Monday, 12 July 2010

Exam countdown

On the basis on how well the first part of my exam went, I'm viewing tomorrow with extreme trepidation. I don't feel particularly emotional - which is good - because I hate being in prey of my irrational side, particularly when I am most in need of rationality. Besides, it's 35º outside. I need to conserve moisture.


I'm not sure what I've been doing for the past six weeks, because it doesn't seem to have helped me prepare the exam (the entire two month Greek course was on literary history, which seems counter-intuitive..)
Have I learnt the entire Apologia in Italian and Greek? No.
Have I learnt 80 archaic greek poems? No.
Do I know the linguistic quirks of the Greek dialects? No.
Do I know metre? Not really (aside from dactylic hexametre and elegiac distichs, I really need the scheme, a pencil and a few minutes to work it out).
Greek grammar? Hah!

Follow-up questions:
Can I translate Plato at sight into Italian? No.
Do I even remember what most of the 80 poems were about? Well.. war, sex and how awful it is to be old.

Hm. Better revise some more. I really hope he asks me about Mimnermus, (1) because I remember at least four of his poems, and (2) because no matter how much he shouts at me and makes me feel like protozoaic ooze, at least I can respond with a comment about mortality, old-age and death.

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