Okay, so I got a little sidetracked there...

It's almost been a month since I last posted on here, and there's a few reasons as to why...

Firstly, NaNoWriMo began on the 1st of November. I managed to adhere to the schedule for a total of 5 days before I succumbed to the pain of writer's block. Sigh.

Next year, I'll do better.

If I'm honest, I wasn't too enthralled with my plot, such as it was.

That's a topic for another day - but I did get some good writing done on something that wasn't my previous NaNovel, which was healthy of me.

I am currently in the middle of the waiting stage of my UCAS application. I have two offers already, Conditionals for Edge Hill and Sheffield Hallam, and I have an interview at Manchester Metropolitan University's Crewe campus at the beginning of December - Bangor have received my portfolio and are currently (I assume) in the middle of reading through all of their applicants this year.

I am currently working on the portfolio I shall be taking to the MMU interview; they asked for specific things in their portfolio so I have to write a second one (the other two Uni's decided against portfolios). 

MMU asked for three paragraphs in first person which capture the voice of three different types of character: a child, a homeless person and an executive.

 Each of these people are looking into a fire: what do they see?

That was my prompt, and I shan't be divulging my paragraphs for copyright reasons - if they did an internet search and they found the work online they may reject my application, regardless that I've posted them myself. It's much simpler if they simply find nothing when/if they search.

To go along with this small task they asked for a small personal statement in which I talk about why I want to study Creative Writing at degree level - which will arguably be the hardest part, for me. I hate writing to sell myself... urgh.

However, the upside to MMUs approach to the portfolio is that they offer us candidates a chance to include a sample of original creative writing work of our own choice; a maximum of 1000 words, or 3 poems. But let's face it, my poetry is horrid (something I wouldn't mind remedying at University, mind).

I have something in mind which I think shall do the job quite nicely. It's also 200 words under their limit, which is nice. If I can prove my writing worth with 800, why not do it in 800? Those extra 200 words would probably ruin it, anyway.

Broken Promises, novels and poems...

Okay, so I feel like I've broken my promise. I have posted one review, and I've read at least two books since I said I'd review every one I can.

Here's my excuse: I have an English Literature exam on Monday. I need to brush up on my Enduring Love knowledge, because the exam question could be on ANY of the chapters in the book, I have to pretty much know the book off by heart.

That's on top of an insanely intimate detail about some Keats and Rossetti poetry. I have to admit that Keats was an astounding poet, it's such a shame that his contemporaries were so derisive towards him. I bet they turn in their graves every time someone reads Keats and ignores their own work, I'd argue that in the modern world John Keats is much more well-known than Lord Byron and Percy Shelley -- but they were three of the most important poets in the Romantic movement and alive at the same time.

Read Keats. La Belle Dame Sans Merci is, as far as I can recall, my favourite poem. It's not long. In fact, I'll type it out for you.

La Belle Dame sans Merci

' O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has wither'd from the lake,

And no birds sing.

' O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

So haggard and so woe-begone?

The squirrel's granary is full,

And the harvest's done.

' I see a lily on thy brow

With anguish moist and fever-dew;

And on thy cheeks a fading rose

Fast withereth too.'

' I met a lady in the meads,

Full beautiful - a faery's child,

Her hair was long, her foot was light,

And her eyes were wild.

' I made a garland for her head,

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;

She look'd at me as she did love,

And made sweet moan.

' I set her on my pacing steed

And nothing else saw all day long,

For sidelong would she bend, and sing

A faery's song.

' She found me roots of relish sweet,

And honey wild, and manna dew,

And sure in language strange she said,

"I love thee true!".

' She took me to her elfin grot,

And there she wept and sigh'd full sore;

And there I shut her wild, wild eyes

With kisses four.

' And there she lulled me asleep

And there I dream'd - Ah! woe betide! 

The latest dream I ever dream'd

On the cold hill's side.

' I saw pale kings and princes too,

Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;

Who cried - "La belle Dame sans Merci

Hath thee in thrall!"

' I saw their starved lips in the gloam

With horrid warning gaped wide,

And I awoke and found me here

On the cold hill's side.

' And this is why I sojourn here

Alone and palely loitering, 

Though the sedge is withered from the lake,

And no birds sing.'

Now, this is from The Oxford book of English Verse from the Oxford Clarendon press 1912, chosen and edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch. Needless to say, a very old and worn book. However, I noticed that this copy of the poem is formatted differently than the copy that my Literature teacher gave to us. So, for the fact that the book was compiled, almost, a century ago (Wow! Almost a whole century!) I have reverted the text to fit the older, and arguably more strict, version.

I could tell you quite a lot about this poem alone. I won't. But I could. I won't spoil it for you. It's quite rude for someone to shove their own impressions of a poem down your throat if you've only read a poem once. 

Read, and enjoy.