Amita Sanghvi, MA Language Teaching TESOL, 2003 tells of her love of poetry, Lancaster University and daffodils!

"I am an alumna from 2003 from the department of Language and Linguistics in Bowland college and a recipient of the Commonwealth British Council Hornby Award from India. It is now a good, long 17 years as I look back at the wonderful time I spent in England. Today, I am in Oman, a lovely Middle East Sultanate that has housed me for the past 16 years, and I am privileged to teach at Sultan Qaboos University. A privilege possible due to my degree from Lancaster University that developed leadership and an unparalleled skill set that enabled me to work in new contexts and create new thresholds of competency.

Apart from being a lecturer, I am also a published poet now, and World Poetry International, Canada, has honoured me as the Ambassador of Poetry to Oman.. I fell in love with poetry when I first read Wordsworth's 'Daffodils' in grade 7 English class. I saw them through the eyes of my beloved bard, Wordsworth. Little did I know that after 16 years, I would be in Lancaster, in Prof Mick Short’s class and in the first session, when he asked, so why did you choose to study “Stylistics in Poetry?" I said that the decision was made in Grade 7, for such was the powerful rendition of our teacher and such was the impact that I asked my mother that evening, if I wanted to study only poetry, what degree should I pursue? She said, just this- MA in English. When I said this, Mick laughed and said, “You will have to wait a few more months till they are out." I smiled and I could not wait to see daffodils bloom. In a few weeks, a classmate, Andrew, brought me a huge bouquet of daffodils. I was speechless. Lancaster was so close to Waterloo- to the Dove cottage- and a train took me to that very spot one weekend. Ten thousand saw I at a glance.

In Professor Emeritus Mick Short, I found a guru, whose dedication to poetry and its analysis left me spellbound, inspired and in awe. The best example of what I believe is the strength of Lancaster University is its powerful minds and its top notch facilities. The relevance of what I learnt in one of the projects I helped Mick with is striking. His research was on 'Online Course of Language through Literature' that he offered back in 2002. I remember analysing about 300 responses of the questionnaire survey, and I can tell with immense gratitude, how much of what I learned in 2002 through that research helped me to cope with the challenges of online learning during the pandemic. Such is the cutting edge futuristic research done by the intellectual faculty at Lancaster, that I swell with pride and insist young university students choose LU above all.

I have now travelled to several well-known universities, presented papers, written poetry as well, and have a few publications. I continue fondly reminiscing about Lancaster; the dissertation I wrote on Cognitive Metaphors in Poetry with the incredible Elena Semino and I always mention UK with a sense of belonging. Truly the MA was a milestone achievement in my academic journey, where the faculty, the environment, the generous scholarly financial support, the thriving pursuit of the absolute realisation of potential of a human mind were supported and nurtured in every way imaginable. Lastly, my heart surges with nostalgia as I move on to further my dreams of bettering the world, as I can see possibilities over problems. I am equipped not only with a degree from Lancaster, my abode of learning, but also equipped with unshakeable confidence that my teachers and my parents, instilled in me. Thank you Lancaster, Thank you Mick!"