Episode 629: Re-reading Done

After suffering a mild crisis, in which I acknowledged to myself that the attempt to re-read all of the set texts was laudable but ultimately too much, too late, I've abandoned said attempt. I have, however, just finished re-reading all the poems that I plan to use in my essays. Had to make some changes in the Victorian half, as having picked religion and sexuality as themes, I'm wary of being forced by the question into writing an essay too similar to what I did for my assessed work, even if the poets I'm using are completely different. Have substituted the theme of death for sexuality instead, which is handy because both Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Amy Levy have written poems that deal with death. Am actually starting to feel quite positive about this paper now, especially because I am beginning to see the clear links between the poems I've chosen. (I know it should work the other way around, but I'm an incredibly lazy student at times.) Right now, I'm in a position where I probably won't fail, since I'm capable of doing close readings on all the poems I've chosen. What I don't have is some sort of broader argument with which to anchor said readings. I mean, I have vague ideas, the one for the two Romantics striking me as reasonable, if not really based on any critical material I've encountered so far to the best of my knowledge. No idea how I'm going to fit the two Victorians together yet, so I'm hoping for a really vague question on either death and/or religion to come out. If a question comes out that explicitly relates the two, it might be the best thing to happen to me in an examination. Ever.