I have got to the bits in Ackroyd's Thames that cover the river's relationship to the arts (yes I know, reading slow, but it is rather rich).
Hence the Monet above and this bit of Wordsworth:
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
That first line is especially true when you see it around mile 24 of the marathon!
ReplyDeleteI can imagine! Those knees (plus legs, feet, etc) must have been complaining more than a bit at that point.
ReplyDelete(beautiful pairing of Monet's painting at the Wordsworth poem)
ReplyDelete