5 October 2025
I’ve not read Salih yet. I still have it in my bag.
Yesterday was officially the first day of study on A335. I celebrated it by listening to approximately 3 hours of an audiobook of the Mayhew text whilst on a drive. I think I have over twenty hours of listening to go. Due to quite a bit of driving about this week (and a trip to the university head office), I’m guessing I’m going to be able to go through about ten hours.
Yesterday evening, there was a post on the WhatApp group alerting me to a resource that had been shared on the module forum: a chapter by chapter summary of Bleak House. I’m not (yet) sure which way I’m going to jump when it comes to the first TMA. I’m going to go to a few tutorials about each of the texts before deciding.
One thing I did a couple of weeks ago was register for every single tutorial. If I find that I can’t attend one of them, I’ll unregister; it’s useful to know what is coming up in my diary.
I also need to find a time to sit down (with a coffee) to start to read through the chapters. I’m always a bit anxious about getting behind, especially when I have such a lot on. I have to balance caring responsibilities, being on multiple module teams, and a potential new project about doctoral student skill development.
I guess being aware of everything is the first step to figuring everything out. Remembering words from a tutor I once worked with: I need to make an appointment with my studies.
12 October 2025
I’ve still not read Salih.
I have, however, been listening to an audio version of Mayhew. I think it was originally 25 hours. I have 11 hours and 55 minutes to go. I’m hoping to get through quite a few on the way to Milton Keynes. I’ll then have to find a way to listen to the remaining hours.
In other news, I’ve received a welcome letter from my tutor, which is reassuring.
I have a sense that I’m getting a bit behind since I’ve not spent much time on the module website. This said, I have nearly read up to the end of the Thoreau chapter. There is an introductory tutorial which is to take place late next week which should help me to choose which text to focus on for my TMA.
I think it’s a toss-up between Thoreau and Mayhew.
16 October 2025
I have 37 minutes of the Mayhew audio book to go. I’m going to listen to that tomorrow on the train, on the way back from an appointment.
After a bicycle ride, I found myself an hour of study time. I aimed to figure out where I am in relation to the study calendar, to have a good look through the online activities, and familiarise myself with online resources. I’ve managed to get halfway through the second Mayhew chapter in the module materials. I need to get that finished.
Yesterday evening, I though about doing some late night study, but I realised I was mentally exhausted after a day of driving about, and doing my day job. Rather than hitting the books, I found myself watching the first ever episode of Mad Men, which I haven’t ever seen. I should have put on Bleak House. I need to be careful. This is a slippery slope. I did, however, listen to two and a half hours of Mayhew, so I must forgive myself. His interview of convicts was truly astonishing.
There’s a tutorial this evening. The first one. There’s a bit of homework I need to do.
It turns out that I’m vaguely on schedule.
18 October 2025
The tutorial was helpful. I got a sense that TMA 1 is a gentle ‘lead in’ to the module, and all the other TMAs. My next steps, after I’ve done what I plan to do today, which is to have a listen to the audio materials for the Tennyson chapter, is to begin the TMA. By begin, what I mean is: create an empty document, read the question, and then read the texts that I’m going to choose.
I’ve finally finished listening to the Mayhew audiobook. All in, I got through 27 hours of it, which is probably an abridged version. I’ve also re-read the Thoreau chapters in the module materials. It made a bit more sense the second time round. There is a Thoreau tutorial this forthcoming Tuesday. Although I’ll probably be choosing Mayhew, I know we’ve got to make choices in the EMA. It’s worth going to, since I always pick something up from whatever tutorial I attend.
I had a bit of trouble getting into the Tennyson poetry. I tried twice, but my attention waned. On YouTube, I found a helpful reading of The Lady of Shalott (It reminded me a bit of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which we studied in an earlier module). There is also a version of The Lotos-Eaters by the same reader. My initial conclusion after a good listen: well, that hasn’t cheered me up very much. I had to look up what the ‘Lotos’ was all about, which took me to this page: The Lotus Tree (Wikipedia).
Some further digging leads me to a reading of Ulysses, also by the same reader. That is probably going to get another listen since I have no idea what was going on. Another one: Tithonus also by the same reader; another cheery one that I don’t understand. I’m going to have a good read of the module materials. Onto Locksley Hall. This time, with a different reader. There’s a lot going on in this one, but I have no idea what it is really about.
A really big bit of text is In Memoriam A. H. H. Our text begins from verse 28, which is available on this LibreVox recording from 29:33 onwards. There seems to be a slight divergence from our text and the audio when we get to verse 41. Given the title, it is unsurprising that a lot of them are about death. They all have a similar structure, but differ in both length and theme. This is all I know.
Finally, onto two poems that are faintly familiar. The first is the famous The Charge of the Light Brigade as read by our first reader. The second is Crossing the Bar. I discovered the second poem since I understand that it is sometimes read at funerals.
I’ve got the module materials for Chapter 5 to read. Chapter 6 is all about someone called Clough, who I've never heard of before.
19 October 2025
To complement all these audio clips, I’ve found a useful couple of audio resources.
The first resource I found is an episode of In Our Time Tennyson’s In Memoriam. I suspected there would be some kind of back story to accompany the massive In Memoriam poem. I started to listen to this one, but fell asleep. I need to go back to it.
After waking up, I moved to the second resource, which is an episode of Great Lives, available on BBC Sounds. It’s a good listen. This podcast has moved (in my mind) Tennyson from being mysterious figure, to one that is a whole lot more understandable. I still struggle with the idea of a poet laureate, though.
25 October 2025
I’ve been to what must be five different tutorials since the module started. There have been quite a few over the last week. I think I’m just about ready to start work on the TMA.
My approach is going to be: Read the TMA question. Create a template. Locate the passage that I need to focus on and get a printout of it, and read it. Then read bits before and after the passage. I’m then going to look for the other bits of text needed for the second part of the question. In my template document, add the references, and then transfer different thoughts from the tutorial notes into the answer document. I’ll edit these out as I go.
If things go well, I should be done by the end of the weekend. When I’m done, it’s back to Clough, to keep a semblance of keeping up with the study calendar.
I am also quite aware that I’m quite mentally tired; there’s so much to do in my day job. I need a break, but I can’t stop now.
30 October 2025
My first TMA has been edited and submitted. Once I got going, it wasn’t too bad. I have no idea what score I’m going to get, but I think I’ve done enough to get a fair pass.
This morning, just before the day job, I’ve been reading the chapter on Clough. It was interesting enough, particularly his reflections on belief. Next up is a quick listen to the audio-visual materials.
Also, this morning I caught sight of the next TMA date, which is in December. Although I don’t have anything like a formal study calendar, I have two tasks in mind. The first is to have an advanced read of the TMA 2 question, and then to move onto The Mill on the Floss chapter. With quite a bit of driving expected in the coming couple of weeks, I feel another audio book download coming on.
A question I must ask myself is: dare I choose a poetry option for the next TMA? If I stick with prose, would that limit my choices for my EMA? I want to have fun with the EMA (if at all possible!) and write to my interests. Still, there are likely to be quite a few more interests to uncover.
Some final reflections. I’ve now had a look at TMA 2, and a practical thought is: how much text do I have to wade through to answer the question? Another thought is: do I like the question that relates to the various text options? I had a quick look at the EMA, and the text options that are available. My choice for TMA 2 might come down to how much I relate to The Mill on the Floss. A further thought: I need to find out where I can view or access the digital texts that are featured in Chapter 7.
31 October 2025
Happy Halloween! If you’re into that kind of thing...
I’ve given up reading Salih (for the time being, at least).
I think I’ve made a choice. I’m settling on Tennyson.
Using my Kindle, I’ve scribbled the TMA questions onto the Chapter 5 poetry PDF. I’ve also downloaded four critical sources that I’m going to read on a forthcoming train journey. The poetry option is outside of my comfort zone, but that’s the point.
I’ve just come off one of the ‘Poetry for Lunch’ sessions that was facilitated by one of the tutors. The one that I went to was all about Donne. I quite liked it. It is timely; I’ve been reminded what a caesura is.