Our History


"Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"

A gloomy Thursday afternoon of November 20th, 2003, witnessed the first sparks of the idea. Three months into the new academic year, we (the then 2nd year students) felt we lacked a challenge. After the intensive English Poetry and Drama courses of the first two semesters, after fantasizing and daydreaming about Wordsworth, Shakespeare and the York Realist there came a barren land of bleak prospects and meaningless clichés in our daily student lives. The classes became a domain of daily routine and despite the heroic efforts of some truly devoted teachers no BBC News, Sentimental Journeys or Killer Fog movies, let alone Bywater, could change the general atmosphere of pessimism. While students of other faculties enjoyed a wide range of extracurricular activities such as student conferences, research tours or various discussions, we were not only lacking these opportunities but also feeling more and more resigned to our fate.


"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon 'em"

That windy Thursday witnessed a sudden revelation. The board was set, the pieces were moving. Inspired by befriended students from the Dept. of History of Art, there dawned on us the idea to found a student society at the Institute of English Studies, a research circle that would provide us with incentives to academic work.


"A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision I once saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora."

Indeed, the vision was truly complex. Nonetheless, with more and more people joining our ranks to fight for greater glory, there were substantial prospects. Yet, with all the determination of the students, there was nothing we could achieve without the help of an academic supervisor devoted to our cause.


"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer"

A natural candidate for the post was Dr Joanna Kazik, who was the one that provided for gargantuan academic challenges and unique insights into literature in the course of her Poetry and Drama classes. To our delight, she assented and in no time at all we started preparing documents and collecting all the signatures needed to set up our society. Overcoming some minor glitches in this wearisome process, we finally succeeded and on March 1st, 2004 the Geoffrey Chaucer Student Society came into existence...

"It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles...

... that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."