Mirehouse poetry competition celebrates Tennyson's 200th birthday

By Sarah Langford

Mirehouse is an extraordinary historical house with some spectacular literary connections including Wordsworth, Tennyson and Carlyle.

Set close to the eastern shore of Bassenthwaite Lake, the family run house and gardens are open to tourists to explore the history of Cumbria-inspired literature and admire the beauty of their superb gardens.

In order to celebrate their wide range of literary connections, Mirehouse, with the support of the Words by the Water festival, has hosted an annual poetry competition, The Mirehouse Poetry Prize, since 2004.

This year, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Tennyson’s birth, the theme for the competition is of Tennyson’s poem Morte D’Arthur which was partially written at Mirehouse, with the line “What is it thou hast seen? Or what hast heard” which was to be interpreted freely.

Poetry competition judge Grevel Lindop, a freelance poet, biographer, critic and essayist will choose the deserving winner of the £350 prize. The winner’s poem will be displayed alongside all of the previous winners on the Mirehouse Poetry Walk.

Janaki Spedding of Mirehouse said “We at Mirehouse are delighted that this competition has gone from strength to strength with the entries more than doubling over the five years that it has been running.  We are honored to have the very prestigious judges who we have had to judge this competition and feel that this competition celebrates the talent of today and builds on the literary links that Mirehouse has had in the past.  We are delighted that we are able to hold this competition in conjunction with the Words by the Water Festival in Keswick.”

There will be a special reading of the winner’s poem alongside eight other highly commended poems with Grevel Lindop at Mirehouse on Saturday March 7 at 11.30am.For additional information see www.mirehouse.com or call 01768 772287