Hello!
I’m Frances, a second year English student at Pembroke and your subject rep
for this year. Firstly, congratulations — I had the most amazing first year
studying English at Pembroke and I’m sure you will too! It’s hard to say what
to expect on coming to Cambridge but essentially it’s manically hectic,
unbelievably crazy and quite possibly the best place on Earth (although I may
be massively biased). I had no idea what to expect when I got my offer last
year and I’m guessing lots of you will be feeling similarly nervous, but
hopefully I can answer or put at ease some of your questions.
Studying here is slightly ridiculous and in the first few weeks you won’t believe how much you can fit into an
eight week term. Everyone finds it a little overwhelming at first but you’d be surprised at how easily you get used
to it! Generally you’ll have three supervisions a week: one in small groups to discuss your essays, with a more
general class supervision dealing with learning historical context, and a Practical Criticism class. It’s easy at first
to feel out of your depth with one essay a week, supervision presentations or notes, and exercises for practical
criticism looming, but everyone develops their own routine for working and in a few weeks what seemed
impossibly daunting becomes manageable. Everyone has very different ways of working but I’d really
recommend trying to be organised and plan your time at first; an English degree has comparatively few lectures a
week and so it can become quite easy to have a very unstructured day that can disintegrate into procrastination
(trust me, I have spent many hours on coffee ‘breaks’ and conveniently forgotten about work being due!) But
please don’t think that anyone expects you to work all the time, Cambridge is so vibrant and has so many extra
things to offer in drama, sports and student journalism (to name just a few) that you can’t help being swept up in it
all, and organising your work time means you’ll have plenty of time to get involved in whatever you want!
By now, you’ll probably have received your reading lists and know a little about the course structure: Michaelmas
(first term) is Medieval, Lent (second) is Renaissance and Easter (third) is Shakespeare. A lot of people (myself
included) are apprehensive about starting with Medieval and it is a bit like throwing you in at the deep end of a
swimming pool, but ultimately it becomes a massive advantage. Not only do you get it out of the way soon, but
afterwards everything will seem much easier in comparison! The reading list can seem never-ending and daunting
at first, but it’s good to remember that this is only a guideline for your reading and no one will expect you to read
everything. I’d recommend reading some of the key texts since it’s often hard to get all the reading done for a
weeks essay, so having pre-read texts is infinitely useful and will broaden your perspective on the terms work.
The Canterbury Tales is a good place to start, pick 3 or 4 tales that interest you to read alongside the general
prologue to familiarise yourself with the language and get an impression of what studying Medieval texts will be
like. Texts like Piers the Plowman and Sir Gawain are harder to grasp due to the seemingly alien middle English
used but gradually they become much easier and familiar. I’d really recommend buying a copy of a translation of
Sir Gawain (the Simon Armitage one is great) to read before or alongside the text. The most useful (and
conveniently the smallest) book I found to introduce Medieval Literature was John Burrow’s ‘Medieval Writers
and Their Work’ which is a brilliant way to give you an overview of what to expect from your lectures and
reading this term. But mostly I think I’d advise to not worry too much about the reading, to enjoy your holidays
and make the most of reading at a leisurely pace before term starts. In relation to buying books, it’s important to
remember that Cambridge has a massive amount of resources, and all the books listed can be easily found in
Pembroke library, the English Faculty, the University Library or online, so don’t worry about buying books you’ll
be able to access for free when you’re here! In the meantime, buying books needn’t be expensive as I found that
charity shops and Waterstones Marketplace online were brilliant for buying books as cheaply as 60p compared to
paying close to £10 for a new copy. Owning your own copy also means that you can scribble notes in margins as
you read which is so useful when you come to look at a text at the end of term after reading it months ago.
Hopefully this letter has been vaguely useful or at least reassured some questions you have about what it’s like to
study English at Pembroke. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email either Katrin (the director of studies
for English Part 1) or myself at fk292@cam.ac.uk whether it’s English related or not! But looking beyond
studying, get excited about Fresher’s week (I’m also planning on organising a big English meal so you can meet
the second and third years properly) and have an amazing summer!
Looking forward to seeing you all in October!
Frances