the extra time to focus on his art form, and we're therefore notable members of their team. In other settings such as a band or entourage we gladly celebrate the team when they are men, why not get the full picture in these settings too? I'm all for it and gladly approve of the inclusion of Dorothy. Especially given that she was essentially the early equivalent of a documentary maker on his life in the poetic version of the reality TV shows we have these days surrounding the famous who are willing to show us the intimate details of their daily lives.

[@roote4k154]

I like your Video

[@blinkpanda9205]

I didn't know that dorothy was the sister of william wordsworth because on the last month of august I was speaking to a spirit name dorothy and now I know that she sister of the famous poetry william wordsworth.

[@neenmendesarmy5811]

Blink Panda why this doesn’t make any sense to me ? No offence

[@emanuelefiori595]

Hahahaha che malato

[@stevenwall24]

How were you

[@babyblue3802]

is it possible to visit this place?

[@vikkihenderson1225]

I LOVE STEVAN

[@Rafa-zm1xq]

Who?

[@willaddison3281]

Why did you focus on Dorothy and not William?

[@sabrassquotes430]

If anybody lives here in present?

[@michaelodonovan7405]

Typical modern doc as much about the presenter as about Dorothy herself. Audio would have sufficed.

[@TheJohnGent1]

The presenter is lousy. She has the old feminist axe to grind and its painfully obvious.

[@Philornaphy]

​@@TheJohnGent1 I don't agree with either of you and am disappointed that your comments have received up-votes. I think Professor Ruston presented notably clearly and the footage made it easier to imagine their own movement in the house. I am grateful to have seen it. The intention of this short video was clearly to examine Dorothy's place, mind & attitude towards their home together, and that makes it easier for students to imagine what sorts of values and environment William lived & wrote in during that time, and also elucidates the equal & respectful relationship he had with his sister that was far from common for their time. It helps students to frame a background for reading Dorothy's works, which in themselves also shed a lot of insight into William and his poetry. The presenter was also highlighting that her journals in themselves are quality works, which is simply true and - to any enthusiast of history and/or literature - would find this an encouragement to read them and learn more about that period, about William and about Dorothy herself who evidently is interesting in her own right and someone William was inspired by throughout his life. I approached this video wanting to see footage of the cottage garden, and came away inspired to read Dorothy's journals - I haven't taken this same inspiration away when I have approached information about William before, yet this inspiration provides a wealth of insight into his life, and opens our minds up to aspects of history which are not as well remembered. I love Wordsworth, but the literary canon neglects all the beauty between the cracks of history, which have as much right to be appreciated. Responses such as you have given to this video are too simplistic and closed to seeing things in new ways. To talk about a woman in Wordsworth's life is not to wield a 'gender axe', but to explore a very real angle of history. You have to remember that academics are funded not to study what is already known, but to push the boundaries of what we know (in this case, about William Wordsworth's life), and that is what these course videos are for and I judge this video a success. Turns out I had my own axe to grind...

[@voiceofgoddessweapon]

@@Philornaphy too right