(no subject)
These last few weeks that have inevitably led into months since I last wrote in here have been filled up with my dissertation. It is weird that I have had this 10, 000 word essay to do since last September. Procrastination is no beautiful thing and I am reaping the ‘benefits’ of it now. It took me a long time to choose what I actually wanted to write about. I can never make my mind up about anything. So I chose to write about a subject that has always been close to my heart, and that subject was that of King Arthur. The thing is, I decided that like before Christmas last year. I have put off doing anything on this, because truth be told there was just so much King Arthur. I had no focus whatsoever. I was putting off writing about it because there was too much to write.
I started doing research on Arthur, and found that I was much more interested in Merlin. He just seems to have more of a character. So my angle started shifting towards Merlin’s side of things, but I still had no idea where to go with it at all. It was only when my deadline of May 8th started dawning upon me that I realised I had to get my ass in gear. I chose to write about a book I had read when I was about 15 called The Once and Future King by T H White. I love this book, it’s taught me so much.
See through my three years of doing this degree, I never really tried with it. I put off work, did things at the last minute and only ever attained mediocre grades. I am intelligent, but I am not academic. So when I actually do work, I learn a lot. White has taught me what an anachronism is for example and a lot about Thomas Malory’s Morte de Arthur. I love learning but I have had enough of deadlines, and my love of learning was encouraged through this quote that Merlyn (spelt differently in TOAFK) says to Arthur:
“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing, which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, and never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn."
Spot on I say.
I started doing research on Arthur, and found that I was much more interested in Merlin. He just seems to have more of a character. So my angle started shifting towards Merlin’s side of things, but I still had no idea where to go with it at all. It was only when my deadline of May 8th started dawning upon me that I realised I had to get my ass in gear. I chose to write about a book I had read when I was about 15 called The Once and Future King by T H White. I love this book, it’s taught me so much.
See through my three years of doing this degree, I never really tried with it. I put off work, did things at the last minute and only ever attained mediocre grades. I am intelligent, but I am not academic. So when I actually do work, I learn a lot. White has taught me what an anachronism is for example and a lot about Thomas Malory’s Morte de Arthur. I love learning but I have had enough of deadlines, and my love of learning was encouraged through this quote that Merlyn (spelt differently in TOAFK) says to Arthur:
“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing, which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, and never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn."
Spot on I say.