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Literary Bristol

As you wander through the streets of Bristol it is easy to see how writers have been inspired by this beautiful and diverse city. Everywhere you turn there is a reflection of a place in a book or an atmosphere echoed in a poem.

Robert Southey

Bristol is probably most well known for being the birthplace of Robert Southey. Southey, a close friend of Wordsworth and Coleridge whom he met in Bristol, later became a Poet Laureate. Although he only spent his early years living in Bristol, his time here had a lifelong influence on his work.

William Wordsworth

Wordsworth was also influenced by Bristol, it is said that he wrote the famous poem 'Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey' in Bristol at the house of Joseph Cottle who owned a book shop in the High Street.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Coleridge launched his magazine, 'The Watchman,' in Bristol in 1795 at The Rummer, in the Old City.

Thomas Chatterton

Not all the poetry in Bristol has a happy history. The young Bristolian Thomas Chatterton, now a respected and well revered contributor to Britain's literary past, was born and brought up near Redcliff, where his family had held the office of sexton at St Mary Redcliff for nearly 200 years. Educated at Colston's School, Chatterton did not fit in well with his peers and after failing to get his poems published he took his own life at the young age of 17.

Helen Dunmore

In recent years Bristol has given birth to a new type of poet. Award winning author Helen Dunmore, who lives in Bristol, has impressed the world with her wonderful talents as both a writer and a poet.

Today, Bristol is a vibrant centre for Performance Poetry. An annual Poetry Festival in September celebrates the work of the city's poets in venues around the city.

Daniel Defoe and Robert Louis Stevenson

Bristol's rich maritime history has inspired stories of exploration and voyages. Robinson Crusoe is allegedly based on Alexander Selkirk, a shipwrecked sailor, whom Daniel Defoe met in The Llandoger Trow in King Street. The Hole in the Wall in Queen Square is said to be the basis for The Spyglass in Robert Louis Stephenson's Treasure Island.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen spent time in Bristol with her mother, and are thought to have stayed in Clifton. The folly at Blaise Castle Estate is mentioned in Northanger Abbey. The nearby city of Bath also features frequently in her books.

Bristol Old Vic Theatre

There are many buildings in Bristol that hold particular literary significance. Bristol Old Vic in Kings Street was opened in 1766 and played host to many famous actors and actresses like Sarah Siddons and Elizabeth Inchbold.

Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Oscar Wilde

The Victoria Rooms, built in 1841, were host to many a literary icon, Charles Dickens and his friend Wilkie Collins performed two plays here in 1851, and Oscar Wilde also spoke at the Victoria rooms at great length on aesthetics.

JK Rowling

Did you know Harry Potter was inspired by Bristol? Author J K Rowling was born and brought up in Chipping Sodbury just outside Bristol, and the character Harry was inspired by a boy Rowling met as a child in Bristol!

>>Discover contemporary local poetry with City of Poems available for £10.45+p&p from Bristol Gift Shop. An exciting anthology of new poetry and photography about life and living in Bristol today.