Lancaster University is launching a new online course which explores the influence of the Lake District on William Wordsworth and the writing process behind some of his best-known poetry.

The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is now open for registration on FutureLearn, which provides free online courses from world-class universities.

The course ‘William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place’ has been designed for the general public – both for those who haven’t read Wordsworth before, and for those who are familiar with his poetry.

Professor Simon Bainbridge, who is leading the course, said: “This free online course brings together the academic strengths of Lancaster University with the unparalleled resources and curatorial expertise of the Wordsworth Trust.

“The course will enable participants to appreciate why the beautiful landscape of the Lake District was so important for William Wordsworth. It will also give learners a sense of what it is like to work with Wordsworth’s own manuscripts and to understand why and how he wrote his greatest poetry.”

The course was filmed in Grasmere, Ullswater and Hawkshead – places Wordsworth wrote about – as well as Dove Cottage, where he lived from 1799 to 1808 and produced much of his greatest poetry.

The MOOC has been produced in association with the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere.

Sample course materials can be found here.