Thursday we ventured to Wales, to
pay homage to one of the most famous sites in literature: Tintern Abbey. Wordsworth wrote his famous poem:
“Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” here. Most other romantic poets eventually
pilgrimaged here, as according to Dr. Ryken: “you couldn’t be a card carrying
romantic poet without visiting Tintern.”
The
Abbey is also in ruins (thanks Henry VIII), but it is more intact than
Glastonbury. It was absolutely
wonderful. We thankfully had sunny
weather and after viewing the Abbey with sunlight streaming in and doves flying
above, I agree with C.S. Lewis’ own sentiment after seeing the Abbey that “all
churches should be roofless”. For
a while I sat in an old windowsill (where the stained glass would have been)
and took in the beauty of the site. I listened to the cows moo at the cow farm
next door, and I watched the birds flit in out of the bare windows and
uncovered ceiling.
After
almost an hour at the Abbey, Dr. Ryken took us on a walk to an old bridge and
read the poem aloud to us as we faced the River Wye that Wordsworth “always
turned to” in the poem. Wordworth
himself would have been higher up in the hills of Wales as he looked down on
the Abbey, but it gave us a general idea as we saw the ruined, yet still
stately Abbey rise up out of the lush green grass surrounded by the muddy river
and white swans.
I
have always loved Wordsworth’s poem about the Abbey, and it was wonderful to
see the scene that inspired it as an ending to the Excursion. Our traveling days are over for now,
and we must settle down back into classes and schoolwork at Oxford. Classes begin Monday. Thankfully at
Oxford, class will start at 9:00 AM instead of 8:00 AM. I knew I loved the Brits for a
reason.
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| Dr. Ryken reading the poem to us |
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| From afar |
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