Under the dislodged slab of the tongue

I finished my second Seamus Heaney tutorial...I officially love that man - I do not necessarily always agree with him, but I still adore his skill. Although lately he has begun to frustrate me. Heaney is very much a sound-oriented poet. He hears things - no not in the I hear voices sort of way - he hears a natural rhythm to words, a rhythm that I sadly miss. More so, he plays with half rhymes and assonance, things that I rarely pick up! I really want to understand him better....

On a lighter note, I went punting today for the first time...ok, I sat in the boat and fake rowed while Kate and Joanna kicked the punt's....but there was a slight moment while on my knees paddling when I nearly broke out into "Just Around the River Bend" - HAHAHA!!!

I leave you with my favorite Heaney thus far.

Limbo

Fishermen at Ballyshannon
Netted an infant last night
Along with the salmon.
An illegitimate spawning,

A small one thrown back
To the waters. But I'm sure
As she stood in the shallows
Ducking him tenderly

Till the frozen knobs of her wrists
Were dead as the gravel,
He was a minnow with hooks
Tearing her open.

She waded in under
The sign of her cross.
He was hauled in with the fish.
Now limbo will be

A cold glitter of souls
Through some far briny zone.
Even Christ's palms, unhealed,
Smart and cannot fish there.

Paradise by way of Kensal Green

I have decided to start what a friend called "a real blog". I am not sure exactly what this entails, but I will give it my all.

The past two weeks, my life has been much like that wonderful Chesterton poem - "a wheeling road, a rolling road, that rambles around the shire." I seem to keep trying to set goals only to have them diverted or changed.

Tuesday I had a tutorial with the junior dean, and I really wanted to impress her, so I got all worked up and stressed. When it came time to write my paper, I could not think of a topic - Nothing! So I typed something that sounded nice, but as I read it in tutorial, I quickly realized that I had written a glorified book report. Yuck!
Then she tried to give me a chance to make it up. After having me read a passage of the text, she asked that I comment on the style. However, I was so tired that I could not think. I looked like a right git! I did rewrite my essay for Thursday, and I hope that I at least proved that I can think about literature better than a 5th grader.

On a better note, Oxford has been fabulous! The weather is nice - and I spend much time at the river. I even went out last night...good times, good music...but my knees hurt this morning because I had not danced for 6 weeks. Haha!

Pembroke on the other hand has not been wonderful! I have been without internet since friday night! Who thinks that is ok??? It is impossible to study Seamus Heaney without the OED - impossible? OK, Hard! Oh and the hall food is still bad. You think these people would learn to cook already.

I know first post, and it is short. But I have too much to do tonight.

Laterz,
Chris