The Shropshire Hills have inspired verse and prose across the centuries, from ancient legend passed down by word of mouth, to more recent tales of adventure and romance.
To visit the Shropshire Hills is to bring the written word to life – seeing the locations that have inspired writers across the ages can set the imagination racing and leave today’s witness eager to learn more about such figures as the celebrated travel writer and novelist Bruce Chatwin, the “angry young man” John Osborne, the young person’s adventurer Malcolm Saville or the rural romanticist Mary Webb, to mention just a few.
A E Housman’s verse in A Shropshire Lad is so vivid that, if you shut your eyes and listen, the landscape will come to life in your mind’s eye. Small wonder that poets today continue to be inspired by the Shropshire Hills, making the area a wonderful place to catch a live poetry event.
The Shropshire Hills have inspired storytellers across the centuries: from legends, passed on by oral tradition, to the more recent works of authors and film-makers drawn to its dramatic scenery, period-piece towns and characterful buildings.
The Shropshire Hills have inspired poets from A E Housman (author of a Shropshire Lad), to the many contemporary poets who have chosen to live here.