Hello, Dr. Linsely.
Some news: after perusing "Voice of the Shuttle" I stumbled across a very intriguing idea for a more narrow, and yet inclusive topic/angle without having to completely annihilate the fledgling research I've done thus far. The site is called "Romantic Natural History Timeline." There I found a link to Keats and his affinity for the romantic natural world along with his gift for the "poetic powers of observation." I found this very interesting since the link cited much from "Endymion" and his early sonnets (not to mention his odes), which all contain many rich and intense images of natural surroundings. The commentary touched on his medical training, which afforded him a keen eye for anatomical detail and his personal, close knowledge of flowers, plants, and trees. This caught my eye because it was at Clarke's where Keats first garnered this love and knowledge of botanical beauty--Clarke had the boys plant and tend their own gardens and water and monitor their own strawberry patches and fruit vines; the subsequent reward for succeeding in doing this was hours of strawberry nibbling and melon munching!
I know I can find a large body of work on this...I love it! I'm excited about taking this route...I hope it meets with your approval. I really like how it incorporates much of all his work, letters, and facets concerning his life such as his experience at Clarke's, his medical training, his emotional development as a poet, and his feelings about death/love.
What do you think?
...and her reply:
I think it sounds great and offers you much more than just the experience at Clarke's school, mainly because it's so hard to find material for that school. I'd love to know more about the school, but it is clearly a challenging topic. On the Byron society listserv, they have been discussing Byron's early school and where it was located. The people who are in England have had to go to its former site and verify that it was torn down, which shows you how hard it is to find anything on these schools. I'm just so glad you found this new topic, which is very rich indeed. Good research! Love, Joy
Ok. So my requirements are as follows: a min. of 20 sources, a final paper of 50-100 pages...and the Dean of my program as officially asked me to present what research I have ready on April 13th at an MLA symposium. No pressure, right!?

I ask you, my uber-intelligent forum-ite family...any info or input you might think about, mull over, opine about, have long drunken conversations about with a friend, dream about (Malia) or just want to put two cents in about--feel free to do so!! I have 12 sources thus far--straight from my own home library--the rest will come from London when I'm there in January.
I have quite an arduous task here...even if all you have is moral support--please--pass it on!

Just a postscript--the other 'class' I'm taking this semester is an independent study--it is a Dickens study--I have to read 4 Dickens' novels by January and I'll have one big paper due for it at the end of the next semester...I'll list the novels in another post...this one is too long already...
God help me. I have been ill all Thanksgiving holiday from sheer exhaustion, I think...
I need a serious drink...

