282 posts
Old railway line at Corfe Castle, Dorset. Built in the 11th century by William the Conqueror.
Amboise, France
Lorde for Sunday Times Style
literature → gothic
illegible handwriting, coffee rings on notebooks, putting gloves on only to take them off again, dark lipstick, maurice (1987), walking to class when it’s not raining enough for an umbrella but just enough to fog up your glasses, stone buildings, leaves that aren’t quite crunchy, deadlines, pen smudges, leaving class only to find out its dark outside, cinnamon, cold noses, swaying trees, half moons, cuffed sleeves, silence
art icons #4 by CONTRADICTOIREPS
don’t repost under any circumstances » like or reblog if taken. [more art series | dash icons]
Do y’all think henry winter shipped achilles and patroclus yes or no
Found this in an antique store the other day and just had to get it.
concept playlists
it’s bacchanal time, baby: songs for when you infiltrate a group of classics students and you all love each other. you hold a bacchanal together and see spectacular visions of dionysus and immortality in the midst of ecstasy. when you return to your body you feel you do not know yourself and question if you ever can. the light of the fire is dying and you’re covered in blood. you’re all covered in blood.
lime green slushies & god: you’re in a gas station food mart in the middle of the night and you meet someone. you know they’re not human, but they might be. all you know is that they’re holy. and you’re not. you get a bright green slushie and want to ask them for guidance. they pay for your slushie. you’re neon now.
bottom of a hotel pool: it’s your birthday and you’re at the bottom of a hotel pool. you know you should come back up. you know you shoulld go to the candles and frosting. you stay at the bottom and listen to the muffled thunder in the the distance. you feel the water’s divine power within you and you know you can breathe.
literary liaisons: you’re following your crush in the library. you’re taking note of the books they pick up, picking up one of your own. an hour before close, you go back to the shelf they went to and pick up their book. through the shelf’s gaps, you lock eyes with them. who’s following who now? and why? There’s a metallic taste in your mouth, and you lick your lips.
pink silk & poison: the sweet smell of the rose oil you’re putting on your body hangs in the air. the doorbell rings. you wrap yourself in your pink silk robe and go down to open the door. it’s the police. your husband has died. at least he left you his will. you turn up the volume of the record player.
motel terrors and subtext: there’s a boy in a motel room on his knees with a gun to his head. there’s a girl in a motel room with her finger on the trigger. a bottle breaks. that means ‘i love you’. you shut your eyes. what a pair.
glitter pluming between us: you’re in a club where everything is washed in blue lights. there’s a boy with glitter dusting his cheekbones and he’s all you can see or want. you should be the villains in each other’s stories. but under the lights and music all you can feel is love. you’re both in the alley now and out here the glitter cuts like a knife.
season of the witch: it’s near halloween and you’re discovering a new kind of power. in the hidden section of your university library you discover grimoires. in yourself you discover magic. somehow you know your whole life’s path has led you here.
get your lyres out, boys: you’re the oracle of delphi. amidst the smoke of incense and offerings of grapes and honey you witness history. the rage of achilles, the burden of atlas, the flight of icarus. time does not exist.
raging feminist: you’re a raging feminist. you’re dismantling the patriarchy and rallying. you’re discovering the power in femininity and womanhood.
sunday morning cappuccinos: it’s sunday morning and you wake up early to the smell of breakfast. you pull on a cashmere sweater and go into the kitchen of your loft where your lover is pouring you coffee. you both have goals and are working to achieve them. it’s cold and you make plans to have a movie night together in the warmth.
all this, and love too, will ruin us: you’re in love for the first time and you feel like you’ve discovered something no one ever has. you’re consumed and can swallow the world whole.
HELLO ARE YOU A MARRIED COUPLE
yes I DO live under a rock and her name is the Moon and she is always smiling but she teaches me nothing
flowers that bloom in the night
oxford is looking very autumnal 🍂
JUDE LAW as Lord Alfred Douglas in Wilde (1997)
Brilliant and worthy quotes in Anne with an E.
If he doesn’t kiss me on stage right after he figures out that I murdered our classmate and then take the fall for the murder and spend 10 years in jail while I fake my death I don’t want him.
Hello! I replied to this post on Reddit today, trying to compile all the dark academia books I could think of, and then thought that maybe all of you here might find it useful too, so here you go. It is a very, very broad list, a mix of classic and contemporary literature, and there is no set criteria besides having a dark vibe (this includes murder and crime but could just be the way it’s written as well) and portraying an academic setting, most of the time from the student’s point of view. I haven’t read all of these myself and so I can’t judge on quality, but hopefully this will inspire people to add on to it in the comments.
Here you go!
The Lessons by Naomi Alderman Truly, Devious by Maureen Johnson The Secret History, Donna Tartt If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio Maurice by E. M. Forster The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Possession by A.S. Byatt The Truants by Kate Weinberg The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Vicious by V. E. Schwab The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater (tangentially related) A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro The Likeness by Tana French The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (coming out tomorrow!) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman Oleanna by David Mamet Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Other classics that are not Dark Academia in content, but which I would include in a list of the DA canon: The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer Shakespeare’s plays (Macbeth, Hamlet are good ones to start with) A Separate Peace, John Knowles The Bacchae, Euripides Greek tragedies (a good one to start with is Antigone, very popular and staged many a time) Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Beat generation literature Jane Austen’s books (light academia, anyone?)
a disclaimer for the following post: i wrote this at a time when i was incredibly insecure. i felt incompetent in many areas of my life, and you can see that reflected in the books i chose to include in my list. although i did not lie (i really did enjoy all of the books on the list), these are not books that i think everyone should read. most of them did not change my life; they were good literature, and nothing more. i have grown up a little bit since making the list, and i recognize now how immature it was to make this list of books everyone “should” read, in an attempt to sound educated and feel intelligent. i’m not going to delete the list, because it does have some really good books on it, but life is too short to read books out of a sense of obligation. so either read these because you want to, or read something else instead :)
20 books everyone needs to read at least once because people will reference them in front of you your entire life:
“the faerie queene,” by edmund spenser. this poem is both an epic and an allegory, written in (mostly) iambic pentameter. it is divided up into six books (plus a little bit of a seventh) which you should read, if for no other reason than the fact that there’s supposedly an exclusive book club at harvard university for the select few people who have finished all six sections
“romeo and juliet,” and “othello,” both by shakespeare. these plays both involve two lovers who die because of communication issues. and they’re both super important to read because there are so many references to them, both in other pieces of classic lit., and in modern culture
“the picture of dorian gray,” by oscar wilde. if you can’t tell, this is my favorite book ever. if you can get past the purple prose, it’s one of the most ‘dark academia’ books ever. it’s got references to other famous pieces of literature (which i’ll include on the list), lots of gay shit, a dramatic young adult who loves shakespeare, and ofc, murder
“the brothers karamazov,” by fyodor dostoevsky. actually started reading this one to impress a boy; i think that perhaps he and i have different concepts of what is considered impressive, but the book has turned out amazing, so i’m happy. it has lots of wonderful philosophical and theological discussions. the one thing you may not like is that Dostoevsky constantly goes off on little tangents (like Herodotus). it simultaneously fascinates me and makes me want to smack him with a stick
“the prince,” by niccolo machiavelli. this isn’t classic literature so much as it is political science, but honestly, so many people talk about ‘machiavellianism’ without ever having read the original Machiavellian treatise, and it would be so much better to just read the book and then be able to cite machiavelli himself at your next political-philosophy discussion.
“the canterbury tales,” by geoffrey chaucer. these are classics. they’re filled to the brim with medieval language and sexual innuendo, but that’s part of what makes them so wonderful. if that’s not enough of a selling point, ‘the tale of the deathly hallows’ from “harry potter” is super similar to ‘the pardoner’s tale’ from this book.
“the divine comedy,” by dante alighieri. includes a crap ton of great history references and some super sick burns directed towards the corrupt people of dante’s time.
“meditations,” by marcus aurelius. the original metaphysical journal. probably the epitome of ‘light academia’ if i’ve ever read one
“the great gatsby,” by f. scott fitzgerald. jay gatsby is low-key super relatable…and so is nick, the third wheel…and so is daisy, who feels like women are forced by society to be ‘beautiful little fools’
“the iliad” and “the odyssey,” by homer. i will never ever be able to read ‘the iliad’ again without sobbing hysterically. :’((
“frankenstein,” by mary shelley. not only is this a great book in terms of philosophical potential, but there are so many great things to debate about in it. and, it’s written by a woman :)
“oedipus rex,” by sophocles. my favorite book in 9th grade, though god knows why my mother let me read it then
“metamorphoses,” by ovid. a collection of my all-time favorite myths, which every single person needs to read because it explains how the ancient romans believed the world operated, from the way the sun rises, to the reason we hear echoes.
“the aeneid,” by virgil. suggested by @catilinas :) the final addition to the holy iliad/odyssey/aeneid trinity, written hundreds of years after the last part, by a different author, and in latin instead of the original greek. chronologically ocurrs at about the same time as the odyssey, although from the trojan perspective.
“1984” (suggested by @alexickotowaffle) and “animal farm,” both by george orwell. i’m sticking them together because although the plots are completely different, they both remind me of today’s culture in rather unfortunate ways. but they’re very well written, and i do adore orwell’s style :)
“don quixote,” by miguel de cervantes. an absolutely hysterical book; i kept laughing out loud the entire time i was reading it. it satirizes getting wrapped up in the world of books, to which i’m sure we can all relate.
“hamlet,” by william shakespeare. finally crossed this off of my “to read” list and i absolutely loved it. hamratio (is that the ship name for hamlet x horatio?) is wonderful, the whole play is excellent, and i would highly recommend it
i wanna study classics and i wanna study english literature and i wanna study mathematics and i wanna study chemistry and i wanna study languages and i wanna study botany and i wanna study medicine and i wanna study history and i wanna-
hi everyone! it’s been a while since i made a huge playlist masterpost, but i thought that right now when we’re all stuck inside wondering what to do with our time i would make a list of all my playlists. listening to music is so calming and definitely helps me pass the time…so enjoy! - cam
songs that remind me of a fashion show
a mix of songs that remind me of driving down the coast
a playlist dedicated to paris
songs that inspire me
a dreamy mix
songs to listen to when you feel carefree
a super fun workout/running playlist to keep you pumped up
songs to listen to during golden hour
a mix of songs to listen to on a sunny day
a playlist full of songs that make me feel alive
songs that remind me of my teenage years
a study/coffee shop playlist to keep you calm
songs to listen to on the weekend
songs that make me feel like living in the moment
a friday kinda mix !
songs that remind me of a warm spring evening
a mix dedicated to nature
my all-time favorite songs all in one playlist
songs that remind me of flowers and sunshine
a 12-hour long playlist of songs that make me feel nostalgic
songs that remind me of going back to school
my ultimate summertime playlist
songs that make me feel like i’m in a movie
upbeat songs to get ready to in the morning
songs i’m currently loving & listening to right now
a playlist dedicated to italy and all its wonders
songs that are soft and delicate
a mix to listen to while watching the sunrise / sunset
a playlist for a rainy and stormy day
songs to listen to when you wake up !
another nature playlist because why not?!
a monday playlist to make your monday more enjoyable
my springtime playlist
songs that are bittersweet
my girl power anthems playlist
for the daydreamers
songs that remind me of the spirit of traveling & exploring
a mix to listen to before bed
songs to listen and dance to in your kitchen
a super fun 70s playlist
relaxing songs for a sunday
songs that remind me of wintertime
for people who love the east coast
for people who love the west coast
a mix of lo fi beats
songs to listen to in your car at night
fresh finds (new songs every monday!)
the ultimate sing along playlist
an indie playlist
the perfect road trip / daily commute mix
a super studious playlist to keep you extra focused
songs that remind me of the beach
a mix of songs to listen to when you’re j chillin
songs that remind me of a trip to outer space !
listen to this when you’re in love
songs for stargazing…
the perfect autumn playlist
songs that make my heart flutter
a mix of carefree & happy tunes
the grooviest 80s playlist around
a mix of golden oldies
listen to this if you like rap / r&b
another workout playlist !
a mix of fun, upbeat songs to dance to
a playlist inspired by call me by your name
a coming of age playlist
a mix of songs that deserve more hype
You’re not very nice are you, cat? Just like me. Why do we change, I wonder? I was always so sweet… Books don’t even excite me like they used to. There’s always someone inside me saying: ‘Things aren’t that easy!’ I’m not very nice.
WHISPER OF THE HEART / 耳をすませば 1995 | dir. Yoshifumi Kondō / 近藤 喜文
bridge of sighs, cambridge | ig: studyplants
safe house rules