Back then, the British landscapists
Found truth in local circumstance.
In Petworth Park, Hampstead Heath,
Somer Hill, and Girdale Scar,
To mention just a few.
Who among us could find them on
A map, or want to book a tour
To take them in. Whose mind among us
Can escape them once a viewing
Renders us beholden.
Those painters had but little need
For narrative, or grandiosity,
And none at all for myths or heroes.
They singled out scenes not so very
Different from the everyday,
And this made all the difference in the world.
