Dr Eleanor Baker

The kids were great, they just had this amazing agility of thought. I, on the other hand, suck at solving riddles on account of my stiff brain folds.

Thank you for having me!

I taught some Year 7s (11/12 year olds) about Old English riddles and then got them to pen some of their own at @bodleian.ox.ac.uk! I wrote a 'feature article' about my experience doing so for the fabulous @toebi.bsky.social newsletter (link below)

Thank you for reminding me of him, I've just bought the catalogue book of his Sir Gawain pieces!

I do like the 'mummy as axolotl' portrait on the right (wishing you strength and relaxation in these trying times)

I was also listening to this, so odd

Robert Eggers (or maybe Mark Jenkin) directing Ted Hughes' 'Gaudete', which shot to the top end of my favourite reads when I encountered it a couple of years ago. Hughes hoped that it would become a film, and I think it is its time.

In which we discuss oyster shells and candles, pigments and what to do when you have a hole in your parchment:

This is amazing Laura Ashe lore.

I mean, the story writes itself there doesn't it!

RIP M.R. James, you would have loved the Corpus vault.

More manuscripts (again, thanks to the fab Joanna Snelling at Corpus Christi)! Yesterday it was the turn of my 2nd years studying English literature 1350-1550. We saw MS 201 (Piers Plowman B-text), MS 350 (a Book of Hours), MS 198 (Canterbury Tales) and MS 291 (a book of recipes).

'AN EXEMPLARY MODEL OF RECEPTION HISTORY'!

This needs to be done because Sylvia Townsend Warner deserves all the remembering we can manage

Your work is fantastic. You're cleverer with reworking metaphors than I am, but imagine I wrote something motivating about phoenix, fire, and creativity.

Today's teaching included showing my first years the fantastic collections at Corpus Christi College, thanks to its excellent librarian Joanna Snelling. They saw MS 279B (Old English trans. of Bede's HE), MS 157 (John of Worcester's Chronicon with ILLUSTRATIONS) and MS 1 (Vulgate Bible).

Lady grey tea and vanilla cakes with violets on top for someone special (the someone special is @sianwitherden.bsky.social)

I been recreationally reading victorian novels I have never read before (Gaskell's 'Ruth', Eliot's 'The Mill on the Floss', Hardy's 'Far From the Madding Crowd') but have broken my streak to read Andrew Michael Hurley's new book 'Saltwash'. He's one of my favourite contemporary eerie writers.

Yay, I'm so glad you found it! You're very welcome!

Join us next week for another Making Space Session and work on your own creative-critical project or respond to the optional theme: regrowth 🌿

🌼Thursday 5th of March
🌸5:30pm-7:00pm (GMT)
🥬Online

That's fantastic! I hope she and her dad had a big chat about it when term finished. And me too, I loved the folk-horrorific atmosphere and Ralph Ineson is one of my favourite actors - what a voice!

This evening was spent watching The Green Knight (dir. David Lowery, 2021) with students for our Green Knight Film Night (which you can chant menacingly; Green Knight Film Night Green Knight Film Night Green Knight Film Night)

Their?! There!

The Holy Well in Holywell! There's also a cute RNLI museum. If you're up for exploring further afield Cuckmere Haven just along the road (you can get their via bus) is one of my favourite places

The @guildmedmak.bsky.social will be hosting the inimitable @15thcgossipgirl.bsky.social for her workshop 'Jokewriting for Medievalists' on the 12th of March. Places will go like hot buttery baked potatoes, so sign up soon!

I'm weld and woad (beautiful work).

They were very game considering the first anchorhold flew away when we tried to make it out side 😅

I had my first years for a class on Ancrene Wisse today, which of course necessitated the enclosing of one of their number in an anchorhold of tape (to the measurements of the Leatherhead cell).

OBS / Lincoln College research associate position!

We invite early career / grad scholars to apply to our new 2-week research associate position @lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Any interesting projects that will benefit from 2 weeks at Lincoln -- £500, accommodation and meals. Deadline 27th March

Why look at the blackthorn blossom when you can get *in* the blackthorn blossom. And see oddly apropos rubbish.