George Barrett, Sr.: View of Windermere Lake, Early Morning (1781)

This contemporary painting illustrates the scenery of the Lake District so beloved of Wordsworth and recreated in his verse. Shakespeare describes many comparably memorable vistas, such as the vivid view from the cliffs of Dover so imaginatively recreated by Edgar in King Lear (IV.vi.11-24). This suggestively precise account recapitulates Shakespeare's previous use of that seemingly identical view by Richard of Gloucester in Henry VI, Part 3 (III.ii. 135-9). Both accounts carry an overtone of authorial involvement beyond character creation (see next image and notes). Shakespeare was as deeply attached to the less spectacular landscape of his home county of Warwickshire. Courtesy of the Yorck Project, under GNU Free Document License.