Moments of Literary Joy: Ravens and Wuthering Heights
As the school year comes to a close, all students and professors get a little exhausted, and this year I have a lot going on, so I have been especially feeling it. But I had a wonderful experience in class last week that definitely qualifies as a “moment of literary joy”—or of pedagogical joy—or both.
I was in one of Wellesley College’s Gothic buildings, Pendleton Hall, up on the third floor. It was a warm day, and the windows were open, letting in the warm breeze.
My students were doing a terrific job of discussing Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. And suddenly I realized I was hearing the raucous caws of a pair of ravens cavorting in the air outside the window!
Wuthering Heights, Gothic buildings, brilliant students—and ravens. I could never have anticipated this moment when I first began to study English literature.
Only at Wellesley College!
