Second-Year Springtime

Slogging through Tennyson can mean reading a lot of less-than-stimulating verse (in my humble opinion).  But then there are moments when you run across a gorgeous line or a sweet moment, and they make it worth while.  Bonus points for Cambridge references.  For example, here's a bit from a sonnet he wrote for a college friend who had died when they were both old men:

How oft we two have heard St Mary's chimes!     [The university church]
How oft the Cantab supper, host and guest,          [Cantab = Cambridge]
Would echo helpless laughter to your jest!
How oft with him we paced that walk of limes,    [path to the back entry of Trinity College]
Him, the lost light of those dawn-golden times,
Who loved you well!  Now both are gone to rest.
.................................................
                              dream of a shadow, go --
God bless you.  I shall join you in a day.

It's still not the most amazing stuff he ever wrote, but it's poignant.  I'm only halfway through his collected poems, but that hasn't stopped me from writing my second-year review piece.  It's nearly 20,000 words long, which is 1/3 of the minimum length for the complete dissertation.  It's a big stack of paper.  That big stack of paper is sitting at my left elbow as I write this, with notes from my supervisor sprinkled throughout it.  We had a good meeting last week, and basically she thinks it's an interesting subject and good material, but I need to make it clear what my claims are and why I'm using particular poems.

It's really exciting to hear confirmation that I'm on a path that will actually lead to a PhD.  I can see how much I still need to do -- discuss the work of other critics, for example -- but that's now in the context of filling out a shape I have in mind.

Meanwhile, spring/summer has suddenly blazed forth in Cambridge.  It's positively humid, and everyone has dug out their shorts and sandals from whatever cupboard they were buried in.  I have mounted to the top of the college library and have a gorgeous view of the sunset light on the spires of King's College chapel.  The sound of happy student chatter drifts up from Latham Lawn and through the windows that have been cranked open for the breeze.  It was only a few days ago that it was hard to believe we'd ever get clear sky and warmth again, and now winter seems aeons ago.  Here is a recording of the sounds from earlier this evening, the chapel bell at King's calling people to evensong: