Term = Success!

Oxford's term is finally over. 8 weeks of speed-reading, hundreds of secondary sources, and 12 essays later, I can say that term was a success. While I was suffering through it, it seemed grueling and almost like torture at times, but looking back, I see the joy in it. 

For my primary tutorial, English Literature 1740-1832, I read 2 poets and 6 novelists. Each week, I read the primary source, found secondary sources, read those, and then proceeded to write a 2000 word essay on the text. Here's my list of things I studied:

Week 1 - John Keats Poetry (mainly his odes)

Week 2 - William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Week 3 - Frances Burney's Evelina

Week 4 - Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto

Week 5 - Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield

Week 6 - Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility

Week 7 - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Week 8 - Ann Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest

Each week, my tutor asked me what I thought of the reading. And each week, I always responded with, "I loved it! I never thought I'd enjoy some of these books that much!" I never thought I would like Gothic novels, thinking that they would terrify me, but in the end, I decided that I love them and am looking forward to reading more when I have the time (haha, whenever that is). 

For my primary tutorial, I wrote a total of 57 pages, or 17, 322 words. It was a long haul, but now that it's over, I'm glad I did it!

My secondary tutorial, English Literature 1642-1740, was a little less enjoyable, but fun nonetheless. I studied four authors:

Week 1 - Andrew Marvell's poetry

Week 2 - Aphra Behn's writing and the Earl of Rochester's poetry

Week 3 - Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders

Week 4 - John Milton's Paradise Lost

Each of these essays was to be 2500 words, which I was often short on, but still. This time period was not as fascinating to me, but I did learn a lot about the history of England during my tutorials! My tutor was very helpful in explaining the English Civil War, which affected many of the authors I studied. 

For my secondary tutorial, I wrote a total of 29 pages and 8,917 words.

For both my tutorials together, I wrote 86 pages, equaling 26, 239 words. I wrote a lot this term!

Along with my two tutorials, I also attended 32 lectures.

4 lectures = Shakespeare at the Edge

3 lectures = The Materiality of Texts

4 lectures = Aphra Behn in Context

4 lectures = High & Low Culture

6 lectures = Medieval Drama

6 lectures = Medieval Romance

1 lecture = Bibliography in Bits

4 lectures = How did we used to read?

Most of these lectures were fun, others were slightly boring, but they were all interesting and informative.

Now that term is over, most students left. My whole program is still here, and we have a class with our program. I have three essays left to write, so it's time to carry on!