Wordsworth Memorial

Thomas Woolner

1851

Marble

St. Oswald's Church, Grasmere

"In January 1851 the young Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner (1825-92) was commissioned for the medallion portrait and commemorative tablet for St Oswald's Church. . . . The memorial, erected in August 1851, is a white memorial tablet in the shape of a squat, stylized obelisk, with the poet's profile in relief on the base section, against a panel of grey marble. . . . 'in two narrow squares on each side of the head are introduced the daffodil, the celandine, the snowdrop and violet'" — Oxford University Press site

Spring sunlight pours onto the Wordsworth Memorial: It was drenchingly wet and piercingly windy that morning, but a sudden shaft of sunlight fell full on the memorial [JB].

  • Compare Woolner's Wordsworth monument

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    Scanned photograph and text by Jaqueline Banerjee.

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