ABSTRACT
The poet's childhood homes and haunts in Cockermouth and Hawkshead were less prominent kept for genuine Wordsworthians to seek out until the growing popularity of his autobiographical poem The Prelude put the places of Wordsworth's childhood on tourists' maps. This chapter traces how Wordsworth House at Cockermouth and Wordsworth's Lodgings at Hawkshead were discovered and added to visitors' itineraries and how the poet's childhood was variously commemorated. It suggests how commemorations of Wordsworth's houses reflected different strands in his evolving reputation as a poet. Thompson offers several illustrations for Hall's essay, including the house at Cockermouth, Rydal Mount, St Oswald's Church, the poet's grave and some of Wordsworth's favourite haunts. The frontispiece of Wordsworth's Poetical Works, illustrated by Edwin Edwards, viewed the back of the house across the river Derwent, depicting some boys playing and, in the background, Cockermouth Castle. The names carved on the Hawkshead school desks began to attract more attention in the late 1870s.
