Planting for “posterity”: Wordsworthian tree planting in the English Lake District

This article explores the significance of Wordsworthian tree planting in the English Lake District. It considers how the planting of trees at the Lakeland homes of the Wordsworth family became a specific form of intergenerational and familial connection, an intensely personal means of marking the lives of family members in the making of place. Furthermore, it proposes that in turn, for William, tree cultivation became an organic form of memorial for the members of his circle, and a mode of laying roots for his own living legacy in the public imagination. Building on pre-existing scholarship that explores Wordsworth’s ecological and cultural heritage—and piecing together planting anecdotes from letters, poetry, and contemporary guides to the Lakeland region—this article identifies an evolving Wordsworthian practice and value system attached to the planting of trees, and its confluent relationship with the poet’s biography, literary works, and preoccupation with “posterity”.