To Autumn: a celebration of nature’s golden season. By Caroline K. Mackenzie.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’. So begins Keats’ beautiful ode ‘To Autumn’, the first poem I ever learned by heart. Our English teacher at school had asked us each to choose a poem, learn it, and recite it to the rest of the class, with a short presentation of what it meant to us. Flicking through a poetry compilation from the bookcase in my bedroom, Keats’ poem immediately struck a chord. I have returned to the poem every year since, and not just in autumn.

Autumn is, quite simply, my favourite time of the year. Although many people understandably enjoy the ‘new birth’ of spring, or the hot weather and long days of summer, I have always favoured what tends to be one of the two cooler seasons of our year. Some of my friends cite winter as the better, thanks in part to the excitement of Christmas and the prospect of a New Year. However, I particularly enjoy the anticipation and rejuvenation of a new year not in January but September (of which more below).

If you are not familiar with Keats’ poem then I urge you to read it. I shall let his enchanting words speak for themselves. In this blog, I should like to set out just some of the reasons why I believe autumn is so special and, if you are a summer lover, perhaps this post will help you look forward to the days and months ahead rather than feel disappointment as your favourite season draws to a close.

Autumn leaves

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

Watching the leaves on the trees change from green to golden to flaming red is a visual delight, matched by the audible joy of the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot on a brisk autumn’s walk. Who can resist the childlike urge to kick a pile of these giant cornflakes and then watch them as they tumble silently, twisting and turning, to the ground again? Paths which would otherwise simply be muddy brown trails are transformed into golden patchwork quilts lining the way ahead through woods whose trees generously and gently drop their jewels until their branches are bare and ready for winter.

If one of these walks is blessed with a blue sky and gleaming sunshine, then that is a recipe for a perfect autumn day. Sunshine is always welcome but in the height of summer when the temperatures soar, I often find myself seeking shade or even staying indoors (not least to avoid the dreaded hay fever symptoms). However, sunshine on an autumn’s day feels like a surprise gift and makes my soul sing.

Log fires

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

The best experiences enlist all our senses and, together with a feast for the eyes fit for Midas, autumn brings its own aromas, one of the loveliest of which is the welcoming smell of a log fire. Watching the wisps of smoke whirl out of a chimney pot is surely one of the most enticing invitations and a promise of cheer, homeliness and comfort. Once inside, sitting by a fire provides warmth in a way that no central heating can rival and a cosy glow that turns everything in the room golden, mirroring nature’s colours outdoors.

Crackling logs are accompanied by a mesmerising dance display as the flames lick the wood, pirouette above, and showcase a whole rainbow of reds, oranges, yellows, even purples and blues. I find myself hypnotised by the constant movement which is ever-changing and yet supremely calming.

Even a stack of well-arranged logs can create that snug feeling with the promise of hours curling up by a wood-burner or inglenook.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

Cosy evenings

Log fires are a treat at any time of day but perhaps the most indulgent time is late afternoon which almost unnoticed turns into evening, the hours slipping by as mugs of hot chocolate are grasped with grateful hands chilled during an invigorating stroll. Soon thereafter, it is perhaps time to crack open a favourite bottle of wine (mine is a ‘Bacchus’, of course) and curl up with a good book until bedtime.

© Amanda Short Design.

From ‘A Latin Lexicon: an Illustrated Compendium of Latin words and English derivatives’ by Caroline K. Mackenzie.

The soporific seductions of autumn need no hard sell, but to illustrate this part of the blog, I could not resist including the gorgeous illustration created by Amanda Short for my Latin Lexicon (the subject of a previous History Girls post, A Latin Lexicon). This lovely image accompanies the entry in the Lexicon for ‘dormio’ (I sleep) from which we derive dormant, dormitory and, of course, dormouse.

Candles

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

Most of my days are spent at my desk, researching, writing or teaching (currently via Zoom). As the days draw shorter, a scented candle flickering by my papers and books helps make my study a relaxing and pleasant environment. I would happily spend all my days in here so the lure of an autumn ramble ensures I keep moving and achieve some sort of physical as well as mental workout each day (or as the Roman poet Juvenal so succinctly wrote, ‘mens sana in corpore sano’).

Autumn fruits

Another of nature’s gifts at this time of year is the surplus of delicious ripe fruits growing in abundance on trees and in hedgerows - a healthy, sweet treat! Apples, blackberries, plums, and damsons make for comforting crumbles and warming pies (with plenty of cinnamon for good measure) or can be simply eaten straight from the branch. The fruits add rosiness to a garden or country lane - a form of second flowering when many plants have dropped their colourful petals - and contribute to the kaleidoscope of autumn arrays.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

If you are fortunate enough to be outdoors just after a rain shower, nature also kindly washes the fruit for you - it is such a beautiful sight to see a juicy plum, perfectly ripe and decorated with a glistening rain drop like a crystal of sugar. Green leaves positively radiate when wet and reflect the sun’s rays, as if thanking the skies for the combination of ingredients which help their host produce its best crop. As for the sweet smell of fresh rain and cut grass, I just stand and take deep breaths and feel the benefit with each one. If I could bottle this air, I would.

Back to school

I realise that I may be biased, being a teacher, but autumn heralds the excitement of a new year. Or, to look at this another way, I have often thought that one of the reasons I took up teaching is because I enjoy the structure of the academic year so much. September brings a new start; as a child, of course, that also meant new pencils - such a thrill! Refreshed and recharged by the summer holidays, the return to school meant new teachers, novel subjects and after-school clubs, sometimes additional classmates, too, and there was always the optimism of unknown adventures ahead.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

Later, as a student, cycling along The Backs and marvelling at the autumn colours in Cambridge, I contemplated the choice of new courses on offer: Homer, Classical Art and Archaeology, Food and Drink in the Ancient World (and daytimes spent in the Faculty would be punctuated by plenty of parties by night) - what a ball I was going to have! Embarking on my postgraduate studies in York, I remember vividly walking along the River Ouse lined with trees putting on their autumnal attire with the Minster towering majestically in the distance. That autumn reminds me of the excitement of a new chapter and a new challenge. 

The Library at Pembroke College, Cambridge in autumn.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

This September, I have welcomed a new crop of tutees in Latin and Greek (of all ages and stages of life), whose enthusiasm is infectious and some of whose academic journeys are just beginning. But it is also lovely to welcome back students who have had a summer break from their studies and are returning re-energised and focused, whatever their goals. Happy New School Year!

September in the city

When I commenced my career in London as a lawyer, I was introduced to the joys of a city in autumn including the delight of diving into a cosy coffee shop on a rainy day en route to the office. City breaks are enchanting in autumn - it’s not too hot to explore the streets on foot and European cities like Paris, Bruges and Vienna are even more magical at this time of year, their beautiful buildings radiant in the golden sunshine, and their rivers sparkling like diamonds. New York always looks particularly stunning 'in the Fall' when Central Park comes ablaze with russet trees whose reflections bounce back in the Lake, offsetting the grey, geometric and grid-like mirror images of the city's architecture.

Literary inspiration

To conclude my case for autumn, I leave you with a couple of quotations which pay fitting tribute to autumnal offerings. In the meantime, I shall pour myself a cider and raise a toast, ‘To Autumn’.

‘Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness, that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.’ Jane Austen, ‘Persuasion’.

‘Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, ‘The Great Gatsby’.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie

Classics Club during Covid by Caroline K. Mackenzie

Caroline K. Mackenzie tells the story of her Classics Club and how it has provided her with companionship and inspiration during lockdown.

Classics Club began with an odyssey around the art and archaeology of Greece and Rome (Image: The Caryatids of the Erechtheion in Athens).

This image appeared on my flyers as a visual ‘amuse-bouche’.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie.

A couple of years ago, I decided to set up a ‘Classics Club’. I had moved to a new area and thought it would be a good way to meet new people and share my love of the ancient world. The village has a lovely Pavilion, next to the cricket pitch, and this seemed an ideal venue: not too large to be impersonal, but spacious enough to feel like a classroom. I resolved that, even if no-one turned up to Classics Club, I would still happily spend Monday mornings there with my books in the tranquil surroundings.

The first term was to be a series of lectures on Classical Art and Archaeology. I had just completed an MA on this subject, so my research was fresh in my mind and I was keen to share it. I printed some flyers and set about distributing them. Local businesses were brilliantly supportive and displayed my flyers on notice boards, included them in e-newsletters and generally spread the word. This also gave me the perfect excuse to visit every local coffee shop and pub, leaflets in hand: much coffee and cake was consumed en route, all in the name of marketing.

If you have read my previous post (A Latin Lexicon) you may already have gathered that I am rather fond of coffee and cake. So it seemed natural to include these as part of Classics Club (not least as I liked the alliteration). I hoped it would be an incentive for people to try out Classics Club and would make meeting at the Pavilion a more sociable event.

Classics Club before Covid.

Coffee and cakes were the secret to keeping the numbers up!

© Caroline K. Mackenzie.

For the second term, we planned a smaller reading class which would allow more group discussion and an in-depth look at some of the wonderful Classical literature. Homer’s ‘Iliad’ seemed the perfect place to start. However, after just a few weeks, the pandemic had taken hold and all group meetings had to be abandoned. What were we to do? Zoom came to the rescue.

We had a rather bumpy first session - I kept losing my internet connection so constantly moved around the house until I ended up sitting on the bedroom floor in half-darkness to avoid screen glare. However, everyone was very patient - the thrill of actually being able to ‘see’ each other after the abrupt confinement to our homes gave us the drive to persist. Within a few weeks we had settled into our new routine, and Homer led the way.

Coffee and cake or ‘dainties’ (to borrow a popular translation of Homer’s word for ‘nibbles’) were now ‘bring your own’. However, holding the class online meant that members from further afield could join us, even from abroad. We tackle about 300 lines of Homer a week and even at this steady pace we run out of time to discuss all that we should like to. Homer is such a rich quarry of material, with his observations on the frailty of humanity seeming as urgent and relevant as ever. Not only does Homer bring reassurance but also much needed escapism. We have had some hilarious debates about our favourite characters (mine’s Hektor: I even named my rescue cat after him) and we can’t decide whether to love or hate Achilles, with his arrogant swagger and shameful treatment of Hektor’s corpse.

The longevity and popularity of Homer’s work may largely be thanks to the skill and sensitivity with which he examines human emotions and experiences: hope, fear, love, friendship, family and, of course, death. The poet even seems to have known (or at least hoped) that his work would be immortalised when his leading lady, Helen of Troy, delivers this telling line as she bemoans her ill-fated affair with Paris, the cause of the Trojan war: ‘On us two Zeus has set a doom of misery, so that in time to come we can be themes of song for men of future generations’. That line fills me with delight every time I read it, sending a shiver down my spine: I can’t help wondering, ‘What would Homer have thought of us (three generations in one group no less) discussing his poem 2,700 years later, via Zoom?’. It’s certainly a new twist on the ‘oral tradition’.

 

Achilles, star of the ‘Iliad’: petulant Mummy’s boy or heroic role model?

© Caroline K. Mackenzie.

Perhaps just as important as celebrating Homer’s legacy, Classics Club during Covid has provided an anchor to the week - for me, there is a comforting routine to our regular Monday morning meetings which set me up for my week of teaching (one to one Latin and Greek tutoring, much of which is based on Homer’s works and stories). The group has formed firm friendships and this last year feels almost like a rite of passage - the unique experience of having travelled together through every line of the ‘Iliad’ in such unprecedented times. Homer’s compelling narrative of tragedy, drama and, at times, comedy is beautifully framed by his famous similes depicting the power of nature. In many ways, his narrative has reflected our experiences through the pandemic - the losses we have suffered among family and friends, our finding comfort in those close to us, and our longing to be outdoors among nature for peace and reflection. One of the ‘Iliad’s’ best-known phrases ‘Before the Greeks came…’ seems ironically reflected in our own words (heard rather frequently these days) ‘Before the pandemic came…’.

One of our group was even inspired to create a Classics Club logo, pictured below. It depicts Hektor and Achilles in action, with the Trojan horse behind them, and incorporates the lovely diagonal composition that was a favoured technique of the Greek sculptors and artists. The grapes are a nod to the wine which the Homeric heroes frequently drink and offer to the gods and are also reminiscent of Homer’s epithet for the sea as ‘wine-dark’. Framing the image are the words ‘Classics Club’ in English, Greek and Latin. The Greek version means ‘Greek club’ and the word for Classics in Latin should strictly also be ‘Greek’ (Graecus) but we thought we should give the Romans their due, hence ‘Romanus’. The Greek word for club also means ‘companionship’ and the Latin one is literally ‘a circle or group for conversation’. Both these descriptions fit our group rather well. We also had a competition to compose a motto for our class to accompany the logo. The winning entry was: ‘legere, loqui, libere’, the Latin for ‘To read, to discuss, to enjoy’.

 

‘legere, loqui, libere’. Classics Club logo: © Lang.

The future of Classics Club

Before Covid, Classics Club had also had some fun days out together. We attended lectures at the British Museum and combined these with tours of the Greek and Roman galleries. Of course, all trips have had to be postponed for the time being but we are looking forward to some more Classical adventures in due course.

 

Classics Club visit to the British Museum - the rain didn’t keep us away.

© Caroline K. Mackenzie.

I have also promised the group a party. As soon as we are permitted, Classics Club will reunite in the Pavilion where I shall ensure the wine is flowing as abundantly as the Homeric hexameters.

In the meantime, we shall shortly be setting sail with Homer’s ‘Odyssey’, arguably the sequel to the ‘Iliad’, but an epic that can be enjoyed in its own right (and it is actually my favourite of the two works). In due course we shall return where we began, to the picturesque Pavilion, in the manner of ‘ring composition’ (a narrative framing device favoured by Homer whereby an episode begins and ends symmetrically). But for those Classicists further afield, I shall also be running a parallel class on Zoom.

As I type this, Classics Club ‘online’ is approaching the end of its first year, so it seems rather appropriate that we are just embarking on the concluding books of the ‘Iliad’. It has been quite an odyssey (forgive the pun). Our meeting next Monday will fall a day before our first birthday - I think I shall put a candle in my slice of cake…

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Free lecture on Lullingstone

The final lecture of Classics Club pre-Covid was about Lullingstone Roman Villa in Kent, the subject of my first book and also my first ever blog for the History Girls: Culture and Society at Lullingstone Roman Villa. Last week I delivered an updated lecture on the same topic hosted by my publisher, Archaeopress. So by way of offering you a slice of Classics Club (without the cake, I’m afraid) I attach a link below in case it is of interest. P.S. If you watch the talk you will find a code for a 25% discount on both my books.

 

An evening with Archaeopress: ‘Culture and Society at Lullingstone Roman Villa’. 

Click here to watch the recorded lecture: An Evening with Archaeopress: Caroline K. Mackenzie

Classics Club - new classes starting soon!

I shall be starting a new Classics Club reading group on Monday 10th May 3pm GMT. We shall be reading Homer's ‘Odyssey’ over the course of the year. Meetings will be via Zoom every week for 1h30mins. The first hour is a presentation of the text by me followed by 30mins discussion. Cost is £10 per session. For more information or to reserve a place, please get in touch:

Twitter:  @carolinetutor

Website: www.carolinetutor.co.uk
LinkedIn: Caroline K. Mackenzie

Acknowledgements

First, thank you to Mary Hoffman and all the History Girls.

Thank you to our local Pavilion and its committee for providing Classics Club’s first home. Looking forward to coming back to you soon! (Hopefully we won’t take as long as Odysseus to return home.) Thank you also to all the local businesses who happily displayed my flyers (and for the delicious ‘dainties’).

Thank you also to everyone at Archaeopress, especially Patrick Harris.

Last but certainly not least, huge thanks to all the members of Classics Club for your support and friendship, particularly all of you who have joined me throughout lockdown.