A Learning Process

Salam Alaykom

The beauty of studying something like English Literature is that you are allowed to look at things as you want and there's no E=MC2 answer to follow, you're encouraged to develop a unique interpretation of any given text (it doesn't really help that thousands of people have actually PUBLISHED their views, so you can't exactly claim them to be your own.) Either way, I was looking at an extract from The Book of Margery Kempe, and since I am entitled to an opinion...

I HATE IT!! - if you think I'm about to start ranting, you're right- it's a book that is dominated by nothing more than the hallucinations of a blasphemous bat who refuses to accept she may be suffering from post traumatic stress or whatever.. how this text may be considered as 'Christian' is beyond me. I refuse to accept its significance in literature as a surviving text of a certain era as it does nothing but reflect on a woman who chooses to pervert the very foundations and tenets of the Christian faith. OK, it may be possible that her narrations may have some basis in truth, as in her deep religious convictions may cause her to break into uncontrollable tears and faint, but to say she was the recipient of revelations... where is the basis of truth here? did anyone else see anything of the sort, feel a presence, whatever? no, because we rely on her autobiographical narration, which may have been altered by the priests that documented them later.. if you ask me, the text is nothing but the desperate cry of someone who wants nothing more than a voice and recognition.. almost a cry for help.

Ironically, I did NOT choose to look at this in the exam as I preferred to look at contemporary poetry.. Simon Armitage.. yay. Also, I somehow missed out on one of the most important extracts, as in I answered it but left out CRITICAL things- like the relevance of the Extract from the Tyndell Bible being an INTERPRETATION etcccccc. GAHHH, i could kill myself... we looked at this in detail in another module!

Anyway, I've digressed and kinda lost track... a learning process. If there is one thing I've learnt from my first year at uni is that TIME MANAGEMENT is KEY. This can be like my annual 'New Years Resolutions' that never actually happen, but this time next year I want to feel I've learnt from my mistakes..

1- READ. READ. READ. reading lists are KILLERS- start early and you're sorted. and you actually understand what on Earth the lecturer is talking about.

2- Research: forms interpretations, mentions things you missed in your first reading blah blah.. and you sound like a know-it-all in front of your peers and the Dr's.

3- TIME: it's not gonna stop for me, and it won't be an ally when you've started an essay the night before

4- Help: there's actually nothing wrong with asking for it, we even get encouraged to do so.. just got to pluck up the courage to actually do that.

I think I needed to ramble on.. express the fact that I know I could have done better and just hope I can implement my experiences into next year. Now, enough wallowing in self pity.. time to reacquaint myself with my favourite letter.. zzzZZZZZZZ