Dear avid MUSE readers,
This is it, the moment you have all been waiting for, the apotheosis of each semester: MUSE is out! It is time for you to forget all about the impending deadlines and to dive headfirst into the delightful web edition which we have put together just for you:
- “Gawain On Location”: An Interview With Professor Denis Renevey About This Autumn’s Course Taught Between The Universities of Lancaster and Lausanne
- A Usual Christmas Dinner
- Anonymous Prose Poems
- Anonymous Prose Texts
- Cross Over
- Daffodil, were I adamant as thou (based on John Keats’s “Bright Star”)
- For All We Know This Is The End
- I walked on in a busy crowd (rewriting of Wordsworth’s “I wandered lonely as a cloud” )
- Poems by Hanna Gorani
- Poems by Marie McMullin
- Relief
- Shadow Friend
- The Post Office
- The Willow Tree
- Which English Department Staff Member Are You Most Like?
- Women of Colour in Professional Positions of Power
As always, we have gathered the ‘crème de la crème’ of what the students of our wonderful English Department have to offer, from poetry inspired by Wordsworth and Keats or sprung straight out of creative minds, to enthralling short stories and the exclusive first chapter of what promises to be an epic novel. Denis Renevey has also sat down with two of our editors to tell us all about the brand new MA study trip that took place this term in the north west of England and in the Swiss Alps. They looked at the beautiful medieval text Gawain and The Green Knight on location and had a lot of fun in the process, so make sure to check it out! And, cherry on the pudding, if you have ever wondered which of our beloved English members of staff you are at heart, you can now find the answer in our (highly scientific) quiz! Fair warning: the answer may surprise you!
However, this edition is not filled with only cheer. Two of our contributors have had the courage to write texts which raise important, if rather painful, issues. MUSE is proud to publish these pieces, and hopes they contribute to giving a voice to what is hushed up, and to remind each and everyone that there is always a helping hand out there, if one simply knows where to look.
It has once more been a pleasure for all of us on the MUSE editorial committee to publish this edition (the last of this decade – yikes!). So make yourself a nice cup of tea, grab a mince pie or two – don’t forget the whipped cream – and enjoy!
Love,
The MUSE team