On a recent (and my very first) trip to Wales, I spotted a sign for Tinern Abbey and couldn't resist taking the detour to see it. Tintern Abbey is located on the bank of the river Wye, which forms the border between Wales and England. The Abbey was founded in 1131 and fell into disrepair in 1536.
William Wordsworth's poem often referred to as Tintern Abbey, but actually entitled Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey on Revisiting the Banks of the River Wye, written in 1798, celebrates the beauty of the Wye. The poem has been a favorite of mine for years. Here is an excerpt:Therefore let the moon
And let the misty mountain-winds be free
To blow against thee: and, in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,
And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance --
If I should be where I no more can hear
Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams
Of past existence -- wilt thou then forget
That on the banks of this delightful stream
We stood together.
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