Paying Homage to the Brontes: Part 2

"Ah, such desolate country!"

We decided not to visit the Bronte museum.  At the equivalent of $15 US, it seemed too much to view a few rooms filled with period furnishing and clothing, examine old manuscripts, and not be allowed to take those memories back via photographs.  Perhaps, once I have read their writing, I shall return here and do so.  Haworth is a popular literary shrine, second only to Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon.  To not read the works of these three sisters, when the Fiction they wrote draws so many here each year, seems so very, very wrong.

"Excuse me.  Do you think we could pass by?"

Then again, I’ve never read Shakespeare either.  Well, not much.  I really enjoyed Macbeth (Sorry, I mean, the Scottish play).  Of course, I could only appreciate that, at the time in which I read it, because my High School English teacher interpreted the text as the class read it together.  Hmm. I’ve kept my father's six volumes of Shakespeare.  Maybe I should aspire to read more of his work too.

Imagine the heather in bloom.

Even if you’re like me, and you haven’t actually read the Bronte sisters' works, Haworth seems a fine place to enjoy the day.  We strolled the cobblestone streets.  We purchased toffees in a candy shop.  We enjoyed steak pie and a Cornish pastry (or pasty?) in one of the restaurants.  We met others who had ventured there from America, England, and even Singapore.  Afterward, we left the village and walked the countryside, hoping to understand how the surrounding land inspired the sisters.  And before we left, we refreshed ourselves with a little ice cream.

Might I return one day?  Perhaps on a bus tour?

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte.  While they remain a conundrum, I yearn to learn about their lives, appreciate the joys and hardships they endured, and discover the beauty in their Fiction.

Thanks for reading (whether you’ve read the Brontes or not),

Dragon Dave