HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
This week marked the 250th birthday of the poet William Wordsworth. There's no better way to herald the arrival of Spring and celebrate the bank holiday Easter weekend than with his classic ode to Daffodils in which he stores up the beauty of the Lake District to recollect in tranquillity in the "bliss of solitude" - something we can all try in the current lockdown -" And then my heart with pleasure fills / and dances with the daffodils". If you're a Wordsworth fan you might also enjoy Sir Ian McKellan's reading of the Prelude on Radio 4 or, for those of you with more contemporary tastes, check out the New Lyrical Ballads featuring poems by PBS Recommendation Zaffar Kunial, Kim Moore, Helen Mort and Jacob Polley in response to Wordsworth and Coleridge's 1798 book which changed the course of British poetry. Fans of the classics might also enjoy reading Gyles Brandreth's Dancing By the Light of the Moon, an anthology of 250 beloved classic poems to learn by heart, recite and relish, from A A Milne to Wordsworth - another fun way to keep yourself entertained in isolation.