Pilgrimage to Britain's Literary Shrines

                                                               Pilgrimage to Britain’s Literary Shrines

                                                                                By Lee Hyon-soo

                                                        

William Shakespeare is known as the greatest dramatic genius of all time. But his plays are not easy to read because they were written in Early Modern English which is quite different from the present-day English. Nevertheless, even those who have not read any of his plays love to cite one or two quotes from his plays. One quote which seems to be on everyone’s lips is “To be or not to be, that is the question.”  

 

Shakespeare is so popular that Stratford-upon-Avon, his birthplace on the banks of River Avon, is called “mecca for all lovers of literature.” Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, people flocked to Stratford-upon-Avon, lying at the very heart of England and so unmistakably English in character.

 

While I stayed in London for a while, I took the opportunity to visit this old-fashioned market town where Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616 at the age of 52 (He acted and wrote his plays in London). The house in which he was born and spent his childhood years is a 16th century half-timbered building. In Shakespeare's time it consisted of two separate parts — the family home and an adjoining shop used by his father, a glover and wool dealer.

 

Although the house has undergone some restoration, its essential features remain unchanged. It was converted into a museum in 1847 and is open to the public. Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott and Thomas Carlyle were among the notables who visited the house and autographed the walls and windows. I saw some signatures which still remain there. I also visited the Holy Trinity Church to see Shakespeare’s grave. It was his local parish church where he was baptized.

         

From Shakespeare’s birthplace, I moved on to Haworth (pronounced “How-worth”), a small village in Northern England. Here in this remote and barren setting lived the famous Bronte sisters. Of the three sisters, Emily was perhaps the greatest. She wrote only one novel, Wuthering Heights, which is considered one of the finest novels in the English language.

 

This highly imaginative work of passion and hate has captivated so many young men and women since its publication in 1847. The main theme of the novel is the unfulfilled love affair between the two protagonists, Catherine and Heathcliff. Nothing reveals Catherine’s unrestrained love for Heathcliff better than her own impassioned utterance: "My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath — a source of little visible delight, but necessary. I am Heathcliff! He is always, always in my mind — not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

         

Emily’s two sisters, Charlotte and Anne, also distinguished themselves by writing “Jane Eyre” and “Agnes Grey” respectively. The house in which the Bronte sisters grew up and went on to compose their famous novels is now called Bronte Parsonage Museum. It contains first editions, manuscripts, some of the clothes the sisters wore and some of the furniture they used, including a rosewood desk at which Emily wrote Wuthering Heights. I was told by the curator that, after Stratford-upon-Avon, Haworth is England's most visited literary shrine.

 

Having visited Stratford-upon-Avon and Haworth, I now have a stronger affinity for English literature.       

 

The writer (tomhslee43@gmail.com) is a freelance columnist and the author of “Tales of A Korean Globetrotter.”

 

Note: This essay appeared in the December 8, 2001 issue of The Korea Times.