The Beautiful and the Welsh

I do actually take classes here in Bath.  I have a core course on Jane Austen, and a seminar course on Transatlantic Romanticism, or the English and American Romantic poets.  This weekend was seminar course study trip weekend, and each seminar headed off to go "study" on site.  All the other seminars headed to London.  However, my eight classmates, our professor, and the dean/director of the program, Jonathan, headed off to see places associated with William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  In the true Romantic tradition, much of our learning for the weekend consisted of wandering through nature, though, to ensure we were not lost in the wilderness and therefore prevent lawsuit, our wandering had some structure to it.

The bridge from England to Wales.  That's the Welsh coast.


We started the weekend with a very brief dip into Wales.  (Very brief as in under 2 hours.)  We visited Tintern Abbey, another ruined old abbey that was absolutely gorgeous.  It was also in such a scenic and beautiful place.  The title of this post may be a bit redundant as my two-hour voyage into Wales convinced me that nearly everything Welsh, except perhaps the language, is also beautiful.  We started by reading the Wordsworth poem that prompted our visit, named very informatively "Lines, Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey..."  If you are now interested in educating yourself in English literature or becoming more cultured, avail yourself:  http://www.rc.umd.edu/rchs/reader/tabbey.html.

Here are some pictures of us reading.  Very pensive, very Romantic.

We were then left to explore the abbey.  I suppose you'll want some pictures, and I'll assume that, cultured and intelligent as you all are, you'll want to hear a little of it's historical as well as literary significance.

AHHHH!  WELSH!

I understand the danger a lot more because this sign is warning me in two languages.

The Abbey was founded on May 9, 1131!  That's a pretty long time ago, kids.

These are the cloisters!  Cistercian monks lived here under the Rule of St. Benedict!

SO PRETTY!  This is taken from the cloisters of the church.

Flowers on ruins.  Windows upon windows.

Me with another set of scenic ruins.  TRIBE PRIDE!!!

Pretty.

General splendor.  Unfortunately, this place also fell victim to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  "On September 3, 1536, Abbot Wyche surrendered Tintern Abbey to the King's visitors and ended a way of life which had lasted 400 years" - Wikipedia

This place was so beautiful.  I could have stayed all day long!

Pretty

Stairs to somewhere secret.

MARY!

Every was in both languages!

Again, it was so beautiful!

The Abbey from across the River Wye.

 

A dove also alighted on the beautiful ruins.

That's all for now.  I'll try to post again soon.  I've taken well over 1,500 pictures.  I'll try to get them up on Facebook when I get back.  But for now, it's final paper week in Bath.  Off to Oxford tomorrow, then London on Saturday!

Also, more information about the Cistercians can be found here, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03780c.htm, if you're interested in joining or just interested in history.

Book the First: Janie Goes to England

In one week's time I will be on a plane to Dublin, from which will I will board a flight to London's Heathrow Airport and from there take a coach to the city of Bath, situated in the south western part of England.  I will be studying with Advanced Studies in England and taking two English courses.  Jane Austen in Bath and Transatlantic Romanticism (a comparative course on the English and American Romantic poets).  I applied for this program back in October and am, needless to say, very excited to finally get there.

Jane Austen, my namesake, lived in Bath for years.  Apparently, she held a strong dislike for the place.  I can easily believe this.  In her two novels set primarily in Bath, Austen sets the city in a negative light.  The likable Anne Eliot of Persuasion, which I read for class last spring, dislikes Bath. And the easily mocked, provincial, and impressionable Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey, which I'm currently reading for class in England, loves the place.  Hopefully the city will make a more favorable impression upon me than it did upon Austen.

So far, my experience of summer school has been enjoyable.  I have to do much of the required reading before I arrive, so I've been immersed in Jane Austen and the Romantic poets.  I very quickly reread Pride and Prejudice, one of my favorites.  I loved it even more with this reading.  It doesn't hurt that the most beautiful and most amiable (if a little naive) character in the book shares my name.  I'm rapidly progressing through Northanger Abbey, which I've never read but am loving.  It's strength of composition and biting commentary really demonstrate the genius of the author.  As for the poets, I've started some William Blake, but am really looking forward to reading Wordsworth and Keats again.  Once the novels are finished, I'll have more time to attend to the poetry.  Preparation for Bath has already furnished the first few weeks of summer with plenty of amusement and promises more before my departure.  I can't wait to enjoy reading these works in England and visit the places they talk of, such as the Pump Room, the Royal Crescent, and Tintern Abbey. 

I'll keep this blog updated with my adventures abroad and potentially some adventures within the pages of cherished books.  Please keep me in your prayers as I travel and study.  You all will most certainly be in mine, especially if you comment on my posts.

Look out Bath!  Not so long ago, you were subject to Jane Austen's censure.  A week from tomorrow, another Jane is coming to form her opinion of you.

If you are into what could be a potentially boring history, here is a synopsis of Bath's Wikipedia entry:

Bath has quite an interesting history.  It houses the only naturally occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom, which also provide the foundation for its unusual name.  It began as a Roman spa town known as Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"), Sulis (or Minerva) being the goddess the natural spring was dedicated.  The Romans built great baths, a temple, and a city wall over the course of the first three centuries A.D.  The Romans eventually lost control to the Anglo-Saxons and their structures became worn down.  The Anglo-Saxons gave the town the name meaning "at the baths" which naturally gave way to it's current, apt name, Bath.

The city became home to a monastery, priory, and Bath Abbey, the site of the coronation of Edgar of England.  It became an ecclesiastical seat for the Roman Catholic Church, who, even after moving their seat to the nearby city of Wells retained the title "Bishop of Bath and Wells." 

As, by 1500, the abbey church needed restoration, the current bishop had a new, smaller one built.  This was completed shortly before King Henry VIII dissolved the priory in 1539.  The church was left unattended until the city's revival as a spa town during the Elizabethan era when it became the parish church.  Queen Elizabeth I gave Bath city status in 1590.

There was a great deal of building and restoration during the Stuart period and even more during the Georgian period.  The influx of tourists as a result of Bath's revival as a spa town necessitated this growth.  John Wood the Elder and John Wood the Younger laid out the new architecture of the city; this architecture is reminiscent of the cities classical foundations. 

In the early 18th century Bath gained a theater, and it's famous Assembly Rooms, including the Pump Room.  (Jane Austen writes of all of these!)  It declined in popularity in the 19th century and suffered some under the German air raids of the Second World War.  However, everything has been rebuilt and the city is now thriving, if somewhat touristy.  It is known as a center of both study and tourism.  Home to two universities and several other colleges, it has a large student population that is about to increase by one for five weeks!  England, here I come!