10 Years After

Despite my blank mind during the last test in British Literature I scored a 97. The missing three points were for an identification of :

He said, "She has a lovely face; / God in his mercy lend her grace."

It took me some time to think of where it was from. It finally occurred to me while I was writing this entry. It is from Tennyson's "The Lady of Shallot."

Here are the three Discussion questions I answered:

A2. Discuss Keat's Capacity for friendship and family life and its role in his career.
B2. Discuss Shelley's hatred of tyranny.
C2. Discuss Byron as an athlete and soldier.
(I'll give my answers when I have more time.)

In class we also evaluated our instructor. I gave him high marks. He's a fabulous teacher and the class is quite engrossing. I made only two criticisms. The first was a comment suggesting that the course would be improved by an Internet presence. It could be a clearinghouse for all the course material handed out. The other, more pressing suggestion, was that there be some syllabus for readings which covers the entire semester rather than handing it out piecemeal.

Now for my rant. . .
My British Literature class seems to be going the way of my Spanish Class. Spanish was cancelled last Friday due to illness. Then Monday we wasted the period watching some lame movie about Mexico. The oral presentation of the conversation from the book which we were suppose to do last Friday was rescheduled for today and the oral composition, which has yet to be returned to us, is scheduled for this Friday. While we sat in the classroom watching the video, the instructor sat at her table (not really a desk) grading the quizes we took last Wednesday.

How does this relate to British Literature? The next two class sessions have been cancelled. Friday the instructor has a conference to attend and Monday he has a doctor's appointment. I have no problem with these things, appointments with doctors are very important. I just wish class wasn't cancelled. It's a two fold feeling. First, I paid to attend a certain number of lecture hours by the professor. Second of all, the English department has the strictest guidelines for attendence. Couldn't he have assigned a substitute to carry on the lectures. . . or a movie to watch? Instead he suggested that we spend the time working on the next paper which is due on the 20th.