Countryman - a poem by George Mackay Brown

Countryman

Come soon. Break from the pure ring of silence,
A swaddled wail

You venture
With jotter and book and pencil to school

An ox man, you turn
Black pages on the hill

Whisper a vow
To the long white sweetness under blessing and bell

A full harvest,
Utterings of gold at the mill

Old yarns, old malt, beside the hearth,
A breaking of ice at the well

Be silent, story, soon.
You did not take long to tell

- From Voyages, Chatto & Windus, 1983

Intermesso in the last weeks of the PhD thesis, part 5 - second time around

A week ago, I lived in the hope that today, Friday 29th of September 2017 would be the day I handed in the thesis that I have been working on for the past three years and one month. Unfortunately, this was not to be since it turned out that much more time was required to get the technical aspects of the document in place, the format, the pagination, and so on. Fortunately, I have received help from my closest friend in this process, otherwise I would probably not be able to hand in any foreseeable future. As it stands now, however, I have spent the day implementing those changes to my thesis that I had noted in the course of my second reading of the entire thing. It took most of the day to get it sorted, and the three coffee cups in the background of the picture should give an accurate indication of how I am currently feeling about all this. Only a few more days to go.

Intermesso in the last weeks of the PhD thesis, part 4 - here comes the sun

I'm still working on the finishing touches on my thesis, and as often is the case in such situations there came several delays towards what should have been the end. I'm fortunately getting closer by the day, and as we are now having an Indian summer here in Odense I could bring my notebook and coffee out in one of our courtyard - a bigger one than the one I usually frequent - and enjoy some sun while sketching out the outline of my conclusions.

First draft

My thesis process is still unfolding, and most of my energy and focus these days are directed towards the completion of all those small steps that will lead me through to the end, and which will allow me - eventually - to lay my head down and think of all the things I will be doing next. Today I took an important step towards completion: I printed the first draft of the thesis. It feels strange but good to have a tangible, physical copy of what I have been working on for the past three years. It is thicker than I thought it would be for the 128 sheets of paper of the six chapters that comprise my research and my analysis, and the final product will be even bigger with appendices and other kinds of paratext. I'm dedicating the next few days to reading through all these pages, looking for errors, typos, inconsistencies and broken promises, and then I am a big step closer to handing in.