Lakeland (1880-1920)

Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley ranks with William Wordsworth and Alfred Wainwright as a prolific and consummate writer about the Lake District. In more than a dozen volumes of prose, and in hundreds of poems, he extolled the unique qualities of this small tract of land that has so fascinated writers over the centuries. As one of the co-founders of the National Trust and a leading light in saving numerous parts of the Lake District for the nation, Rawnsley was acknowledged by his contemporaries as a man of vision who recognised the importance of Lakeland to the future of mankind. He wrote more than five hundred poems celebrating every conceivable facet of the area - its history, archaeology, people, pastimes, tragedies, language, customs and literary associations. The selection of poems in this Anthology is intended to demonstrate not only Rawnsley's breadth of understanding of the way of life in the Lakes during the period 1880-1920 but also to claim for him a place among the distinguished ranks of the poets of Lakeland.

Michael Allen is co-author, along with Rosalind Rawnsley, of the biography 'Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley: An Extraordinary Life 1851-1920.' He was awarded a PhD from Anglia Ruskin University for his research on 'The Victorian Sonnet.' He has edited the five-volume 'Anthem Anthology of Victorian Sonnets' (2011), as well the three-volume 'Anthology of Sonnets on War by British Poets' (2016).