I am in the process of creating a new lifestyle for myself. One in which I actually wake up in the morning. (Shocking, I know). Eat breakfast (with many, many cups of coffee), and then spend all of my daylight hours in the library.
I've done well so far. With the exception of Saturday and Sunday (where my routine was broken with a migraine and church), I've done a complete week without falling off the wagon. Written about half of a (rough) rough draft of my theory essay, and read about 800 pages of Icelandic myth and history.
The real test will be how well I survive the revival of crew training tomorrow.
But anyway. That was actually just a prelude to say that I was in the Bodleian today, reading The Poetic Edda (translated by the professor I'll be working with this term), when one of the women from my Thursday night Bible study asked if I wanted to take a lunch break with her. So we went to a local deli and bought baguette sandwiches (Brie and onion marmalade) and then ate them in her college's MCR (which, for those of you uninitiated, is the "Middle Common Room" -- i.e. the place where grad students hang out).
She's a member of University College, and gave me a bit of a tour, which included this lovely memorial to (arguably) the college's most famous member: Percy Bysshe Shelley.
In case you didn't know, besides being married to the author of Frankenstein, Shelley is one of the most famous of the Romantic poets, usually remembered beside such names as Byron and Keats.
What I found exceedingly amusing, however, is that this memorial (given to the college because it was too large to transport, as originally intended, to his grave in Rome) commemorates a student who lasted a grand total of one term at Oxford. That's right. On the 25th of March it will be exactly 200 years since Shelley was expelled.
Which explains, I suppose, why, when originally offered the memorial, the Fellows of the college decided to reject it. But granted foresight (and extra money from his daughter-in-law) they finally accepted what has become the college's leading tourist attraction.
It, appropriately enough, is described as the statue that "continues to fascinate and disturb." I think that Shelley, the author of "infidel poetry" (so described by the journalist who gloated, upon hearing of his death, that "now he knows whether there is God or no") and the "inspiration to rebellious students everywhere" (so claimed by one of Oxford's current student newspapers), would appreciate the description.
3 comments:
Shelley was a real independent thinker as well as great poet. If you get chance, visit the exhibition in Bodleian 'Shelley's Ghost' there are wonderful items there, such as a passionate letter from Keats (on his deathbed) to Shelley. Shelley was always very generous to his friends.
So how did the return to crew go? (Not that that was the point of this reflection...)
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