Reading Lakescapes in Literature and Painting: From Keswick to Buttermere and Cummock Water

Abstract

Abstract. This paper attempts to discuss the ways of "digging down through layers of memories and representations" to strengthen the "self-knowledge" of formulating harmonious human relations to nature as well as enjoying the natural sceneries, with the case studies of reading lakescapes in literature and painting, in which Buttermere and Crummock Water are the focus. The study examines some relative verbal and visual representations by some writers and artists and finds that although sharing in some similarities with Derwent Water in landscape features, Buttermere and Crummock Water are more prominent in a setting of stillness, and it is the very contemplation evoked by this feature that adds to their value as landscapes.