In an attempt to veer my procrastination towards productivity, I am attempting a casual blog about the reasons why I like what I do in terms of my literary interests.
At the moment I am surrounded by a pile of books dealing the the intricacies of the topic of 'Medieval Scottish Poetry'. And understandably, with the imminent deadline for my research document looming, I am questioning just why it is that I've chosen the topic I have.
- This era of literature has good memories for me: in my sixth year at school, a year in which I was particularly noxious company due to being a miserable wretch of a human being, I endured the horrors of Advanced Higher English. For this we had two teachers, one of whom we saw for one hour of the prescribed five hours a week. I divided these paragons of learning into two categories: the Wanker and the Genius. Sadly, we saw the Genius for the least amount of time. However, in his classroom I was introduced the phenomenon of William Dunbar and I grew to take a great interest in his poetry. When it came to the exam, though I was better prepared for the Hardy and Heaney questions, I outright refused to answer them, opting instead for Dunbar to show my fealty to the Genius, who had taken pity on me in my revision and stole me a muffin from the staffroom. Therein lies the beginning of my passion for the Makars.
- One half of my abortive attempt at a Cambridge interview was with an eminent Dunbar scholar (though I didn't notice this at the time). I flopped epically in this academic arena and have always felt that I should strive for redemption in this area.
- I like the swearing and the crassness that is displayed in much of the poetry. It endears me to the authors, who are unafraid to show the downside of human life in their era, rather than gloss it entirely with aureate language, despite the fact that their capabilities are more than adequate, should they want to do this.
- It has a pure kind of Scottishness to it that makes me very proud of our heritage here. And not a crass, medieval Irvine Welsh/James Kelman persona - a thoughtful, detailed approach to literature as a whole, taking in European and Classical influences and alluding to mythology in relation to everyday life. Sweet.
- Reading medieval poetry aloud is like having a glorious bad cough. And I like bad coughs.
Somehow, I doubt this reasoning will work in terms of a real research document...
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