A School Virgil Society

Extract

The leaflet announcing the formation of the Virgil Society, and the reprint from The Times Literary Supplement revived pleasant, although dim, memories of evenings before the war spent reading Virgil with a small group of friends and former pupils…. It would be impossible now to reassemble that group…. And then the thought of the present VIth arose. School groups were mentioned in the leaflet. Could we not form a reading group and link ourselves to the main body of the Virgil Society? Tentatively I suggested it to two of the VIth and showed them the reprint. They were at once enthusiastic, and so others were told. In this way we formed our branch of the Virgil Society.

As the most important thing is to read Virgil we have decided to hold six readings a year—one at the beginning and end of every term. In addition we hope to have two lectures. So far we have had two readings and we are having our first lecture on 20 September, when we shall have the pleasure of hearing Professor J. F. Mountford of Liverpool University on ‘Why Virgil wrote the Aeneid’. This is to be an open meeting, and we are inviting parties from other schools and our own parents and friends.

Our readings are great fun and not a bit like lessons, although we read and translate Virgil just as we do in class. The atmosphere is quite different, probably because the readings take place out of school hours and are preceded by tea—provided, prepared, and washed up by the members.