I was thrilled to see my first snowdrops of the year at Wray Castle, and then close to Esthwaite, near Hawkshead. In a week of very bad weather it was so good to see these brave little plants presaging Spring and better weather.
Both Wray Castle and Esthwaite Lake were important places for Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and one of his sonnets is The Snowdrops at Esthwaite Lake:
When winter from the seaward range is gone,
By Esthwaite's shore is still a field of snow;
Thousands upon ten thousands snowdrops blow
In virgin sweet community as one,-
Type of the peace that dwells with God alone,
Emblems of angel-brotherhood below:
Their beauty every child may know
From Hawkshead vale to grey-built Coniston.
Pure presences! The humblest truth's delight,
Even in springtide's natural innocence,
Must needs be sought, and plucked, and carried home:
And here old men and little children come,
Glad with a common hope, to bear from hence
What else had never made the fell-side cottage bright.
William Wordsworth also addressed one of his sonnets to this pretty flower: To a Snowdrop
Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!