Saturday 14 March 2009

Virgil on the ridiculous


Back to the 17-year-old. At school one of the subjects I was subjected to was Classical Civilisations. The teacher, a Mr Murray, caught me showing someone how to draw Mickey Mouse while we were supposed to be reading The Georgics by Virgil. As punishment he made me do some drawings illustrating passages from the poem. I can’t remember how many I did but this is the sole survivor, only because I hadn’t quite finished it and didn’t hand it over with the others, thus saving it from the evil clutches of Mr Murray, who either liked them or threw them in the bin. Either way I never saw them again. This traumatic event has led me to associate missing deadlines with preserving my artwork and has destroyed my career – Curse you, Mr Murray!!
I don’t remember a lot about the Georgics, except that it was very long and there was an enormous amount of stuff about bees. Thus it is that I don’t know who those people are or why that watersnake is up a tree. I may not have known at the time. Frankly I wasn't interested - I was busy showing someone how to draw Mickey Mouse, wasn't I?

No comments: