🌞Summer Reads ~ Ten Poems from the Lake District

Candlestick Press
July 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this poetry pamphlet 

This addition to Candlestick’s series of UK regional titles brings the drama and beauty of the Lake District landscape into glorious focus. We encounter dry-stone walls, sublime heights, lakes (of course) and experience an evening dip in the cooling waters of a tarn.

The selection wouldn’t be complete without a poem by Wordsworth who captures the tranquillity of a quiet valley in a moment of typically blissful contemplation:

“A soft eye-music of slow-waving boughs,

Powerful almost as vocal harmony

stay the wanderer’s steps and soothe his thoughts.”

from ‘Aira Force Valley’ by William Wordsworth

The double-edged sword of tourism is also present in a sonnet which imagines what this most famous of Lakes Poets would make of the world of postcards and car parks. The poem’s conclusion is a reminder that the sublime will outlive any human interference.

Polly Atkin is a poet who lives and works in the Lake District.

Poems by Polly Atkin, Rachael Bates. Paul Farley, Katie Hale, Matthew Hollis, Eileen Pun, Tom Rawling, Reshma Ruia, William Wordsworth and David Wright.

🌞  My Review..

The brooding nature of the Lake District is never in doubt and as you view the hills and crags an overwhelming sense of majesty abounds. Dark shadows race across the skyline altering the colours from pinks to dark purples, and from green to grey,  as wind and rain sweep across the horizon. It is a place of fickle shadows which can change in the blink of an eye. It is part of my northern landscape, its beauty undimmed by time.

This fine anthology of ten poems capture the magical spirit of the Lake District, bringing its natural beauty to life by the power of expression:

“ Who treads above the mountain-top should die 

Of that pure exultation; he is shriven

By the immaculate wind, the cleansing sky.

From Above Hawkshead by Rachael Bates

The criss cross nature of meandering stone walls are captured in this lovely poem: 

“ See here by the holly tree

Above the highest meadow,

This Eksdale dry stone wall

A warted lichen covered caterpillar

That clasps and humps the how,

Shuffles across the scree’s frost litter

Creeps around the shoulder of the fell,

A line of beauty

Not made to please the eye.”

From Eskdale Dry-Stone Wall by Tom Rawling 

Beautifully written, with a gloriously Illustrated cover, and emotionally evocative of a place caught in time, Ten poems from the Lake District would be a wonderful gift instead of a card for anyone who loves this part of the country or is a perfect introduction to a very special place.

About the Publisher 

Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

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