Taylorian

Societies and Activities

English

by white American authors; Christopher Joseph giving us a deft overview of the works of Christopher Marlowe; Franziska Stahl from MFL offering a memorable insight into German Great War poetry for Remembrance Day; Mrs Solomon on the nature of medieval texts and how our interpretations should be shaped by the way they would have been read; Miss Green’s introduction to the literature and writers of the Harlem Renaissance; Mr Hilton-Dennis on a young Wordsworth as a radical figure and poet; Dr Hetherington on the development of Shakespeare’s History plays; Miss Kotsuba’s introduction to the comic absurdism of Gogol’s ‘Dead Souls’ and ‘The Overcoat’; and a rare meeting of science and literature, with honorary UCL Professor, John Galloway, giving a fascinating history of the relationship between poetry and scientific discovery in the 18th Century. The Herrick season was brought to its traditional close with a series of lectures on America, delivered by erudite former Head of English, David Andrews, which charted the history and literature of the period that begins with the aftermath of the Civil War and ends in the mid-20th Century with America a global superpower. Mr M. G. Hilton-Dennis Storytelling Club The traditional art of storytelling continued at MTS this year, with a core of tellers coming loyally to each session, both to entertain and be entertained, and to grow, like their stories, in the telling. The principle remains the same – that is that the stories must be told from memory rather than read – and the boys find themselves amazed with what they can weave out of spoken words alone. Once again, we have been chilled by tales of terror at Halloween, fallen in love at Valentine’s, been renewed at Easter and taken on strange and wonderful journeys in the boys’ own imagination. The art of improvisation is one the boys love to practise, much to the hilarity of the rest of the group as they inevitably find themselves in starring roles in each other’s stories. We brought this year’s season to a close with tales of myths from around the world, beginning with the New Zealand myth of how Maui fished

policy, the monitoring of IT devices as a parody of Orwell’s Big Brother, the latest chess craze and the Head Master’s assemblies. Two of this year’s articles have been published in the Creative section. Miss E. K. Trafford The Herrick Libraries are places where minds flourish and grow. They are like a kind of water supply. So says Stephen Fry, who by extension might have added English Societies, including The Herrick, so named after OMT Robert Herrick, the 17th-century metaphysical poet. Certainly, those boys, and staff for that matter, who took themselves to the very end of the English Corridor for a weekly instalment of mind expanding material, would have discovered a flourishing of thought and literature that crept beyond conventional subject confines. In what may have been our richest, most diverse season yet, we have been variously treated to: Head Monitor, Dominic Murphy O’Connor, speaking on the history and evolution of The Arthurian Legend; Ikenna Oke’s interpretation of Toni Morrison’s critique of the representation of blackness

reading of the shortlisted texts; students are then encouraged to submit their own book reviews for publication on the official Carnegie website. Our students also have access to educational resources which complement the shortlist and help to stretch and challenge them. The final session of this club will end with an exciting afternoon in June where Merchant Taylors’ will host students from several other local schools; we will collectively cast a vote for our favourite book which we will then submit to Carnegie for their consideration of the Shadowers’ Choice Award. Miss M. J. Fitzpatrick The Dependent The Dependent , the School’s satirical magazine written by students in Divisions and above, has re-emerged after the pandemic. The termly magazine has provided opportunities for students, mainly in the Middle School, to try their hand at the difficult task of writing satire, poking fun at ourselves, at our institution and at aspects of society in a sophisticated but humorous way. The two editions produced so far have included cartoons from our resident satirical cartoonist, Jai Elangovan (Divisions), articles on the School’s ‘UselessUsing Less at MTS’ environmental

60

Taylorian 2023