The major Romantic poets.

Lake Country, Lake District

The Lake District is in the hilly northwestern Cumberland-Westmoreland region of England, below the border with Scotland and just off the Irish Sea. Wordsworth, born and educated on the banks of the Esthwaite, lived most of his life in the area surrounding the lakes. He died at Rydal Mount close to Rydal Lake.

Lake School Poets

The term "Lake Poets" or "Lake School" was first used in 1817 in the Edinburgh Review to describe Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey, poets who lived in and drew inspiration from the Lake District.

Southey, Robert

Poet laureate from 1813 until 1843, Southey was closely associated with Wordsworth and Coleridge. The three poets lived in the northern Lake District. Southey holds his place in the group more by personal friendship than by his literary talent. He left Oxford to join Coleridge in his scheme of a utopian pantisocracy. Then, refusing to consider any other occupation, Southey labored at literature for more than fifty years. He set himself the task of writing something every working day; he could not wait for inspiration as he was compelled to support his own large family and also, in large measure, that of his friend Coleridge.