This exhibition features the English Lake Poets – William Wordsworth (1770–1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), and Robert Southey (1774–1843) – and their connections with Ireland. It explores the socio-political and cultural exchanges between and across Romantic Ireland and England through literary treasures from the Library of Trinity College Dublin, including hand-coloured political cartoons, unique manuscripts by Wordsworth’s contemporaries and Irish friends, first and early editions of poetry and prose, and illustrations from rare nineteenth-century travel books.
The exhibition is in place April – May 2019 in the Long Room of the Old Library at Trinity. It is curated by Dr Amy Prendergast (School of English, Trinity College Dublin) and Dr Brandon C. Yen (School of English, University College Cork) in collaboration with the Library of Trinity College Dublin. A digital version of the exhibition is also available.